The Rural Voice, 1982-03, Page 32THE YOUNG FARMER
A queen's life is a busy one
by Debbie Ranney
Dianne Oldfield must have what it takes
when it comes to entering competitions in
Huron County.
Dianne, who is from Seaforth, who
chosen as Huron County's Queen of the
Furrow this year and last year held the
title of Huron County Dairy Princess. She
had also entered the Dairy Princess
competition the year before that.
She entered the competition for Dairy
Princess after talking to Len McGregor,
the former 4-H co-ordinator for Huron
County. Her involvement in the Queen of
the Furrow competition after hearing
about it and talking with people who were
in the Plowmen's Association and invol-
ved with it.
She says she entered the Dairy Princess
competition the second year because, "I
enjoyed the competition the first year. 1
thought it was really good. I had hoped
some day to be Huron County Dairy
Princess and I decided to try again to see if
I could be."
In her duties so far as Huron County's
Queen of the Furrow, she has been in the
Seaforth fair parade and attended the
annual banquet of the Huron County
Plowmen in October.
"Attending the fairs seems to be a main
part of the Oueen's duties," Dianne said.
One common factor she has found in
both the Queen of the Furrow and Dairy
Princess competition is that they look for
the qualities of personality and speaking
abilities.
In the Dairy Princess competition. 65
points out of 100 are given for a 15 minute
long interview, 35 marks are for a
prepared speech on the dairy industry and
the remainder is given for some type of
public appearance at the competition such
as an impromptu speech. In the Queen of
the Furrow competition, there's less
emphasis on the interview and a little
more on prepared speech also a mark for
plowing ability.
This fall, Dianne will be competing in
Lucan at the International Plowing Match.
All of the Queen of the Furrows in Ontario
will be competing for the title. Queen of
the Furrow, '82-'83.
Dianne said the Queen of the Furrow
and Dairy Princess is really good experi-
ence.
"Even the competition is good. It helps
in public speaking and everything a lot."
In regard to her stint as Dairy Princess,
she said, "There is a fair amount of
activities and meetings to attend. I really
enjoyed them."
She was in two parades and also helped
The new 4-H agricutlural club leaders in Huron County were elected in Clinton
recently. Members are [front row from left]: Maurice Hallahan, secretary -
treasurer; John Van Vliet, president. Back row: Ken Mewhinney, past president:
Brian Oldfield, 1st vice-president; Les Falconer, 2nd vice-president.
[Photo by Campbell]
PG. 30 THE RURAL VOICE/MARCH 1982
to hand out ribbons at the Huron County
Holstein Show in Clinton. The main
activity of the Dairy Princess though, is
school visits. Dianne said she made a
fairly good attempt to visit most of the
schools in the county and talk to the
primary grades about milk. She went to 19
schools.
In August, the Dairy Princess in each
county competes for the title of Dairy
Princess at the C.N.E.
There the competition is fairly strong,
but Dianne says, "it's certainly an
interesting experience you'd never have
any other way.
At the C.N.E. competition, interviews
goon all day. In the evening, the girls give
impromptu speeches.
In order to enter the Dairy Princess
competition. the girl has to live on a dairy
farm and for the Queen of the Furrow
competition she can come from any type of
farm.
Currently. Dianne works as a bookkeep-
er at Huron Dairy Equipment, just outside
of Seaforth. She just started there
recently, but says it hasn't interfered at all
with her duties as Queen of the Furrow.
Competing for the title of Dairy Princess
was the first competition of that type that
Dianne had ever entered.
fir*
RALHEN
HAMPSHIRES
Registered R.O.P.
breeding stock
RALPH HENDERSON
R.R. 1, Atwood, Ont.
(519) 356-2656