Raising, Bonding, Betraying: The Dark Side of 4-H’s Animal Program
What do you do over summer break? Go on vacation? Binge a new show? Maybe you made a new friend and spent every day together. Now imagine that at the end of the summer, you were forced to send that friend away to be killed—and told to be proud of it.
Unless you’re a member of 4-H, that scenario probably sounds unthinkable.
The Problem Hiding in Plain Sight
Summer is peak fair season, bringing together families, food vendors, and livestock shows. For kids in agricultural programs like 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA), these fairs mark the final stage of a process where animals they have raised, cared for, and bonded with are judged and then auctioned off, usually for slaughter.
Social media is flooded with posts from proud 4-H members showcasing their animals.
What these posts don’t say is that the animal wasn’t just a project. They were not just a collection of pounds and dollars. They were an individual with their own personality, capable of forming bonds, feeling fear, and wanting to live.
What 4-H Really Teaches
At first glance, 4-H appears to be a program that teaches responsibility, care, and respect for animals. In reality, it trains young people to suppress empathy and accept a system that treats living beings as commodities.
From the beginning, members are taught to view animals in terms of profit rather than individuality. They learn to:
Identify different cuts of meat on their animals.
Feed and groom them in ways that maximize their market value.
Present them at auctions where they are judged by their flesh rather than their character.
Think about that. Kids are not learning to respect the animals in front of them. They are learning how to market body parts.
The Ultimate Betrayal
By the time fair season arrives, these kids have spent months with their animals. They’ve woken up early to feed them, cleaned their stalls, and likely talked to them in moments of quiet. They’ve built a bond, whether they admit it or not.
Then comes the auction, where they are expected to smile as their animals are sold to the highest bidder. Most of those buyers are slaughterhouse representatives or farmers looking to maximize profit.
I have spoken with former 4-H participants who describe crying themselves to sleep the night their animal was taken away. Some fought to save them. Others were told to toughen up, that "this is just how it works."
But why should it work this way?
A Broken System Masquerading as Education
4-H has the potential to be an incredible program. It already offers leadership development, gardening, and expressive arts—activities that encourage creativity, responsibility, and real compassion.
Instead, the livestock projects train kids to suppress their natural empathy, to see animals as products rather than companions. They are told that emotional detachment is a sign of maturity. That crying when an animal is taken to slaughter is weakness.
I don’t see it that way. Strength is not measured by how well you can ignore suffering. Real strength is standing up when something feels wrong.
There’s a Better Way: Ethical Alternatives to 4-H
This system does not need to exist. There are already alternative programs, like Leaders for Ethics, Animals, and the Planet (LEAP), that provide students with the same opportunities as 4-H, without forcing them to betray the animals they care for.
LEAP allows kids to:
Work with animals in a way that respects their lives.
Learn from experienced mentors and experts.
Participate in educational programs and hands-on projects.
Most importantly, LEAP teaches kids that having empathy for animals is a strength, not a weakness. It rejects the idea that ignoring suffering is a necessary step toward adulthood.
What You Can Do
If you’re in 4-H, you have a choice. You don’t have to go along with the system just because it’s what you were taught. There are plenty of stories of kids in 4-H and FFA who took a stand, refused to send their animals to slaughter, and changed the course of their lives because of it.
If you have an animal in 4-H, fight for them. Speak up. Find them a home instead of handing them over to the highest bidder.
If you believe kids should learn responsibility without learning to ignore their compassion, support programs like LEAP and push for ethical alternatives in your community.
If you believe animals deserve better than being reduced to pounds of meat, pledge to never participate in their suffering.
4-H asks members to pledge their head, heart, hands, and health to their community. That promise should include the animals they raise too.
