Triple the fun

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Osborne triplets Aundrea, Kiersten and Makaila, talk about their 30 combined years in 4-H

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The Osbornes will be completing their 28th, 29th and 30th years in 4-H as triplets Aundrea, Kiersten and Makaila enter their 10th and final year in the program. The young women are the daughters of Kyle and Monica Osborne of Westfield and the first set of 10-year-member triplets in Hamilton County since Christina, Joshua and Matthew Moore more than a decade ago.

“It’s very rewarding. Most kids don’t get to be a 10-year member or experience 4-H life and farm life,” said Aundrea. “It helped teach me responsibility, growing up taking care of animals.”

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The girls show their pygmy goats in 2003.

Having one 4-H’er at the fair can be crazy, but having three is chaotic. Because the girls worked on the same project and helped each other out, life was a little easier. Each has been a 10-year member of the Harey Hoppers 4-H Club and shown pygmy goats every year. They also participated in arts and crafts, beef cattle, bucket calf, crops, foods and rabbits projects for a number of years, and have taken home numerous Grand, Reserve Grand and Champion ribbons.

“I like goats and cattle,” Kiersten said, adding that picking out recipes for foods projects was also enjoyable.

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Makaila competing in last year's Supreme Showmanship contest

“I like doing ‘making’ projects, which I haven’t done in awhile because it takes a lot of time,” added Aundrea.

4-H has helped Kiersten in independence and social skills, but all three admit the best part of being a member is making new friends.

“Just hanging around with friends, getting to know new people,” said Aundrea. “All in all, it was a good experience to have.”

“It’s definitely been eventful,” Makaila said of her 10 years. “It’s made me who I am because I got into beef cattle my third year and now I’m going to raise cattle and show calves. . . When I started out, I really liked goats. You could ask me a question about a goat and I could tell you the answer. As time went on, I started to drift away. Cattle is definitely my passion.”

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Aundra showing her dairy steer at age 12.

In addition to their other projects, the triplets will show seven beef cattle on Monday – all of which come from Makaila’s own stock.

“It’s going to be a long day,” she said.

Monica said she is glad her girls had the opportunity to have livestock, something a lot of kids these days don’t get to have.

“There is such pride in raising you own animals for show,” she said. “4-H is more like a lifestyle. The animals have been with us a long time. It’s promoted lots of family time. It’s not all fun; it’s a lot of work with great rewards.”

Monica said she kept it together during graduation, but reminiscing about how much the girls have changed in the past decade brought tears to her eyes.

“The girls have always been great kids, but being in 4-H and being raised on a farm, there is so much work to do. They have learned a lot of lifelong lessons that they didn’t even know they were learning at the time,” continued Monica. “Kyle and I hope they carry over to their own families. . . We are very proud of our 10-year members. They have turned into such wonderful young ladies!”

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Keirsten showing rabbits.

Of her girls, Monica said the three now have different attitudes about the 4-H – Makaila is serious, Aundrea enjoys the social aspect and Kiersten has fun. When asked about their favorite 4-H memory, each answer falls right in line: Makaila participated in Supreme Showmanship as the beef cattle representative and has competed twice in Royal Showmanship as the Pygmy Goat winner. Aundrea’s favorite fair memory is the Farmer’s Olympics, a group contest with silly games and races. Kiersten exhibited in the Foods Auction and sold her frozen strawberries.

“Out of all of us, I’m the one that is the most competitive,” Makaila said.

“It kind of gets sad at times. Makaila usually wins more than me. It helps us compete and be better than one another,” added Aundrea. “Makaila is more into it now. I sit back and watch.”

The three recently graduated from Westfield High School and will go their separate ways this fall.

Kiersten is active in the Westfield High School Best Buddies program. Monica said she will return to WHS for at least one more year. Aundrea has studied business at J. Everett Light Career Center and plans to go into cosmetology. Makaila also attended J. Everett Light to become a veterinary assistant and was inducted into the Technical Honor Society. She plans to attend Lake Land Collage to study livestock productions.

“If I hadn’t been in 4-H, I don’t know who I’d be or what I’d be doing,” she said.


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