High-tech eye image machine way of keeping 4-H'ers honest

Plymouth County 4-H exhibitors prepared lambs Saturday using a new retinal imaging machine that takes a picture of the animal's eye to help with identification. From left are Randy Riediger, 4-H parent, Mitchell Hoefling, 4-H member from Lincoln Toppers 4-H Club and Jeff Klemme, 4-H sheep superintendent. [Click to enlarge]

A new retinal image machine that takes a picture of an animal's eye made identifying lambs easier as 4-H'ers prepared for this year's Plymouth County Fair.

On Saturday about 46 4-H exhibitors brought their lambs to the fairgrounds to be identified, weighed and tagged.

A retinal image machine was used to take a picture of each lamb's unique retina and those images will be stored on a memory disk and sent to the Iowa 4-H Office for safekeeping.

That way if show officials have any questions as to whether ownership of the sheep has changed between initial weigh-in and the fair a new retinal image can be taken and compared with the original, according to Carol Schneider, Plymouth County Extension education director.

Before the retinal image machine, sheep were identified through their nose print, which is also unique to each animal, but it can be difficult to determine accuracy.

"It's more time consuming and more debatable," Schneider said. "Plus we have to have someone trained to read that nose print and draw the conclusion."

There have been no questions about ownership in Plymouth County during fair time, but it has happened elsewhere, she said.

"There have been instances when livestock owners have not maintained ownership of their animal or mutually owned an animal with someone else," Schneider said. "And that's not fair."

The point of showing animals at the fair, which runs July 23-27, is so the exhibitor learns about feeding, training and caring for it and then competing with others, Schneider said.

The retinal image machine cost $2,500, which was split between the Plymouth County and Woodbury 4-H programs. It was also used last December when the calves were identified for the fair.

In addition to having the lamb's retinal image taken Saturday, the animals were also weighed and a tag was put in their ear with an identification number indicating the lamb is from a Plymouth County 4-H project.

"It's just a way of identifying at the fair," Schneider said. "It's a way for the kids to keep track of each individual animal."

Exibitors can enter up to 15 lambs each as part of their 4-H project.

There are nearly 500 young people in grades 4-12 enrolled as 4-H members in Plymouth County.