Help the Fox Chase Livestock Club

In Philadelphia there are 20 young people who belong to a livestock club. Most people think 4H clubs consist of children in rural areas They are mistaken. Ours is however the only urban livestock club in our region. Our members raise lambs, piglets, goats, and steer. Twice a year they show their animals. In January they compete against other children from Pennsylvania at the State Farm Show. Other competing, children 8 to 18, often have access to their animals on their own property. The Fox Chase Farm Livestock club have housed their animals on the Fox Chase Farm for over 30 years. Our kids are located in the city of Philadelphia where it is not permissible to house farm animals and livestock on residential property. The farm is leased to the Philadelphia School District. We have not previously paid to be on the property. Our access was Monday to Friday after school hours until 7PM and 9 to 5 on the weekends.

This would be when the children and their parent or guardian would do their farm chores and work with their individual animals. This allowed the children to bond with the animals and gain their trust. When showing young animals the control in the sow ring comes from the bond that is built. On a personal note, my son came in 3rd place 2 years in a row at the state event. We had hopes of placing higher this year.

We were given notice shortly before we returned from our summer break that we were going to have to pay for our access hours. At this point the animals we were taking to Farm Show had been purchased from the breeders. Nearly 12 weeks late we finally reached an agreement to get our animals on the farm with extremely curtailed access. We were only able to afford 1 hour a day during the week and 2 hours on Saturdays, which also included our club meeting time. So we essentially went from 40 hours a week to less than 10 (and we pay for an extra 6 hours for custodial services) of access to the farm. This is barely enough time to feed the animals and clean the pens. It allows no time to handle and bond with the animals.

Our club’s existence is in jeopardy. We exist on donations and fundraising at festivals held on the farm. We also receive occasional matching donations from some corporations. Our families provide their own equipment and in kind labor. We have adult volunteers that assist with pen repairs and providing transportation of animals and feed and hay. Our club manages to pay for breeder cost, feed, vet bills, and insurance. But with the addition of the access charges we do not have those funds on hand.

I have started a Go Fund Me page to help us get enough money so that we can add hours to this project period. We are also looking for another location to be the home to our club if we cannot get a reprieve on the fees.

Donate to our club by clicking the link below or donate directly on his page. And don’t forget to share the link!

https://gofund.me/8c7ea8ce