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On Friday, Feb. 21st, the Threemile team welcomed 16 Morrow County 4-Hers and their families to the farm to kick off the 2025 Dairy Heifer Program. In its seventh year, the program matches dairy heifers with Morrow County 4-Hers eager to learn about dairy.  

The program came to life when Jeff Wendler, DVM, General Manager of Livestock at Threemile, discovered the lack of opportunity to show dairy cattle in our county. Many local 4-Hers are interested in a future career in agriculture, but lack the exposure necessary to gain practical experience with livestock.  

How the Program Works  

To participate, students must complete the application-interview process and demonstrate the ability to properly care for the heifer. 

The Threemile program is unique because the 4-Hers are paid a daily heifer-raising fee and are not required to purchase the animal. Essentially, they are running their own heifer-raising business for seven months. After they show their heifer at the fair, she returns to the farm and welcomed back into the herd to be a future milk cow.  

Pickup Day  

The pickup day began with the Threemile team walking the members through health, nutrition, and animal welfare expectations. Heifers were randomly assigned to each member then they weighed, haltered, and loaded into trailers for the ride home.   

Over the next few weeks, the heifers and 4-Hers will get acquainted with each other, and then training will start. During the next seven months, the Threemile team will conduct at-home check-ins to evaluate progress in showmanship, animal health, and nutrition. The participants will also bring their heifers to Threemile   throughout the spring and summer to attend fitting and showing clinics. 

Morrow County Fair  

At the Morrow County Fair in August, participants will show off their hard work in confirmation and showmanship classes. In confirmation, the heifer is judged on her dairy characteristics.  In showmanship, the 4-Her is judged on how well they fit and present the animal to the judge. After the show, each participant receives monetary recognition in addition to the awards given at the fair.  

If you would like to watch the 4-Hers in action, the 2025 Morrow County Fair is August 13-16, and heifer events are open to the public. 

This year's participants are KC Anderson, Layla Crowell, Wyatt Dawson, Cyrus Derowitsch, Harper Krebs, Alondra Madrigal, Saul Madrigal Garcilazo, Wyatt Piel, Ambar Rodriguez, Allie Schuler, John Schuler, Joseph Schuler, Landon Szasz, Sophia Villegas,  Isabel Wedam, and Miranda Wedam.