4-H Project Information

Completing your 4-H project(s) this year!

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As we wind down from a busy 4-H year and wrap up project completion at the Fairfield County Fair in less than two months – we wanted to share a few updates about how you can be sure to complete at least one (if not all) of your 4-H projects this year!

If a 4-H member brought their project to SUMMER JUDGING or LATE JUDGING, our office has marked these projects as complete for this year. Any other “summer projects” that have been completed at the club/advisor level, by completing a club/advisor project review must be documented to our office by September 1st. If a member has not completed at least one project this year, they will not receive a year of completion as a 4-H member this year. If youth need to complete a project review on a summer project, they can share the story of his or her project at a club meeting and/or with a club advisor. Additionally, a complete project book should be reviewed by a club advisor. Full project completion guidelines are included in the Project Member Guidelines for each respective project.

If a 4-H member is planning to bring a project to the COUNTY FAIR, our office will receive completion records from the fair and your project will be complete for the year. This includes: Cakes/Pies/Candies/Pastries, Companion Animals, Dogs, Livestock, Horses. As a reminder, 4-H members who wish to complete a dog/horse/livestock project can complete Skillathon and Project Review at the county level to be marked complete for this year even if they do not exhibit these animals at the fair.

Please reach out to your 4-H club advisor if you are in need of completing a 4-H project this year at the club level by scheduling an advisor project review.

Additionally, if you DO NOT plan to complete a project this year, please contact Haley Black at black.768@osu.edu so that we can remove this from your 2024 enrollment. Thanks!

Project Books are required for EACH project coming to fair, read more:

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4-H/FFA Project Books are required for each project coming to fair.

  1. 4-H and FFA Record Books are required to be COMPLETED for each project.
  2. 4-H Members should have a NEW 4-H Record Book each year they take the project.
  3. 4-H and FFA Records Books will be reviewed at Skillathon.
    • For those who forget or don’t bring their book – the book will need to be completed and turned into the OSU Extension Office by Friday, September 20th, 2024.
    • Exhibitors who do not properly complete a record book for each of their fair projects WILL NOT be allowed to exhibit at the fair. NO EXCEPTIONS.
    • No books will be reviewed after September 22nd, 2024.

 

Project Books are required for each project coming to fair.

  • Cakes/Pies/Pastries/Candies – Bring complete/up-to-date book to judging at fair.
  • Companion Animals – Bring complete/up-to-date books for judging at fair.
  • Dogs – Bring complete/up-to-date books to You and Your Dog judging on Sunday of fair.
  • All livestock/horse completed/up-to-date project books should either be:
    1. Brought to their respective Skillathon Day (if participating in that specie’s county Skillathon), or
    2. Turned into the OSU Extension Office by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, September 20th, 2024 (if Ohio State Fair Skillathon or no county Skillathon is being completed).
  • ALL LIVESTOCK/HORSE PROJECT BOOKS WILL BE REVIEWED ON SKILLATHON DATES BY OUR BOOK JUDGES. THEY MUST BE COMPLETE IN ORDER TO SHOW AT THE FAIR.
  • INCOMPLETE BOOKS WILL HAVE FAIR ENTRIES DENIED.
  • We will not collect books or give more time for books to be finished between the last Skillathon date and fair.

Skillathons are Mandatory for Livestock/Horses/Dogs for the 2024 Fairfield County Junior Fair – Read more here!

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Skillathons are events for youth to show what they know about a species and to be recognized for their knowledge and skills. The Fairfield County Junior Fair requires the completion of at least one Skillathon per 4-H/FFA exhibitor in order to show at 2024 Fairfield County Junior Fair for all beef, dairy, goat, poultry, rabbit (except pet rabbits), sheep, swine, dog, horse, and alpaca/llama projects. Fairfield County Skillathons may include (but are not limited to) animal anatomy/body parts, breeding and reproduction, feeds and nutrition, current events, diseases and animal health, equipment ID, feed ID, Quality Assurance, breeds, marketing, meats, and recordkeeping. 2024 Fairfield County Skillathons will include breeds, parts, feed identification, a completed project/record book and an interview. 

Here are options to meet this Junior Fair requirement:

  1. Participate in a Fairfield County Skillathon event to be held September 7th and 22nd at the Fairfield County Fairgrounds. 
    • Fairfield County youth interested in competing for any Fairfield County Premier Exhibitor Award must complete the COUNTY Skillathon in eachrespective specie they play to compete in.
      • Example: Exhibitor wishes to compete for Swine Premier Exhibitor Award and Poultry Premier Exhibitor Award must complete both the swine and poultry Fairfield County Skillathons on September 7th, (swine) and 22nd (poultry).
      • For more information about Premier Exhibitor Contests, see the next page.
    • Youth will be asked to complete a tiebreaker question at Skillathon – this will be used to break ties for Premier Exhibitor and/or Skillathon if needed.
    • Skillathon Species for Saturday, September 7th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. includes Beef, Dairy Beef, Swine, Sheep, Meat Goats, Dairy Cattle.
    • Skillathon Species for Sunday, September 22nd from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. includes Pygmy Goats, Dairy Goats, Horses, Alpacas/Llamas, Poultry, Rabbits, Dogs.
    • Fairfield County Skillathons will take place in the Ed Sands Building at the Fairfield County Fairgrounds.
    • Scheduling for Skillathon will open in August.
    • Click here to schedule for each Skillathon you wish to participate in: http://go.osu.edu/signup4skillathon.
    • Top 20% Junior and Senior Skillathon Awards will be awarded at the fair.
  1. Participate in the Ohio State Fair Virtual Skillathon.
    • Ohio State Fair Virtual Skillathons are open May 27th through September 1
    • To complete an Ohio State Fair Virtual Skillathon, visit: http://go.osu.edu/osfskillathon.
    • Youth do not have to be exhibitors at the Ohio State Fair to participate.
    • Fairfield County youth must complete Ohio State Fair Virtual Skillathon by September 1st if they choose this option to meet the county Skillathon requirement.
  1. Participate in the Ohio State Fair In-Person Skillathon.
    • Registration takes place on the day event at the Ohio State Fair.
    • Youth do not have to be exhibitors at the Ohio State Fair to participate.
    • For in-person Ohio State Fair Skillathon information, dates and times, visit: http://go.osu.edu/osfskillathon.

4. Makeup Skillathon  

    • The makeup Skillathon will take place on Monday, September 23rd, 2024 (by appointment) from 4-8 p.m. at the OSU Extension Office.
    • Exhibitors can schedule to take a makeup Skillathon by calling the OSU Extension Office at 740-653-5419.
    • Youth completing the makeup Skillathon will not be eligible for the Premier Exhibitor Contest in that specie.
    • If youth need to complete the makeup Skillathon option, they will need to have all 4-H/FFA record books turned into the OSU Extension Office by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, September 20th, 2024 so that project book judges can review them on the second Skillathon day (September 22nd, 2024).

Save the Date for 4-H Summerfest: Summer Project Awards Ceremony is Sunday, August 18th

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Our annual Summerfest Awards Program will be held Sunday, August 18th at the Liberty Center in Lancaster. Members who completed their summer projects and received a 1st-3rd place, Honorable Mention or Outstanding will be emailed invitations to the event soon. The event will begin at 6 p.m.  We look forward to seeing you help us celebrate the great work done with summer projects. This event is open to the public.

Did you miss Summer Judging last week? Sign up for Late Judging!

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We strongly encourage completion of 4-H projects. If members are unable to have projects completed or have scheduling conflicts during Summer Judging dates, we would like to invite them to sign up for late judging. Late judging (for grade only) will be held on Monday, July 29th at the Extension Office by appointment between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. You must call the Extension Office at 740-653-5419 to schedule an interview time. 

2024 Summer Judging Results

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Wow! 403 project judged in two days at 4-H Summer Judging! This includes 273 of our 4-H project members! We are so proud of all members who worked so hard on these projects (additional photos coming soon!).
In the meantime, RESULTS ARE POSTED! go.osu.edu/fcsummerjudgingresults
(sort by division or search by name).
If selected as an Ohio State Fair Participant – please confirm your participation by picking up your OSF packet as soon as possible at the Extension Office (831 College Ave, Suite D). If you can not attend OSF, please notify the office so that we can reach out to the alternate! We need to finalize OSF participation by Monday, July 22nd.
Award winners will receive information later this month about 4-H Summerfest (scheduled for Sunday, August 18th at 6:00 p.m. at the Liberty Center).

Bottle Cap Project – FINAL RESULTS

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Congratulations to the top 3 clubs in the Bottle Cap Project Club Contest!

1st Place: Champions

2nd Place: Thurston Future Farmers

3rd Place: Sewing Shefs

As a reminder the top 3 clubs will receive a ‘cash’ prize for winning. Aubry will be reaching out to advisors after the August Junior Leader Meeting on how they would like to receive their prize.

Thank you to those clubs who have been collecting caps for the Fairfield County Junior Leaders Bottle Cap Project! We were able to collect 6,714 lbs of plastic bottle caps!!

We are excited to be able to offer outdoor furniture for sale to our community, and work with sponsors for new items at the Fairfield County Fairgrounds!

Curious how how much your club collected? Check out how many pounds your club turned in below:

Club Name Total
Champions 1421
Thurston Future Farmers 1391
Sewing Shefs 1314
Banner Chasing Bunch 530
Kountry Kidz 459
Amanda Work & Win 433
Barn & Beyond 286
Lithopolis Livestock 196
4 Legged Friends 101
Clearcreek Showmen 101
Cloverleaf Livestock 87
US Kids 75
Baltimore Blue Ribbons 74
Camelids Unlimited 67
Everything Under the Sun 61
Wild About Animals 37
Rough Riders 34
4 Creation 4-Hers 32
General Donation 8
KKEZ 3
Shooting Stars 3
Falcon 4-Hers 1

Livestock Project and Record Book Examples

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Hey Livestock Exhibitors! We know many of you are working on your 4-H and FFA project books in preparation for club advisors to review these soon prior to fair!

I have found a great resource for you if you would like to see examples on how to complete your books! 4-H and FFA members from across the state have volunteered their books to serve as examples. Copies are available to review online by clicking here. Scroll to the bottom of the page under “General Resources.” Sample books are posted for FFA/AET, Poultry, and Beef.

Please only use as a resource and DO NOT COPY!

Can’t make it to Summer Judging (July 15-16)? Sign up for Late Judging!

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We strongly encourage completion of 4-H projects. If members are unable to have projects completed or have scheduling conflicts during Summer Judging dates, we would like to invite them to sign up for late judging. Late judging (for grade only) will be held on Monday, July 29th at the Extension Office by appointment between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. You must call the Extension Office at 740-653-5419 to schedule an interview time.