Kaley White, 16, left, and Evan White, 13, restrain two lambs and a goat that will be shown at the Osceola County Fair.

By Sam Gilkey
For The News-Gazette

Kaley and Evan White are a sister and brother who live near Narcoossee Road east of St. Cloud and are longtime members of the Osceola Tornadoes 4-H Club. She was 9 and he was 5 when they joined.

Now 16, Kaley, a junior at Gateway High School, has only one more year in 4-H.

“The best thing for me about 4-H is showing the animals,” she said. “I am putting my prize money aside for college. I like math and want to go into accounting.”  

The horse show at the Osceola County Fair is her favorite event. This year, Kaley also will enter a lamb, a goat, chickens, a dog, aquarium fish and a hamster.

And then there is “Penelope.”

“That’s my hog,” Kaley said. “This is the third year I’ve shown market hogs. She will weigh about 240 pounds and I hope will bring a good price at the sale.”

The animal has grown quickly since it was purchased last fall. While hogs are good-natured for the most part, they are more than a handful.

“Hogs are free-minded,” Kaley said. “When a hog wants to do something, there’s nothing you can do to change its mind. They are like bricks when you try to move them around in the ring.”

Last year, Kaley picked up $500 for first place as premier exhibitor of hogs. After turning in an application, the 4-H member gets points for doing demonstrations, hand-delivering letters to prospective buyers, attending shows and workshops, and submitting record books.

Showing animals is also the best part of 4-H for 13-year-old Evan, a seventh-grader at Narcoossee Middle School. Last year, he won the reserve grand champion award for turkeys.

This year, he will bring chickens, rabbits, a lamb, a hamster and a goat to the fair. While he has shown small goats previously, Evan will enter a larger animal in the market goat show. This is the first year for that category and there are only 12 goats competing.

Evan weighs 92 pounds while the goat named “Spike” will come in at more than 100 pounds.

“He can be pretty hard to manage,” Evan admitted. “I walk him and pet him an hour or two each day to get him used to what he is to do at the show. He can be wild at times, but I will get another one next year.”

Kaley and Evan both have market lambs for the annual sale.

“They are easier to handle and get used to people quicker,” she said.

While their 4-H involvement takes up a lot of time, there are other things to keep them active.

Kaley is in Girl Scouts. She plays soccer and flag football and is on the cross-country team at school.

Evan is a Boy Scout, likes soccer and in the past year has started playing the guitar.

While the days and nights at the fair are packed with exhibit activities, there will still be a little time left to enjoy the rides on the midway.

And both agree the funnel cake concession is a definite stop more than once while at the fair.