Thursday, August 9, 2007

The biggest and the littlest: story of Mack and Moose

by Sara Peterson-Davis

This is the story of Mack and Moose, and how champions come in all sizes at the Jefferson County 4-H Fair.

Mack and Moose have a lot in common.

Skyler McMillan and Mack

Photos by Monty Davis

Cheyenne Winter and Moose

They’re both covered with black hair, have four legs, like to nibble hay and earned top honors for their 4-Hers.

But that’s where the similarities stop. Mack lives inside the house and
Moose lives in the corral. Mack
gets to sit on someone’s lap each evening and watch TV. Moose gets
to sit outside in his pen and watch,
well, the grass grow. Mack is the
size of a jumbo blueberry muffin.
Moose is the size of a Mini Cooper.
In fact, it would take nearly 1,300
Macks to make just one Moose.

Mack is a 4-month-old Netherlands
dwarf rabbit owned by Skyler
McMillan of the Lucky 4 4-H Club.

When he’s fully grown Mack will
weigh nearly two pounds but
right now he’s several ounces of
fluff in Skyler’s palm.

“I didn’t know he was going to be a champ,” said Skyler, 15, who earned three purple ribbons with Mack, along with purple ribbons for his swine, beef and foods projects.

Mack lives in the house with Skyler and his family. His feet rarely touch the ground when Skyler and his brothers are home.

“He gets held a lot,” said Skyler’s mom, Dena Page. “He’s spoiled.”

In fact, Mack nearly had to go home one night of the fair, because he wasn’t used to the sticky, hot outdoor temperatures. He rallied once he was moved closer to the fans.

This was Skyler’s first year in 4-H. When his family started thinking about an animal project for him, Skyler came up with the idea of a rabbit.

“I figured him being a big boy he’d want a bigger bunny,” Page said. “He picked out one of the smallest ones.”

Then, there’s Moose.

Moose is a 16-month-old Brangus steer, who earned Reserve Grand Champion Rate of Gain honors at this year’s fair.

At his final weigh in, Moose tipped the scales at about 1,295 pounds.

“I just picked him out off of our farm,” said Cheyenne Winter, of the Prosperity 4-H Club.

Once he was chosen, Moose moved into a pen with Bear, another steer on the Winter farm. Together, they stood around the pen and were served buckets of feed throughout the spring and summer.

“They usually feed better if you feed them with other cattle,” said Cheyenne, explaining that cattle make pigs of themselves when there’s a little competition in the buffet line.

Moose seemed to prove the competition theory. Moose weighed in last March at 700 pounds, and gained an average of 4.4 pounds a day under Cheyenne’s meal regimen.

Unlike Mack, Moose isn’t cuddly. For 14-year-old Cheyenne, who looks as if a stiff wind might knock her down, Moose can be a handful.

“He’s used to me but he’s kind of nutty,” she said, about leading Moose around the fair. “He did really good today.”

On the Wednesday of the fair, Cheyenne led Moose to victory. It was the 10th time she had placed in the top 10 in the rate of gain competition, and the second time she had a steer win the reserve grand champion honors.

“I like to be able to raise something of my own and have it do really well,” she said.