The Adams County Junior Fair will host separate market hog and goat clinics and a Quality Assurance session on Saturday, March 16th at the Adams County Fairgrounds Administration building. The market hog clinic will begin at 9 a.m. followed by Quality Assurance at 10:45 a.m. and the goat clinic at noon. Exhibitors are encouraged to attend at least one of the clinics and must be present for the entirety of the Quality Assurance session in order to meet the annual requirement to exhibit. There will be additional opportunities for Quality Assurance on April 16 and May 6 and 7.

The market hog clinician will be Tonya Fender. Tonya is from Lynchburg, Ohio where she grew up and is currently a business partner on her family’s show-pig operation where they have 90 head of sows and sell show-pigs year-round to 4-H and FFA exhibitors across the country. In addition, Tonya works full-time for The Wendt Group, also known as showpig.com, assisting with everyday business operations. She is a 2015 graduate of The Ohio State University in Agricultural Communications and a 2013 graduate of Lake Land College in Mattoon, Illinois where she was a competitive member of both livestock judging teams. Tonya has shown pigs for the past 22 years all over the nation and was a member of the National Junior Swine Association Board of Directors, the National Junior Swine Association, 4-H and FFA programs.

The goat clinic clinicians will be Leanne and Melanie Fuhrmann. Leanne, a lifelong 4-H member parent and advisor, grew up in northern Indiana and graduated from Purdue University where she met her husband Paul. She was instrumental in developing the Laporte County, Indiana 4-H goat projects almost 40 years ago. Since 1992 she has been the Scioto goat project leader and representative of the Scioto county 4-H market and breeding committee, as well as, club advisor and mother of 5, now 14 year 4-H alumni. They have been raising Boer goats for 4-H market and breeding projects for almost 20 years now. They currently have 30 breeding does and about 50 kids.

Melanie Fuhrmann is a junior at OSU majoring in community leadership- community and extension leadership with aspirations of becoming a 4-H educator. She is a 14 year 4-H alumni and current advisor and has shown Boer goats her entire 4-H career. She was selected as the Ohio 4-H goat project achievement winner in 2014. In addition to raising Boer goats, the Fuhrmann family also own and operate Fuhrmann Orchards LLC where they raise over 100 acres of apples, peaches, fresh flowers and vegetables.

The livestock clinics have been scheduled to help 4-H and FFA members enrolled in goat or hog projects learn the skills needed to successfully raise and show their projects at the 2019 Adams County Fair. As always, it is important for members and their families to keep their project goal in mind: to successfully raise, exhibit, and market a high quality, safe, market-ready food product. Again in 2019, all market animals, regardless of species, will need to make weight at fair weigh-ins in July in order to compete for champion and to sell in the Fair’s Livestock Sale.

The Junior Fair Clinics are open to all interested 4-H and FFA members from Adams and neighboring counties. Youth will need to arrive and register about 15 minutes prior to the start of the clinic. Clinics target younger or less experienced project members, although any member is welcome. For more information about the clinic or any of the OSU Extension youth educational programs, contact Kristy Watters at watters.92@osu.edu or via telephone at 937.544.2339.

4-H, the positive youth development program of The Ohio State University, is open to all eligible youth without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or disability.

ID cards and official Adams County Fair ear tags may be picked up at the Market Hog Clinic on March 16 at the Fairgrounds or at the Extension Office during regular business hours beginning Monday, March 11. An advisor, friend, or parent may pick up forms and tags. You do not have to pick them up yourself.  The possession deadline for market hogs is April 15. The form asks for information regarding when and where you purchased your animal, or for the date of birth if the hog is farm bred and raised.
Taggers may be borrowed from Junior Fair Board, first come, first served. Remember to sanitize these or other borrowed pieces of equipment both before and after using them on your hogs. Borrowed taggers must be returned within 48 hours.
Tags should be placed in the animal’s left ear, unless there is a special circumstance, which should be noted on the form.
If you, club advisors, or others travel from farm to farm to tag members’ hogs, PLEASE PRACTICE BIOSECURITY! Use disposable boots and coveralls; strip and wash clothes in hot water and sanitize boots before wearing them back in your home barn; sanitize equipment between uses/farms; and so on.
Attach two or more photos to the ID card. The pictures will be used for identification purposes. Please attach one clear picture of each side of the hog. Include feet and leg markings, distinctive shoulder and butt markings, etc. If these two pictures do not show the eartag, include a third picture that does.
Completed ID cards, with all required photos and documentation, will be due back to the Extension Office by 4:00 pm on Monday, April 15. No late forms will be accepted.
Failure to tag your hogs and submit a completed form, with all required photos and documentation by April 15, will mean that you are NOT eligible to exhibit market hogs at the 2019 Fair.
No pre-fair weights will be collected on market hogs, since there will not be a centralized tag-in/weigh-in. Therefore, we will not be able to calculate rate-of-gain for market hogs and hold a production class at the fair. There will not be a Market Hog Production Champion in 2019. The Hog Outstanding Market Exhibitor for 2019 will be determined based on the exhibitor’s skillathon and showmanship placing, and the animal’s placing in its first market (type) class.
New for 2019 – Gilts and Barrows will be shown separately. The shows will run concurrently, alternating between gilt classes and barrow classes. Watch your email for more details.
If you have questions or concerns about the Market Hog Identification Process for 2019, contact Kristy Watters at the Extension Office at 937.544.2339 or via email at watters.92@osu.edu, or contact any of the Senior Fair Board Swine Committee members: Eric McCann, Jason Hupp, Jason Hesler and Nick Shreffler