Washington County Extension and Outreach has begun a monthly feature of local 4-H families this year, with the first showing just how 4-H can change someone’s life.

This month’s feature is Jeremy and Kari Statler, and their children Caleb, Abigail, and Elijah. They began taking part in 4-H when the second child Abigail begged her parents to let her show a goat. At the time her only farm experience was from spending time on her grandparents’ farm, and her parents decided to build a goat pen at their office at Statler Construction, Inc. The family’s passion for 4-H and showing animals grew from there, with them purchasing an eight acre property south of Wellman where they now live and raise chickens, goats, cows, and a llama. The youngest child Elijah has been showing animals since fourth grade, and he shares how it’s influenced him personally, “Well it definitely changed my life as it just showed me how much I like animals. And then at our old house I never really had chores or anything like that, like a big chore for me was emptying the dishwasher. And now it’s just my routine to go out every morning and do the chores and wake up earlier and everything.”

Abigail encourages anyone who has a passion for animals to give 4-H a shot, but she warns that it’s not easy, “I mean it gets frustrating and you may want to quit but it’s fun to see the outcome afterwards and see how they, like sometimes they may be super stubborn while you’re working with them and walking them and they may not want to walk for you at all but as soon as they get in the ring they can turn into a whole other animal. I know I’ve had two different goats do that for me, they were terrible walkers at home and then they were perfect, like let me touch their feet and move them and adjust them the way I needed to for showing.”

The Statler family farm and 4-H is a labor of love for them, and Abigail is soon graduating college where she has studied swine management. Washington County Extension looks forward to featuring a new family each month, and you can contact Amy Green with nominations at 319-653-4811.