Updates

Current 4-H & Junior Fair Updates (06/06/2020)

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Please see a few updates below that pertain to 4-H and Junior Fair:

Adding Animals to 4HOnline and FairEntry

We know that some of you and your 4-H members have been experiencing difficulties with adding animals to the 4HOnline profiles today.  Because there was an issue (which is now resolved) and we do not want to cause unnecessary stress to anyone during already stressful times, we are going to allow an extension with getting animals input into 4HOnline through Monday at 12 Noon.  We will then do a roll over in the system Monday afternoon to FairEntry.  On Tuesday (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), we are holding an in-person help session for FairEntry and work out any kinks we may see and open it to everyone on Wednesday morning.  We are wanting to make this as seamless as possible and with all of the bumps in the road it unfortunately has delayed us again slightly.

 

Miscellaneous/Food & Nutrition/Rocket/Clothing Judging

Jana is still moving forward with a face to face judging on Wednesday, July 15 for these projects.  This year there will be no displays in the booth building.  But as long as members have their project judged on July 15 they will receive a premium by mail after the fair.  Your members can also take a home project and take the project again next year without any penalty.

 

Livestock Interview Judging

This will take place on Monday, July 13 and Monday, July 20 from 1 to 6 p.m.

  • This is mandatory for all market projects that would like to exhibit at the fair this year.
  • Animal breeding projects and horse projects can complete this step (details to follow soon) and will also receive a premium by mail after the fair.

Thank you for your continued support and patience,

Andrea, Jana, and Samantha

 

2020 4-H & Junior Fair Equine Update

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Knox County 4-H Equine Update

Equine Paperwork

The 2020 Equine Packet has been uploaded to a folder in a location called BuckeyeBox.  All volunteers have been given access to this folder.  As families have inquired, Andrea has also given them permission to access.  If you would like access, please email Andrea so she can share the folder with you.

Forms due by May 5 at 7 p.m.

  • 2020 Horse Identification paper(s) with picture
  • 2020 Permission to Participate
  • 2020 PAS Form with 2020 OSF Show Schedule attached with classes highlighted you want to be considered for
  • 2020 Horse Lease Agreement (if applicable)

Forms can be turned in by the following methods:

Performance Against Standards (PAS) Show

Dr. Kim Cole and Ohio State Fair have lifted the ruling that youth need to qualify at the county level in order to participate at the Ohio State Fair Junior Fair Horse show for 2020 only.  Lauren and Andrea are putting together a county requirement that youth will have to pass for Andrea to sign off on your OSF entry.  In order to even be considered for the Ohio State Fair, youth must still turn in their PAS form by the deadline like in years past.  More information will be coming soon.

1st Year Equine Clinic

Due to the restrictions that have been put in place, the 1st Year Equine Clinic will not happen for 2020.  Youth who are in their first year must attend a Horse Quality Assurance session this year to meet the requirements for attending the Knox County Junior Fair.

Horse Quality Assurance

All members attending the Knox County Junior Fair with their horse and/or other species will need to complete at least one Quality Assurance session for 2020 in order to be eligible to show at the fair this year (plus other criteria).

  • 1st Year horse exhibitors with only a horse will need to complete a Horse QA session
  • 1st Year horse exhibitors with a horse and a market animal will need to complete a Horse QA session and a Livestock QA session
  • Youth will only a horse (2nd year+) will need to a complete a Horse QA session
  • Youth will a horse (2nd year+) and a market animal will need to complete a Livestock QA session

Horse Quality Assurance – test out for horse exhibitors 15 years old and older has been postponed until 2021

Horse QA will be offered by Zoom on the following dates:

  • Wednesday, April 29 – 1 p.m.
  • Tuesday, May 5 – 5 p.m.
  • Friday, May 8 – 4 p.m.
  • Monday, May 11 – 7 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 16 – 10 a.m.
  • Thursday, May 21 – 6 p.m.

Youth members will need to access the following survey: https://go.osu.edu/knoxcohorseqareg to sign up for the session they would like.  Each session will be limited to 20 members.

Livestock Quality Assurance

Livestock QA will be offered by Zoom on the following dates:

  • Thursday, April 30 – 3 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 2 – 1 p.m.
  • Wednesday, May 6 – 6 p.m.
  • Monday, May 11 – 4 p.m.
  • Friday, May 15 – 4 p.m.
  • Tuesday, May 19 – 5 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 23 – 10 a.m.
  • Wednesday, May 27 – 5 p.m.
  • Tuesday, June 2 – 6 p.m.
  • Thursday, June 11 – 2 p.m.

Youth members will need to access the following survey: https://go.osu.edu/knoxcolivestockqareg to sign up for the session they would like.  Each session will be limited to 40 members.

Livestock Quality Assurance Test Out

This option will be available to youth exhibitors (non-equine) 15 years old and older as of January 1.  It will be offered during a Zoom session that will be hosted through OSU.  The test out dates will be:

  • Monday, June 1 – 3 p.m.
  • Wednesday, June 3 – 3 p.m.
  • Saturday, June 6 – 10 a.m.
  • Saturday, June 6 – 2 p.m.

Youth members will need to access the following survey: https://go.osu.edu/knoxcoqatestout to sign up for the session they would like.  Each session will be limited to 16 members.

Knox Junior Equine Update

Ride-Outs

Per OSU Extension, 4-H clubs are not allowed to meet face to face until after July 6.  Lauren has put together a Google Sheet for families to sign up to go to fairgrounds and get riding time once the Stay at Home order is lifted. The example sheet is posted in BuckeyeBox and was attached in an email all volunteers received on April 14.  Lauren will not take names, times or so on until ban is lifted! The sign ups will close the night before and a master will be posted on the Facebook page.

Virtual Horse Shows

The virtual horse shows have started. Lauren will post a pattern on the Equine Committee Facebook page. Please comment your pattern and email. Pointers, judges’ cards so on so forth will be sent to that email. Participants will be in the running for a drawing during fair week for a prize. One entry per submitted pattern.

Fence Contracts

Please work on fence contracts. We are changing it to 4 years for anyone who renews or signs up on a 2020 fence contract. Still $100.00.

Facebook

Lauren will be utilizing the Facebook page even more to post schedules, class sign ups, patterns, box stall requests, last ride, national anthem sign ups so on and so forth. They can be turned in at anytime to Lauren Smith at 5880 Possum Street, Mount Vernon, OH 43050 or by email, phone pictures in text, messenger on mine or equine page. Paper version you want to hand to me will be due by July 14th. If sending over text or email, please make sure to tell me your name so I know who I’m getting it from. Contact information at bottom.

Junior Fair Paperwork

All the following paperwork can be found in an email that Lauren sent out on April 14 or it is uploaded to the Horse BuckeyeBox folder.  If you need access, please contact Andrea

  • 2020 Fair Week Bunkhouse Duty
  • 2020 Box Stall Request – Due by July 7
  • 2020 Fair Week National Anthem – Due by June 2
  • 2020 Last Ride – Due by July 7
  • 2020 Pre-Fair Sign-Up
  • 2020 Club Line Up – Due to Tami Vaughn by July 24
  • 2020 Family Arena Time

2020 Horse Quality Assurance Update

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Horse Quality Assurance Designations

All members attending the Knox County Junior Fair with their horse and/or other species will need to complete at least one Quality Assurance session for 2020 in order to be eligible to show at the fair this year (plus other criteria).

  • 1st Year horse exhibitors with only a horse will need to complete a Horse QA session
  • 1st Year horse exhibitors with a horse and a market animal will need to complete a Horse QA session and a Livestock QA session
  • Youth will only a horse (2nd year+) will need to a complete a Horse QA session
  • Youth will a horse (2nd year+) and a market animal will need to complete a Livestock QA session

Horse Quality Assurance – test out for horse exhibitors 15 years old and older has been postponed until 2021

Horse QA will be offered by Zoom on the following dates:

  • Wednesday, April 29 – 1 p.m.
  • Tuesday, May 5 – 5 p.m.
  • Friday, May 8 – 4 p.m.
  • Monday, May 11 – 7 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 16 – 10 a.m.
  • Thursday, May 21 – 6 p.m.

Youth members will need to access the following survey: https://go.osu.edu/knoxcohorseqareg to sign up for the session they would like.  Each session will be limited to 30 members.

Knox County 4-H Updates for April 13, 2020

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Jana and I have put together some updates in a few areas that I am sure you and your families have been wondering about.  The topics that are covered are:

  • Enrollment
  • 4-H Club Meetings
  • Project Books
  • 4-H Camp
  • Still Project Judging
  • 4-H Horse Paperwork
  • Quality Assurance

More specific Junior Fair details will be forth coming once more concrete decisions are made.

Please let us know if you have questions or concerns.

Update: COVID 19 Update April 13 – KC 4-H

 

Knox County 4-H Updates for March 26, 2020

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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.

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

Update: COVID 19 Update March 26

General Knox County 4-H Updates – March 19, 2020

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Well today starts the first day, that our office is officially closed and all staff is now required to work from home until further notice.  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 have been working with the necessary individuals to try and get you answers.  We know the biggest one is project books.  We sat down yesterday and came up with a plan that we submitted to the state that had no human interaction that we felt would be a feasible for clubs to order books and get them picked up.  The good and the bad…….the state liked the plan but will not let us implement it until MAYBE March 31.  That is the date the state will look at the status of our society and let us know if we can implement that plan as soon as April 1.  So we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to move forward with our plan at that time.  So in the meantime, please go ahead and prepare your club book order and 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.

This is just another friendly reminder that we are extending the Knox County 4-H Enrollment deadline until Monday, April 27 at Midnight.  Please encourage members to be working on their 4-HOnline profiles and getting that complete.  If they need help, have them reach out to me and I can guide them through that.  Also, that means we will accept new members until April 27 as well.  Club paperwork will not be due until April 27.

Some decisions were made last night in terms of the Knox County Junior Fair.  Those details will be forth coming today hopefully addressing any questions that may surround Quality Assurance and Hog Tags.  Please stay tuned with that information.

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

Update: COVID 19 Update March 19

Crucial 4-H Update

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As you may be aware, The Ohio State University has announced the suspension of face-to-face instruction of lectures, discussion sections, seminars, and other similar classroom settings, and the move to virtual instruction effective immediately and through at least Monday, March 30. This also trickles down to the Knox County OSU Extension Office and the clientele that we serve.

We have been instructed that we are to cancel all face to face meetings county-wide that are non-essential until March 30.  Unfortunately, that means that all 4-H clubs in Knox County must cancel all of their meetings until March 30.  Any meetings scheduled after that can go on as planned.  However, evolving situations may require us to extend this deadline.  We know that there are numerous clubs that were scheduled to have meetings the rest of this week and weekend to work on completing 4-HOnline enrollment that is set for Monday, March 16.  Due to the extenuating circumstances, as a county we are going to extend the enrollment deadline until Monday, April 13.  That would include turning in all of the club paperwork as well.

One of the best ways to prevent the spread of viral illnesses is to minimize the circumstances in which individuals might interact and transmit the diseases.

The safety of our community is our top priority. We realize that our COVID-19 policy guidelines will cause disruption, but the risk of not acting outweighs the inconvenience of these temporary measures. We will share updates as more information becomes available. Learn how we’re working to keep our communities safe.

Jana and I encourage that if you have any questions to contact us directly and we will do our best to answer your questions and address your concerns.

Thank you for the understanding,

Andrea