Moo-ve Over: Beef 4-H Members Beat Dairy In Battle Of Barns
Text, Photos and Video
By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews
WARSAW — It was a battle of the bovines Saturday afternoon, July 5, at the Kosciusko County Community Fair’s show arena.
In the end, beef 4-H members bested dairy ones to win the annual Battle of the Barns and hang the winners’ flag at their barn for a year.
There were five teams overall competing in the Battle, with other teams being: swine; goats with some general 4-H members added this year; and poultry, rabbits and llamas.
The beef team, made up of 4-H’ers showing in that category at the Kosciusko County Community Fair, won the 2025 Battle of the Barns on Saturday, July 5, held at the show arena at the fairgrounds.
Kids and a few adults competed in challenges, including stacking cookies on a teammate’s head; wheelbarrow and sack races; an egg toss; a hay bale carry; and racing to squeeze water from a sponge into a cup.
There was also the Heart of 4-H challenge where kids raced in their teams to collect as many donations as possible to feed people in need. They netted $4,147 combined.
With beef and dairy being the top two teams, they competed in a tug-of-war, with beef being triumphant.
Parade of Champions, Scholarship
Before the Battle of the Barns, the Parade of Champions occurred.
Kids who received the grand champions or top prizes in various 4-H project categories, had their names announced and received a plaque.
There was also a new scholarship given in honor of the late Richard “Dick” Morris. He passed away in November 2024.
Morris showed cattle as a 4-H’er. He later bought a farm at Claypool, and when he and his wife Sharodene’s daughter Renea wanted to show sheep at the fair, the couple started a Suffolk herd.
The couple had the Champion Suffolk ewe at the North American International Livestock Exposition Show in 1988.
Two 4-H’ers, Eva Everest and Kaleb Kline, received the 2025 Richard Morris “Impact of 4-H” Memorial Award, with the Morris family to select others in later years.
4-H Grand Champion List
Aerospace — Jackson Revere
Animal Education – Beef — Caroline Raber
Animal Education – Cat — Bailey Gill
Animal Education – Dairy — Keegan Richardson
Animal Education – Dog — Kinsley Beck
Animal Education – Horse — Ella Jarrett
Animal Education – Poultry — Brynn Van Laeken
Animal Education – Rabbit — Ella Jarrett
Animal Education – Swine — Kaytlin Skeens
Arts and Crafts — Jason Moore
Beekeeping — Vance Jones
Bicycle — Bailey Gill
Cake Decorating — Ella Jarrett
Child Development — Claire Jagger
Christmas Ornament — Isabelle Rettinger
Collections and Hobbies — Makayla Riley
Computer — Claire Jagger
Consumer Clothing — Kenlee Grady
Consumer Grilling — Theodore Petre
Consumer Meats – Beef — Carter Imhoff
Consumer Meats – Lamb — Keegan Richardson
Consumer Meats – Pork — Keegan Richardson
Consumer Meats – Poultry — Hudson Shepherd
Corn — Isabelle Rettinger
Creative Writing — Avery Armstrong
Dairy Foods — Keegan Richardson
Electric — Andrew Wise
Entomology — Bailey Gill
Fine Arts — Savannah Beigh
Fire Education — Blake Lindsey
Floriculture — Isabelle Rettinger
Foods, Baked — Brynn Van Laeken
Foods, Preserved — Carter Imhoff
Forestry — Isabelle Rettinger
Garden — Theodore Petre
Genealogy — Quinlynn Risedorph
Geology — Isaac Burnworth
Hay — Trevor Roberts
Health — Isabelle Rettinger
History of Indiana — Carter Imhoff
Homemade Ice Cream — Kaylin Penrod
Joy of Reading — Isaak Petre
Microwave Cooking — Ella Jarrett
Model Craft — Carter Imhoff
Needle Craft — Addison Armstrong
Photography — Myra Marshall
Pocket Caged Critter Poster — Aliegha Johnson
Scrapbooking – Digital — Kaitlyn Eastgate
Scrapbooking – Traditional — Lindsay Petersen
Sewing – Junior Construction — Adalyn Meyer
Sewing – Junior Fashion Revue — Brynn Van Laeken
Sewing – Non-wearable — Audrey Fitzsimmons
Sewing – Senior Construction — Kinley Crabb
Sewing – Senior Fashion Revue — Isabelle Rettinger
Shooting Sports — Lyllian Johnson
Small Engines — Nolyn Beck
Small Grains — Jay Roberts
Soil and Water Science — Carter Imhoff
Soybeans — Isabelle Rettinger
Sport Fishing — Hunter Imhoff
Tractor Safety Equipment — Ace Richcreek
Veterinary Science — Aliegha Johnson
Weather and Climate Science — Isabelle Rettinger
Welding — Isaac Krull
Wildlife — Brynn Van Laeken
Woodworking — Isaac Richardson
Construction and Architecture Replica — Isaiah Richardson
-
- Members of the beef team compete during the tug-of-war at the end of Battle of the Barns against the dairy team for the championship.
-
- Battle of the Barns involved a number of challenges, including the wheelbarrow race. Here members of the goat team are shown.
-
- Kids also raced to squeeze water from a sponge into a cup, with some beef team members shown here.
-
- A member of the poultry/rabbit/llama team balances cookies on his head during another Battle of the Barns challenge.
-
- Before the cookie stack challenge, the Kosciusko County 4-H King Isaac Irwin, in front, and 4-H Queen Leila Knepp demonstrate how it’s done.
-
- A member of the beef team races to carry a hay bale in another challenge.
-
- A member of the goat team hops in a sack during that race.
-
- Teams line up before the sack race.
-
- Kids throw eggs during the egg toss.
-
- 4-H members who received grand champions for their projects pose for a photo.
-
- A scholarship was given out Saturday in memory of farmer Richard Morris. Here his family stands with the recipients, Eva Everest, toward the left of the front row in the blue shirt, and Kaleb Kline, wearing the Manchester Squires shirt near the center of the front row.