Crossroads Clover Newsletter of the Victoria County 4-H Program September 2015 Paige Bar ek County Extension Agent 4 H & Youth Development Erika Bochat (bo SHAY) County Extension Agent Family and Consumer Sciences Ma Bochat (bo SHAY) County Extension Agent News and Announcements The new 4 H year starts September 1! The enrollment fee is $20/youth through October 31st. A er October 31 the enrollment fee increases to $25/youth. Each adult that registers via 4 H Connect will pay a $5 registra on fee. If you do not re enroll before September 30th, you will NOT receive the October newsle er, and may miss out on important deadlines and informa on. Please re enroll as soon as possible! Agriculture & Nat. Resources Brenda Anderson Program Assistant Be er Living for Texans DeAnne Sullivan Office Manager/4 H Secretary Tricia Simank FCS/Ag Secretary County Website: victoria.agrilife.org District Website: d114 h.tamu.edu State Website: texas4 h.tamu.edu Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Victoria County 528 Waco Circle Victoria, TX 77904 Phone: (361) 575 4581 The 1st Adult Leaders Assoc. & County Council meeting of the new 4-H year : Tuesday, September 8th at 6:00 p.m. at the 4-H Activity Center The annual Club Manager Training will be held in conjunction with this meeting, so ALL Club Managers for the 2015-2016 4-H year please plan to attend! Tickets for the annual fund raiser will be distributed to clubs at the meeting so your members can start selling them. Contact the Extension Office if you have any questions. Changes in Age / Grade Requirements for 4-H Effective with the new 4-H year, Texas 4-H will have new membership eligibility based on SCHOOL GRADE and not age. New guidelines are: Youth may participate in 4-H year from Sept. 1 of Grade Three through Aug. 31 following completion of Grade Twelve with these age restrictions: Minimum Age 8 (in addition to being in the 3rd grade) Maximum Age 18 (as of Aug. 31, 2015) 4-H Member Categories: Juniors Grades 3, 4, and 5 Intermediates Grades 6, 7, and 8 Seniors Grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 Educa onal programs of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, religion, sex, na onal origin, age, disability, gene c informa on or veteran status. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Coopera ng
Calendar September 2015 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 2015 2016 4 H Year Begins! 1 2 3 4 5 Crossroads Classic Steer & Heifer Show at Victoria Comm. Ctr. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Clothing wkshp 5:30 p.m. at Ext.Office Livestock Judging prac ce 5:30, 4 H Act. Ctr. ALA/County Council & Club Manager mtg. 6 p.m., 4 H Ac vity Center 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Foods & Nutri on workshop 5:30 pm at 4 H Ac vity Center Deadline to Order Major Show Swine Tags Washington Co. Livestock Judging Contest Pet Apprecia on Day @ TSC Crossroads Classic Steer & Heifer Show at Victoria Comm. Ctr.
4-H Projects, Activities & Newsmakers Deadline to order barrow tags for the 2016 major livestock show season is September 30th. Tags are $12 each. Call the Extension Office with the number of tags you need. Checks are payable to Victoria County 4-H. Victoria County 4 H Shoo ng Sports Ambassador Daniel Gonzales would like to make himself available to help 4 H members or answer Archery project or Rifle project ques ons. You can e mail him at: bddg@sbcglobal.net Thank you Daniel for Making the Best Be er! LIVESTOCK JUDGING September 14 Prac ce at 5:30 p.m. at 4 H Ac vity Center September 19 Washington Co. Contest Brenham September 26 Guadalupe Co. Contest Seguin E mail Paige with any ques ons. Paige.Bartek@ag.tamu.edu Be sure and read the one page informational flyers in this month s newsletter for details on the 4-H Foods & Nutrition Project and the Clothing & Textiles Project. Several workshop dates have already been set! Shotgun Project The 4 H shotgun project is open to all youth in the Victoria County 4 H program. Par cipants are required to hold membership in the Victoria 4 H Shotgun Club. Annual membership dues are $5 and are due at registra on. The Victoria 4 H Shotgun club mee ngs are held at the Victoria Skeet and Trap Club. Par cipants are required to provide their own shells and purchase their own rounds ckets. Rounds ckets are currently $4 per round and may be purchased in books of 10 for $40. Club guns will be available for use, but you are welcome to use your own if you have one. Shooters par cipa ng in the Shotgun project will have the opportunity to learn gun safety and shotgun shoo ng skills. They also will learn to shoot American Skeet, American Trap, Whiz Bang, Spor ng Clays, Interna onal Trap and Interna onal Skeet. Par cipants will also have the opportunity to par cipate in the State 4 H Shotgun Shoo ng compeon held in July, as well as other compeons throughout the year. All new members will be required to a end a safety orienta on / informa on mee ng before they can par cipate in the project. For more info on the shotgun project or to sign up for a safety orienta on please contact Shelby Kuchler at 361 935 6912. Archery Project The first mee ng / prac ce will be September 8th at 6 p.m. at Straight Arrow located at the airport area. We will have a short mee ng at 6:00 and prac ce will follow from 6:30 8:00. We will con nue to prac ce every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The cost is $50. If you do not have a bow the project has bows that can be borrowed and the coaches will set them up with one. E mail ques ons to victoria4harchery@yahoo.com We are pleased to announce the 2015-2016 Victoria County 4-H Ambassadors John Atzenhoffer Kaylie Demmer Laurent Garre Seth Garre Lane Marbach Makenna Thigpen ** Your first mee ng will be September 8th at 7:30 p.m. at the 4 H Ac vity Center (following ALA/Council)**
4 H Na onal Youth Science Day (the world s largest youth led science experiment!) Wednesday October 7th at 6:00pm at the Victoria County Extension Office. Make plans to a end!! On October 7, 2015, thousands of youth will become scien sts for the day during the eighth annual 4 H Na onal Youth Science Day (4 H NYSD) experiment. 4 H NYSD is an interac ve learning experience that seeks to spark youth interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathema cs (STEM) careers, while spotligh ng the many ways 4 H youth are engaging in 4 H science programs year round. This year s experiment, Mo on Commo on, empowers youth to explore the physics of motion and the consequences of distracted driving. This exci ng ac vity will use every day materials including a toy car, modeling clay, ruler, calculator and cell phone to inves gate speed, momentum, and kine c energy in the real world. Youth will construct a simulated runway to examine the science behind car collisions and discover how human factors, such as reac on me, affect mo on and ability to stay safe. Currently, more than 5 million young people across the na on par cipate in 4 H STEM programming in topics as varied as robo cs, rocketry, wind power, environmental science, and alterna ve energy. According to a longitudinal study conducted at Tu s University, when compared to their peers, young people involved in 4 H report higher levels of academic competence, an elevated level of engagement at school, are more likely to plan to a end college, and are two mes more likely to par cipate in STEM learning programs outside of school.
One day 4 H is one day for all the 4 H members, parents, leaders, and volunteers to step out into their communi es and county and say thank you by giving back for them more than 103 years of support to 4 H in Texas. This day of community service is what ever each 4 H members, club, or county 4 H Program wants it to be. It could be as simple as picking up trash and mowing the lawn for senior ci zens to elaborate as hos ng a 5K Walk/Run and raising money for a cause. How do you par cipate? 4 H members and their clubs/county programs should start now on iden fying and planning a community service project. Work to secure all the necessary supplies/equipment/resources to get the project done. Adver se/market your project to locate media and others in the community so they will know the difference you, and 4 H, is making. Sign your project up at the one day 4 H website Conduct your project and then report your successes at the one day 4 H website. Deadline for signing up your project is September 20th Deadline for ordering One Day 4 H t shirts is September 18th @ 5:00 p.m. To order your t shirt visit the Texas 4 H website at: h p://texas4 h.tamu.edu/oneday/
Livestock Updates Victoria Livestock Show February 22 29, 2016 Visit their website to download a copy of the 2016 rule book: h p://victorialivestockshow.com/ All market and carcass entries for the Victoria Livestock Show must be made online at their website (above) PRIOR TO TAGGING IN. The website is available now for comple ng your entries. There are deadlines for each division based on the valida on dates. They are as follows: Species Online Entry Deadline Valida on Date Market Steer / Commercial Heifer / Carcass Steer October 9th October 10th, 8:00 a. m. at Briggs Ranch in Bloomington Market Broiler / Market Rabbit October 17th Broilers arrive Jan. 13, 2016 Market Lamb / Carcass Lamb / Market Goat Market Hog / Carcass Hog / Breeding Gilt October 16th November 6th / December 4th October 17th, 8:00 a.m. at the VLS Pavilion November 7th / December 5th, 8:00 a.m. at VLS Pavilion Contact your Division Superintendent listed in the Rule Book if you have any ques ons. Major Stock Show Heifer Valida on ALL HEIFERS, including scramble heifers, par cipa ng at major livestock shows are required to validate. Heifers already validated into the program (last year) will not be required to validate in subsequent years. A heifer will only be validated once in her show career unless there is a change in ownership. Registra on papers are not required to be uploaded on site of physical valida on. The suggested best prac ce is to begin uploading papers (if available) on October 1, 2015. Bring your papers by the County Extension Office to scan for you.. Have your original registra on papers available on site at valida on to verify ta oo, brand, date of ownership, etc. Heifer valida on will not require taking nose prints because of DNA hair collec on, ta oo, brand and registra on number are verified. Ear tags will also not be used. Please call the Extension Office by September 30th if you have heifers to validate and schedule a me to bring registra on papers by to be scanned. Physical valida on will take place in October (date tba) at the Diebel Ranch off of Salem Rd. Quality Counts ALL livestock show exhibitors must have their Quality Counts number before entering any livestock show. Your QC number is good for mul ple years, unless you transi oned from 13 years of age to 14 years of age before August 31, 2015. If so, you must take the Senior level test and get your new QC number. For more informa on or to take the Quality Counts test, visit their website at: h p://agrilife.org/qualitycounts/ verifica on/ If you lose your QC number contact the Extension Office.