Educational presentations help 4-Hers communications skills

Children who participate in 4-H have a wide variety of areas to become involved. One area that Jasper County children showed their talents was through educational presentations at the 4-H building during the Iowa State Fair.

Two of those children, Alyssa Bassett and Blasé Byrd, expanded their communication skills by speaking before crowds on subjects they find interesting and in which they are both knowledgeable on Friday and Saturday.

The state 4-H organization sees educational presentations as a way to explore the exciting work of communication and find out how the world of communication impacts everyday life.

The organization found helps with learning written, oral and visual communication skills, develop self-confidence through public presentation, practice self-expression and creativity, learning stagecraft skills and how to organize and present information.

Basset gave a presentation titled “What’s My ID?” on the swine ear notching system. The 11-year-old who is a member of the Killduff Hotshots explained why pig owners notch the ears, what system is used for identification and how the ears are notched.

“The purpose of ear notching is done on baby pigs for identification. Each ear is clipped to help identify the pig,” Basset said.

The pig’s right ear is used for the litter number, Basset said. All pigs in the same litter will have the same notch on their right ear. The litter number tells which pig it was born to. The pig’s left ear is used for individual identification of each pig in the litter.

“When reading ear notches, you start with the litter number on the right ear, then the individual number on the left ear,” Basset said. “I have found it easiest to read the notches from behind the pig, looking down the pig’s head, behind the ear. You will then read the ear notches right to left, which helps with mixing up the right and left ears.”

Basset showed how an ear notcher works similar to a paper punch on the pig’s ear. She explained that it is typically done when the pig is one to three days old and that the pig’s don’t feel any pain when the procedure is done.

Byrd, a member of the World Changers from Lynnville, gave his education presentation on bee keeping. The 14-year-old presented equipment needed to start bee keeping, how the bees arrive, how to install them, the parts of the hive, different kinds of bees in the hive and how climate effects them.

Equipment needed include a bees brush, gloves so the bees can’t climb in your shirt, bee veil and a frame grabber so you don’t squish any of the bees in the frame when you are looking at it, Byrd said.

“The most important tool is the hive tool because the bees will start gluing the frames in the boxes together so you need it to pry it open,” Byrd said.

After the bees arrive, Byrd explained there is a little entrance that a marshmallow is placed. The bees will eventually eat the marshmallow when they are ready, the queen will then come out and the bees will be ready and they won’t sting her.

Byrd said he had to wait two weeks before he checked the hive so the bees could prepare their home. After that, they are checked every seven to 10 days.

“The time of day you check them is very important. If you check them during the morning or at night they will all be there because they are either not awake or going to bed,” Byrd said. “The middle of the day when it is hottest is the best. Me and my brother actually checked it one morning and all of the bees came out and they chased us out of there. My brother even got stung twice.”

Another interesting fact about bees, Byrd explained, was their activity during the winter. All of the bees will surround the queen making a cluster. They will flap their wings and vibrate to keep the area 98 degrees at all time.

Byrd also said to never open the hive during the winter because it can create a chill, killing off the entire colony.

Both presenters were evaluated by a judge along with peer evaluation during the presentations. Following the presentation, the kids spoke with the judge along with the peer evaluator about the presentation. They also participated as a peer evaluators to help further their education and communications skills.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com