Kenney wins 4-H reserve grand champion for lamb

Morro Hills resident Morganne Kenney raised a lamb which earned 4-H reserve grand champion at the 2013 San Diego County Fair.

“I was really happy to get it,” Kenney said. “I worked hard for it.”

Kenney, a member of Fallbrook 4-H, won reserve champion honors with Spike, a wether (male) who was born the first week of January and was weighed by fair officials at 142 pounds. This year the county fair replaced breed divisions with weight classes, and Spike won the midweight class for lambs between 135 and 142 pounds before placing second in the overall 4-H lamb competition.

“I was really blessed to get that,” Kenney said.

In addition to her 4-H reserve grand champion award, Kenney placed second in showmanship for lambs and then placed fifth in master showmanship for all large animals.

“It was a good year for me,” Kenney said.

Spike was purchased from San Luis Obispo area breeder Bob Cummings and had been raised by Kenney since late March.

Kenney showed two lambs at the county fair. Yoshi was born Dec. 25 in the Kenney family barn and weighed 146 pounds on the fair scales. Yoshi, who is also a wether, placed second in the heavyweight class. Because Spike was not bred in San Diego County, he was not eligible for the Bred and Fed awards for animals bred in San Diego County and nourished from feed stores or other sources within the county, although Yoshi placed fourth in Bred and Fed for sheep.

Kenney, who turned 15 on July 3, is in her fourth year as a Fallbrook 4-H member. Her brother, Matthew, is 12, and her sister, Mikaela, is 17. Morganne Kenney recently completed eighth grade at Tri-City Christian School and will start high school at Tri-City Christian this fall.

“I’m so thankful for my family’s support through the year,” Morganne said.

Mikaela also raised two lambs including Yoshi’s twin Clover, a ewe who weighed 135 pounds and finished second to Spike in the middleweight class. Matthew made his fair debut raising a steer and won his class with Frisco, who was born in April 2012 and weighed 1,098 pounds, while taking third in Bred and Fed for steers.

This is the fourth year Morganne has entered a lamb at the county fair. Last year, she won supreme reserve champion for lamb. The 4-H grand and reserve champions for each animal and the Future Farmers of America grand and reserve champions compete for supreme grand champion and supreme reserve champion.

A consortium consisting of Mike and Sharon Mellano Investments, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Turner, and Mr. and Mrs. Enrico Ianni purchased Spike for $7.50 per pound and also paid $7.50 per pound for Clover, who will be donated to the Scholarship Fund and bred for next year. Because only one animal from each 4-H or FFA member can be sold at auction, Yoshi was sold at a barn sale and was purchased for $400 by Carmen Rodriguez. Scrappy’s Tire & Auto Repair and Berry-Bell & Hall Fallbrook Mortuary collaborated to buy Frisco for $3,200, which equates to $2.90 per pound.