UNION COUNTY 4-H NEWSLETTER Club Meeting Dates July 1st Entry Deadline Summer Day Camps Pullorum Testing Fair Queen/Princess Contest Updated Sale Ring Rule 2017 WHAT S INSIDE: June 2017 Dog and Horse trainings Clover Kid Pet Show Clothing Day Communications Day Decreased Yearly Program Fee Friends of 4-H Grant Application Friends of 4-H Solicitations County-wide T-shirt FSQA Testing Options Cattlemen s Scholarships Rabbit Project Workshop Running on Tradition 5k Updated Sheet Rate of Gain Rule Youth Beef Team 4 Club Meetings Rule Calendar of Events June 2 June 3 June 5 June 5 June 6 June 6 June 8 June 8 June 10 June 12-14 June 15 June 16 June 20 June 20 June 21 June 22 June 23 June 24 June 24 LEGO League, 5:00-7:00 PM, Hometown Insurance LEGO League Showcase, 9:00-11:00 AM, Cook shack Extension Council Meeting, 5:30 PM, Extension Office Let s Get Moving! Day camp, 9:00-3:00 PM, Fairgrounds Welcome to the Grammys! 2:00-6:00 PM, McKinley Park Market Broiler Project Chick Pick-up Day! Farmers Co-op Color My World Day Camp, 9:00-3:00 PM, Fairgrounds City-wide Garage Sale, Extension Office will be participating!! Running on Tradition 5K, 4:00 PM, Fairgrounds Overnight Camp, 3 Mile Cabins in Afton Aksarben DNA, breeding heifer, horse forms to ext. office Let s Get Creative with Allison, 10:00-Noon, Maple St. Mem. Spa Day Camp, 1:00-500 PM, Trinity Lutheran Church Market Broiler Project Meeting, 7:00 PM, SWCC Ag Site Pullorum Testing for county fair, 5:30-7:30 PM, Creston Vet Clin. Cake Wars with Livi, 10:00-Noon, Trinity Lutheran Church Pet Palooza Day Camp, 9:00-3:00 PM, Trinity Lutheran Church Rabbit Project Workshop, 10:00-Noon, Extension Office Fairgrounds Work Day, 9:00 AM, Fairgrounds June 25 Communications Day, 6:00-8:00 PM, SWCC Rm 180 June 27-29 Haley Jones Union County Extension County Youth and Outreach Coordinator hjones@iastate.edu Youth Conference in Ames Like Union County Extension on Facebook at www.facebook.com/unioncounty4hia I post updates, deadlines and pictures from events here. Another source for important information! June 30 July 1st Deadline for County Fair!! Forms to Extension Office LEARN July MORE 1st AT WWW.EXTENION.IASTATE.EDU/4H/UNION State Fair Animal Entry Deadline!! Done by you on FairEntry
June Club Meetings 3 Mile Sharp Shooters: June 25th, 3:00 PM, 3 Mile Shooting Range Highland Highlights and Clover Kids: June 3rd, KSIB Tractor Ride with meeting to follow. Horse and Riders: June 9th and 23rd, 7:00 PM preceding Friday Night Horse Practice at fairgrounds Pleasant Valley Explorers and Clover Kids: June 11th, 5:00 PM, Afton City Park New Hope Boosters and Clover Kids: June 11th, 5:00 PM, 3 Mile Sand Creek Pioneers and Clover Kids: June 11th, 6:00 PM, Arispe Church Wiggles and Wags and Clover Kids: Dog Class on Friday Nights Douglas Boosters and Clover Kids: June 3rd, KSIB Tractor Ride and Roadside Cleanup Lincoln United and Clover Kids: June 8th, 6:00 PM, Potluck in McKinley Park Union County Achievers: June 9th, 10:30 AM at Bunn (Fundraiser from 8:30-10:30) Youth Council: June 11th, 8:00 PM, Afton Park Youth Beef Team The Iowa Cattlemen s Foundation Youth Beef Team is open to all youth in 7-12th grades, who are interested in promoting the beef industry. Vital issues face the beef industry today. Every student encounters information in school and from the media on food safety, animal rights, the environment and nutrition. Our goal is to equip young cattlemen and women with information they need to speak out positively for the beef industry, pointing out the advantages beef offers to our health, our environment and our economy. After attending a training session, Youth Beef Team Members are equipped to conduct beef promotional activities in their own and surrounding communities. Activities can be done on an individual or group basis. After completing a promotional activity, the member fills out an activity report form and submits it to the Cattlemen s headquarters. Each activity submitted is worth points that accumulate for yearly reward prizes. Beef Team members have many opportunites to attend education events, such as the Beef Bash, a daylong workshop held at the Beef Industry Headquarters in Ames and the Beef Scholarship Extravaganza. In addition to yearly awards, Beef Team members who are seniors are eligible to compete for a $1000.00 scholarship. Seniors submit an application, participate in a personal interview and give a presentation to beef industry professionals. Three scholarships will be awarded. The Iowa Cattlemen s Foundation sponsors the Beef Team scholarships. There will be a free informational training put on by the Iowa Cattlemens Foundation on June 20th at the Beef Meet at the SWCC Ag Site in Creston, Iowa at 2:00pm til 4:00. This is for all youth who will be entering 7th grade next fall to seniors. It is free of charge.
County Fair 2017 July 20-26, 2017 One day has been added to the fair and it begins on Thursday and ends with the livestock sale on Wednesday. The new livestock schedule has been shared via email and will be attached to this Update!! Sheep Rate of Gain Rule Deleted for 2017 During spring weigh-in we had the sheep exhibitors who were present at weigh-in vote on whether to keep or discard the current rate of gain rule which states, To qualify for a purple or blue ribbon, a market lamb must have an average daily gain of 0.5 or above. We received 19 responses from exhibitors and the results are as follows: 10-Discard the rule and 9-Keep the rule Therefore, for the 2017 county fair, the rate of gain rule as stated above, no longer applies and will be deleted from the sheep rules in the fairbook. County-Wide T-shirt, NEW! Pick them up at the office! All 4-Hers (4 th -12 th graders) will be expected to wear the traditional, green 4-H T-shirt while in the show ring or during static exhibit judging during the county fair Horse exhibitors will continue to follow the dress code as described in the 4-H fair book. The idea of a county-wide 4-H shirt is to showcase ourselves as 4-H with the traditional, green shirt that everyone knows to be 4-H. The shirt can also be worn year after year, passed down to siblings, shared among other 4-Hers in the county and is relatively inexpensive. The cost of the shirt is $7.00. Shirts are available at the extension office for pick up. Clubs are certainly welcome to design their own club t-shirts that can be worn throughout the year, during the county fair while not showing or being judged, at roadside cleanups, etc.
Friends of 4-H Solicitations Solicitation letters were sent out to the community. If you would like to contribute to the various 4-H related activities then see the attached letter and donation form. The 4-H program in Union County marked many successes in 2016 and the calendar is filled with many exciting opportunities and activities that will lead to more learning, leadership, fun and success in 2017. We re excited to share some of the developments and milestones with you, because your support is an integral part of making it all happen. Here are just a few: 260+ members enrolled for 2017 our third year of increased enrollment 9 SPIN (SPecial INterest workshops) were held in 2016 with 130 members attending one or more 4 members won 6 state awards 26 members participated in out -of -county leadership activities Nearly 80 participated in Clover Kids 3 attended Citizenship Washington Focus 25 record books completed in 2016 22 seniors graduated: 13 applied for scholarships and nine scholarships were awarded One member attended National 4-H Congress A record number of 4-H members and supporters attended the 4-H awards night Ten members attended State 4-H Conference in Ames Your contributions help fund these educational activities and leadership development experiences. -Project materials -Worthy special requests and activities -Project awards and recognition -Member insurance -Clover Kids activity supplies -Camp supplies -Registration fees for state and national -Fair trophies and awards -Enrollment fee assistance -$3,000+ in college scholarships
NEW! Decreased 4-H Yearly Fee On behalf of our Extension Council then the yearly 4-H program fee per member is now $15.00 rather than the full $30.00! Extension Council will be taking care of half of every 4-Her s yearly fee. This decreased fee goes into effect beginning September 1st, 2016. Be sure to thank a council member for their work and dedication to the 4-H program! Friends of 4-H Grant Application Opportunity Our local Friends of 4-H foundation has created a NEW grant opportunity for 4-Hers and 4-H clubs/groups for the new 4-H year! This grant was piloted by the Small Animal Committee this past spring where they were able to buy 40 new small animal cages for the barn at the fairgrounds. These cages were filled with rabbits at this past county fair. Applications are available at the extension office.
FSQA Testing Options for 7th-12th Graders For those intermediate and senior 4-H members who still need to test out for FSQA, this needs to be completed with me at the extension office by June 25th! This is for all those 7th-12th graders who did not attend our testing dates in April and need to take the test. Give me a call if you are unsure if you need testing this year or not! You will need to call or email me to set up a time to stop into the office by June 25th. The testing will take about 30 minutes. 641-782-8426 or hjones@iastate.edu Union County Fair Queen/Princess Contest 2017 The Union County Fair Queen reigns over the fair events at the Union County Fairgrounds from July 20-26 and makes special appearances at community events. The queen will also represent Union County in the 2017 Iowa State Fair with judging dates August 8-12 in Des Moines, Iowa. Miss Union County Little Princess will assist the queen in reigning over the events at the 2017 Union County Fair. Attached to this newsletter are the applications to apply for queen and princess. I have applications available in the office as well. For any questions contact Amy Rieck at rieck2000@gmail.com Deadline to apply is June 10th!! Miss Congeniality, Caitlin McIlravy; 2nd Runner Up, Ann Waigand; Princess, Kolbey Bailey; Queen, Maddie Travis; 1st Runner Up, Reilly Martinez
Updated Sale Ring Rule 2017 For the 2017 County Fair (July 20-26), the number of times a 4-Her can sell through the sale ring has been updated: A 4-Her can sell through the sale ring 4 total times. Champions and Reserves ARE IN- CLUDED in that 4 times total through the ring, they are no longer considered freebies through the ring. A Pen of Three counts as 3 times through the ring. A Pen of Three can NO LONGER be considered 1 lot through the ring. A Sale of Champions and Reserves will start the sale, those Champions and Reserves are considered part of your 4 times total through the ring. ***If you choose not to sell your Champion or Reserve then you are welcome to still take your animal through the ring in the Sale of Champions and Reserves for recognition. Sale Order 2017: Sale of Champions and Reserves, Swine, Broilers, Goats, Sheep, Beef Cattlemen s Scholarships The Union County Cattlemen s Association has scholarship opportunities available to youth this year. Please see attachments for those scholarship applications. Deadline to apply is July 1st, 2017 Beef Heifer Scholarship Open to any 4-Her who will be able to show the heifer in the 2018 county fair. Senior Beef Scholarship Open to senior beef exhibitors, must be headed to post - secondary education. For questions call Deron Shawley at 641-344-8989
July 1st Entry Deadline, County and State Fairs Your final deadline for the 4-H year is JULY 1 ST!! This is a county fair and state fair entry deadline for all animals to exhibit at those fairs. NO ENTRY, NO EXHIBITING. JUNE 30TH IS THE ENTRY DEADLINE FOR COUNTY FAIR 2017!! County Fair: Entry forms for all species can be found at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/union/4h. These forms need to be filled out and returned to the extension office by June 30th! These forms indicate what animals from your May 15th entries you plan on exhibiting at the county fair. No entry form, No exhibiting. Reminder: July 1st is the deadline for rabbits, poultry and small pets to be identified in 4-H Online as well. Reminder: Clover Kids and 4-Hers who have a bucket/bottle animal identified must fill out and return a worksheet by July 1st to the extension office. These forms can be found here. State Fair: 4-Her s must be completing 5th-12th grade to show at the State Fair. Livestock (beef, dairy cattle, dairy goat, meat goat, horse, sheep and swine), dog and horticulture entries are due July 1st. State Fair entries must be completed online. Here is a link with step by step instructions on how to do that: http:// www.extension.iastate.edu/4h/sites/www.extension.iastate.edu/files/4h/fair%20entry%20help%20sheet%202017.pdf Check your weekly emails for FULL details on both county and state fair entry processes! Pullorum Testing for Poultry Exhibits All poultry being exhibited at the Union County Fair (except Market Broiler Projects) are required by the state of Iowa to be Pullorum Tested. Testing will take place on Wednesday, June 21st from 5:30-7:30 PM at the Creston Vet Clinic. Simply bring your birds and Mindy Butcher and extension staff will take care of the rest! If you can t bring your birds then get someone lined up to bring them. NO TESTING, NO SHOWING!
Summer Day Camps!! Our AmeriCorps members have been busy planning and organizing 11 day camp and 3 workshop opportunities for youth in K-8th grades! Registration for these camps can be found at the extension office or on our website: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/union/ Members include Livi Hartman, Allison Hadley, and Macy Evans Ak-Sar-Ben Deadline June 15th All swine and feeder calf DNA need to be turned into the extension office by June 15th! All breeding beef and horse nominations forms also need to be turned into the office by June 15th! Stop by the office to pick up blank DNA envelopes to get this task taken care of ASAP! These Ak-Sar-Ben animals may or may not come from your list of animals on 4-H Online and that is OK. Check out the Aksarben website for rules, classes and schedule: http://www.aksarbenstockshow.com/p/events/stockshow
Dog Obedience and Horse Practices Dog obedience classes take place each Friday night at 7:00 PM in the show arena at the fairgrounds. Simply bring your dog on a leash and Colleen Beatty (dog leader) will lead the obedience classes with you and your dog. Open to all 4-Hers who are preparing their dog for show or who just want to work with their dogs. Horse practices take place every Friday night at 7:00 PM at the horse arena on the fairgrounds. Open to all 4-Hers who are preparing their horses for show. Bring your horse and the Horse and Rider leaders will help you work with your horses. Horse and Dog Practices do NOT count as club meetings! 4 Club Meetings Rule! 4-Hers are REQUIRED to attend at least four, regular 4-H meetings in a year in order to participate in county and/or state fair. Members are welcome to attend the 4-H meeting of any club throughout the year if you can t make it to your own. Things that do not count as meetings: Friday night dog practices Friday night horse practices FSQA trainings Fair clean up