Knox County

Well today marks a week that we have been working from home and trying to balance work and home life.  It has proved to have a few challenges but I am sure all of you are feeling those as well.  But like we had stated early on, this does not change our focus that we are here to help you and give your our support any way we can.  You are still able to call us and Sarah Chain, our newest Office Associate, will be answering the phone and directing messages to either Jana or I during our normal business hours of Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  We have our computers at home and can be reached by email.

I know there are STILL so many unanswered questions.  Jana and I received an update this week that we are having to cancel, postpone or switch things to a virtual status until May 15 now.  That also means that as volunteers you can not have face to face club meetings/horse ride-outs until that point.  We are so very sorry for this!  And unfortunately, as with everything lately, that could change again.  So many things are out of our control.  This is a mandate from the Ohio State University Extension Administrative Cabinet.  Just remember we are all in this together and all counties in Ohio are having to abide by the same mandates.

Virtual Update:  Jana, Samantha, and I decided that it might be helpful if all of you had an opportunity to talk to us virtually and ask any questions that might still not be answered for you or if you need help with trying to navigate from this point forward.  We are going to set up three Zoom sessions next week: Monday March 30 at 2 p.m., Tuesday, March 31 at 10 a.m., and Wednesday, April 1 at 6 p.m.  You will all be sent the log-in information for those sessions on Friday afternoon.

From our State 4-H Leader, Kirk Bloir: The move to virtual meetings seems to be working for many of our families, but we recognize it doesn’t work for everyone due to accessibility issues in parts of the state. We are continuing to explore options and will share more in the next few weeks. In the meantime, there are tip sheets for club leaders with options and ideas for holding virtual club meetings at go.osu.edu/4hadvisorinfo; we will continue adding information to this site.

4-H Project Books:  We will not be able to do project book distribution next week due to the “Stay at Home” order from Governor DeWine.  The State 4-H Office will be sharing plans with us at the beginning of next week and how we will be able to proceed.  We do ask that you continue to prepare your book orders.  You can submit it by mailing the form, emailing it to us, or sticking it in the mailbox at the bottom of our steps at our office.  We will ask at this point that if we can move forward with this, that no individual book orders will be taken, only club orders.

4-H Enrollment: Jana and I have decided to stick to the latest Knox County 4-H Enrollment deadline of Monday, April 27 at Midnight.  Please encourage members to be working on their 4-HOnline profiles and getting that complete (we still have ~400 inactive members from last year that have not completed profiles for 2020).  If they need help, have them reach out to me and I can guide them through that process.  Also, that means we will accept new members until April 27 as well.  Club paperwork will not be due until April 27.

Quality Assurance:  Quality Assurance is still going to be a requirement for junior exhibition in 2020 per the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA).  Knox County has extended the training deadline to complete this from June 1 to July 1.  So here is our plan:

• The two Quality Assurance sessions for April have been cancelled.
• The two Quality Assurance sessions for May have now been cancelled.
• We are planning on scheduling sessions in June.  Those dates will be announced at a later time.
• Quality Assurance test-out will continued to be offered during all sessions that are face-to-face (June).
• Other options are being explored at the state level.  I am serving on a committee that will be looking at other virtual options to help us through this unprecedented time.  We will be meeting sometime next week to develop a plan.  I will keep you posted.
• For 2020 ONLY, ODA has allowed livestock exhibitors (ages 8-19) to utilize the YQCA online training modules to fulfill the requirements of Quality Assurance.
  • There is a cost ($12) to each exhibitor that would like to utilize this option in order to complete their certification. It is payable online by credit card after the member has successfully completed the training and test.
  • In order to gain access, please email Andrea at rees.139@osu.edu for her to send the instructions on how to log on and complete this process.
  • After completion, another email to Andrea will be required with the certification number in order for her to mark your Quality Assurance as complete for 2020.
  • This will only count for 2020 and there is no multi-year test-out option.

Hog Tags:  Obviously, with the April QA sessions being cancelled, the opportunity to purchase hog tags at that time has gone away.  Here is the plan to still get your hog tags and meet the appropriate deadlines:

• Please email Andrea (rees.139@osu.edu) with the swine exhibitor’s name and how many hog tags that exhibitor will need by April 10.  If you have multiple exhibitors that you will be ordering for, please list each name separately and put the number of tags requested by each one.
• The order will then be processed, tags will be placed in a baggie with the needed paperwork attached.
• You will be able to come to the Knox County Fairgrounds on Thursday, April 16 or Monday, April 20 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. to pick your order up as a drive-thru system.  You will pull up, state the last name of the order(s) being picked up, and they will be handed to you while you are still in your car.  Exact money will be required ($5 per pig) by cash or check (made payable to Knox County Agricultural Society).
• Paperwork and pictures will be due by Friday, June 5 to the OSU Extension Office at 5 p.m. or bring to the Knox County Senior Fair Board office between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 6.
• If you would like to upload your pictures to 4-HOnline you can do that in your profile.  A step-by-step explanation of this process will be forth coming.

Broiler Orders:  Samantha and I talked at length yesterday and felt that it is in the best interest of everyone if we keep the established dates for Broiler Pool orders.  All members who have and will still be enrolling with the Market Chicken project will get an email directly with the order form and where to send that by the May deadline.

As always, please check our blog, Facebook, and website for continual updates.

• Knox County Ag News Blog: https://u.osu.edu/knoxcountyag/
• Knox County 4-H Blog: https://u.osu.edu/4hknoxcounty/
• Knox County OSU Extension Website: https://knox.osu.edu/
• Knox County OSU Extension Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/OSUEKnox/

As always, please feel free to reach out to us with questions and concerns.

Update: COVID 19 Update March 26