Michalke raises 4-H grand champion market lamb

Fallbrook 4-H member Taylor Michalke raised the 4-H grand champion market lamb at the San Diego County Fair.

Michalke, who completed eighth grade at Potter Junior High School in June, raised a 120-pound lamb she named Denali. Both of Michalke's lambs won their weight class; Denali was the 4-H mediumweight champion and Michalke won the feeder class with Marvel. Denali was also the 4-H intermediate showmanship champion and then placed third of the 11 animals in the master showmanship competition for all large animals.

The 2018-19 year was Michalke's fifth in Fallbrook 4-H. Michalke, who is now 14, began with Fallbrook 4-H when she was nine. "I kind of just tried it because my friends were in it," she said.

"I ended up really loving it," Michalke said. "It's a great experience."

The 2019 county fair was her fourth showing lambs. "I'm very happy and I'm proud of how my lambs have done," she said.

Michalke was born in Fallbrook Hospital and her mother, who was Traci Erickson at the time, was in Fallbrook 4-H and Fallbrook High School's Future Farmers of America chapter. Michalke's father, Paul, was in FFA in Colorado. Her great-grandfather was a 4-H member in Kansas so Michalke is a third-generation 4-H member although those three generations are not consecutive since none of her grandparents were in 4-H.

Michalke's first experience with the county fair auction was in 2016, when she sold a 140-pound lamb. She raised a 124-pound lamb which was part of the 2017 auction. Michalke's lamb at the 2018 auction weighed 127 pounds and had won the 4-H mediumweight division. Michalke also showed a dairy goat during the 2018 county fair's livestock breed show, and the goat took first place in her class.

This year Michalke was unable to be in Del Mar during the livestock breed show. Marvel, who weighed 93 pounds and was four months old during the fair, was in the feeder class and took first place among 4-H feeder class lambs. "She's a nice lamb and I'm very proud of her. We're going to keep her and we're going to try to breed her," Michalke said.

The feeder class lambs are too light to be taken to the auction and do not compete against the champions and reserve champions from the other weight classes for 4-H grand champion and 4-H reserve champion designation. Denali, a Hampshire/Suffolk cross who was seven months old when she was shown at the county fair, was the top 4-H mediumweight lamb. "All the hard work paid off, basically," Michalke said.

That placed Denali and the mediumweight reserve champion into the competition for 4-H grand champion and 4-H grand champion along with the lightweight, heavyweight, and superheavyweight champions and reserve champions. Denali was the top lamb in that competition.

"I never thought that was going to happen, but I'm so proud," Michalke said. "I'm so proud of my lamb and so proud of myself for winning 4-H champion."

Denali was bred by Fresno State University and acquired by the Michalke family in January.

Valley Center 4-H member Kellsey McCaffree, whose mother is a Fallbrook High School graduate, raised a 135-pound lamb which gave McCaffree 4-H reserve champion honors. McCaffree purchased her lamb from Rocky and Sons in Fallbrook, which is also where Marvel was purchased.

Denali became the third consecutive 4-H grand champion lamb raised by a Fallbrook 4-H member. One of the sons in Rocky and Sons is Oscar Ledesma, who had been in Fallbrook 4-H and made his Fallbrook FFA debut in the 2019 county fair.

In 2017 Ledesma's lamb Grand Theft was the supreme grand champion as well as the 4-H grand champion and the 4-H mediumweight champion. Ledesma also won supreme grand champion and 4-H grand champion honors in 2018 with Road Rage, who won the 4-H heavyweight class that year.

Ledesma also raised the 4-H superheavyweight reserve champion market hog in 2018, who was purchased by the Michalke family at a barn sale. (A junior livestock exhibitor can only sell one large animal at auction unless the same FFA, 4-H, or Grange member earns FFA or 4-H/Grange grand or reserve champion with more than one species.)

This year Ledesma raised a 121-pound lamb who was the FFA mediumweight champion. The competition for supreme grand champion and supreme reserve champion involves the 4-H or Grange grand champion, the 4-H or Grange reserve champion, the FFA grand champion, and the FFA reserve champion.

Haley Attig of El Capitan FFA raised a 149-pound lamb which was named the FFA grand champion. Ledesma's lamb was given FFA reserve champion recognition.

Michalke was thus in the final drive with Attig, Ledesma, and McCaffree. "It was stressful because a lot of things were going through my mind, but it was also a lot of fun," Michalke said. "It was very scary and stressful, but I'm proud of how I did."

Attig's lamb was the supreme grand champion and Ledesma won supreme reserve champion honors.

"I got my hopes up, but I wasn't as disappointed as I thought I would be," Michalke said of not receiving supreme grand champion or supreme reserve champion. "I was not very disappointed that I didn't win."

Attig raised the FFA grand champion and supreme reserve champion lamb both in 2017 and in 2018. In 2016, when she was with Sagebrush 4-H, her lamb was the 4-H grand champion and supreme grand champion. (Ledesma's family moved from Orange County to Fallbrook in 2016, and in 2016 he raised the Orange County Fair's supreme grand champion lamb.)

McCaffree had also previously been in the big ring, although not with a lamb. In 2017 she raised the 4-H reserve champion turkey, and her 2018 turkey was the FFA reserve champion and supreme reserve champion. This year the San Diego County Fair had no chickens or turkeys due to the outbreak of Newcastle's Disease.

"It was incredible to be in that lineup," Michalke said. "It was such a great opportunity."

The auction took place June 29. Bacon-A-Fair purchased Denali for $7.00 per pound.

Michalke and Denali placed first in the intermediate 4-H lamb showmanship. "I'm very proud of myself for that," Michalke said. "I was exhausted. My legs were shaking, but I did not give up."

That advanced them to the master showmanship competition for all large animals, where they placed third. "That was the best I've ever done," Michalke said.

Michalke placed second in the showmanship competition both in 2017 and in 2018. If an exhibitor wins showmanship in more than one species the master showmanship competition includes the second-place winner from one of those species. Michalke competed in the 2018 master showmanship competition.

"That was amazing, and I was so happy that I got third place," Michalke said of this year's master showmanship. "I'm very proud of myself for that."

The 2019 San Diego County Fair concluded Michalke's 4-H career. The 2019-20 Fallbrook High School freshman is now taking agricultural biology and is in Fallbrook's Future Farmers of America chapter.