New Livestock Tagging/Weighing and MQP Dates for 2024

Several dates including tagging, weigh-in, and MQP conclusion have changed!

A Greek philosopher once said, “the only constant in life is change.” If you plan to participate in large animal market livestock projects at the 2024 Fairfield County Jr. Fair, that couldn’t be truer.

Due to a quirk in the 2024 calendar, some historic calendar conflicts, and the move to harvesting the Beef Performance and Carcass Quality animals in 2024 several adjustments have been made to the calendar for goat, lamb, swine, beef and dairy feeder project participants. In 2024 weigh-in and tagging will be held the last Saturday in June, and the schedule for the MQP projects will also change. Specifically, the dates for 2024 that were approved by the Sr. Fair Board at their November 4th meeting include:

March 9:  Market Beef weigh-in

May 18:  Goat MQP weigh-in

June 29:  Dairy feeder weigh-in, market goat tag check-in, market hog (including MQP) tag check-in, market lamb (including MQP) tag check-in.

August 25:  Goat MQP conclusion

September 1:  Lamb MQP conclusion

September 8:  Barrow MQP conclusion

September 24:  Beef Performance & Carcass Quality (beef carcass contest) conclusion

October 1:  If participation exceeds capacity for the 24th, date for second Beef Performance & Carcass Quality (beef carcass contest) conclusion

Place these dates on your calendar and more information and detail about tagging and weigh-in will be released as soon as it becomes available.

Save the Date: December 14th for our Achievement Form Workshops

Be recognized for all you do in 4-H! It all begins with keeping great records of your 4-H accomplishments! Save the date of December 14th for upcoming workshops! Details are in the flyer posted below.

Younger 4-H youth (ages 9-13 as of 1/1/2024) are encouraged to start completing your Junior Achievement Form. Junior Achievement Awards will be awarded in April 2024!

Older 4-H youth (ages 14-18 as of 1/1/2024) are encouraged to explore the many teen opportunities available to them when they complete the Ohio 4-H Achievement Form including: County Merit Awards, College Scholarships, County Trip Awards, Outstanding 4-Her Award, State Achievement Awards – and perhaps earning a trip to National 4-H Congress! County Merit Awards, Scholarships, and Trip Awards will be awarded in April 2024!

4-H Teen Opportunities, Award Forms, and Recognition (youth ages 13-18 as of 1/1/2024)

Attention Teens! Do you want to be a camp counselor? Junior Fair Board Member? Junior Leader? Outstanding 4-Her? Scholarship or Trip Award winner? Do you find yourself asking “How do I get to do that?” We suspect that as you have gotten older you have started to look for new and exciting things where you can be involved. Read on… 4-H has special opportunities for teens only where YOU can play a part!

There are many exciting opportunities that await you as a teenager in the Fairfield County 4-H Program. Soon, 4-H members who will be ages 13-18 as of 1/1/2024 will receive a survey link emailed to them. This survey is an invitation for you to let us know what you are interested in learning more about. Read all about these opportunities, mark which ones you are interested in and we will follow up with making sure you have the correct forms, applications, and information to proceed to the next steps!

The opportunities in awards, trips, scholarships and more available to teens in the 4-H program are incredible. Don’t miss out on learning more and getting involved! Most of these opportunities are open to 4-H members ages 14 and up as of January 1st. There are also a few opportunities for youth ages 13 as of January 1st. Some of these activities require completion of special forms while others just involve asking for more information. Regardless of what you are interested in, be sure to give us a call if you need more information or would like some help with the necessary forms.

If members and parents would like a little extra assistance in preparing their records, feel free to call or email Leslie (740-277-4625) at cooksey.25@osu.edu or Aubry (740-277-4626) at fowler.443@osu.edu.

We encourage you all to broaden your 4-H experience and try something new. We think you’ll find many new friends and much more fun ahead!

Additionally, we invite youth who will be ages 13-18 as of 1/1/2024 to attend the Achievement Form Workshop on Thursday, December 14th from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the Extension Office / Ag Center.

Pop Tab Contest – FINAL RESULTS

Congratulations to the top 3 clubs in the Pop Tab 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 emailed advisors on 11/6/2023 on how they would like to receive their prize.

Thank you to those clubs who have been collecting metal pop tabs for the Fairfield County Junior Leaders Pop Tab Contest! We were able to collect 111.8 pounds of metal pop tabs that were donated to the statewide community service project organized by Barns & Buttons 4-H Club from Ashtabula County. All pop tabs are donated to Ronald McDonald house in Columbus to help pay the electric bill.

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

Pop Tab Weigh In
Club Name TOTAL
Amanda Work & Win 23.1
Awesome Animals 21.1
Sewing Shefs 15.9
Fairfield County JFS Office 10.5
Clearcreek Showmen 9.3
Extension Office 7.5
Fairfield Cavy & Rabbit 6.2
Rough Riders 4.8
4.8
Champions 3
Carroll Country 1.7
Camelids Unlimited 1.3
Just Kiddin’ 1.2
Baltimore Blue Ribbons 0.7
Pickerington Clovers 0.7

4-H’ers Helping Neighbors Food Drive – Contest Update

4-H’ers Helping Neighbors Results for 2023 Food Drive in September 

Congratulations to the following groups for being the top in the food drive sponsored by Farm Credit-Mid America. These clubs will receive a cash prize for winning!

  • $100 – Top Club with the most items by weight
    • Camelids Unlimited – 217 lbs
  • $100 – Top Club with the most items by count
    • 4-Legged Friends – 132 Items
  • $50 – Clubs with the most items by weight OR count
    • Amanda Work & Win (96 lbs, 108 items)
    • Fairfield County Master Gardener Volunteers (55 lbs, 76 items)
    • Lithopolis Livestock (28 lbs, 29 items)
    • KKEZ (16 lbs, 20 items)

With September being National Hunger Awareness Month, Fairfield County 4-H Junior Leaders organized and encouraged local 4-H Clubs and the Fairfield County Master Gardeners to give back to community through a food drive. Ten 4-H Clubs donated 518 pounds of non-perishable food items and the Master Gardener donated 76 items too!! The Fairfield County Junior Leaders were able to split their 567 donated items between Maywood Mission, Columbus Blessing Boxes Project, and the Vineyard Church to help our neighbors in need. Special thanks to Farm Credit Mid-America for their generous support of this community giving project by donating cash prizes for those clubs donating the most total pounds of food.

Dine to Donate: THIS WED, Nov 8 – MOD Pizza

The Fairfield County 4-H Junior Leaders will be hosting a monthly dine to donate fundraiser to raise funds. November’s dine to donate will be a MOD Pizza fundraiser on Wednesday, November 8, 2023 from 11:00am – 9:00 p.m. at 1854 North Memorial Drive, Lancaster. 50% of your bill will be donated to the 4-H program. Bring in this flyer to the store to get credit for your purchase. DO NOT PASS OUT FLYERS IN OR NEAR THE RESTAURANT – Our fundraising event could be void if this happens.
Order online Option:
  • Participate on Nov 8, 2023 by ordering online using the code MODGIVES20 or by visiting this MOD location and showing this fundraiser flyer or mentioning the fundraiser at checkout.
The Junior Leaders are a countywide teen leadership group that focuses on 4-H community service, leadership, and more! Their big events include planning the Fairfield County 4-H Advisor’s Banquet, a county 4-H Scholarship, and the Bottle Cap Bench Project!
Thank you for the support!

Cloverbud Day at the Fair (October 8th)

Cloverbud Members – Save the Date for Cloverbud Day at the Fair!

Fair is just around the corner so be sure to put these Cloverbud Fair Events on your calendar. As a reminder, all of these activities are optional but members will receive a ribbon or gift for participation.

Cloverbud Day at the Fair: Sunday, Oct 8, 2023, 1:00 p.m. in the Round Cattle Barn

  • Show-N-Tell
    • This is an opportunity for club members to talk about their year in 4-H. Members are encouraged to bring a project or item from the 4-H year to show and talk about.
    • All participants will receive a ribbon.
    • If you’re interested in attending Show-N-Tell, advisors please email Aubry with number of members participating.
  • Cloverbud Graduation
    • We will be recognizing Cloverbud members who are ‘graduating’ from the Cloverbud program and will be traditional 4-H members in 2024.
    • Members should have received an invitation email and survey to fill out if this applies to them.  If you feel we have missed someone, please let us know.
    • All participants will receive a certificate and gift
  • Stuffed Animal Show
    • Encourage your members to bring their favorite stuffed animal. Each child will get to enter the ring, share a fun fact about their animal, and have a mini experience of what it’s like to show at the fair.
    • This show will take place immediately following Graduation in the #50 Barn
    • All participants will receive a ribbon.

If you have any questions, please contact Aubry at Fowler.443@osu.edu or 740-277-4626. We look forward to seeing you at the Fairfield County Fair!

Are you scheduled for Skillathons?

4-H and FFA exhibitors should schedule an appointment time for all Skillathons they wish to complete. Click here to schedule for each Skillathon you wish to participate in: http://go.osu.edu/signup4skillathon

Please note that Skillathon times are APPROXIMATE so that we can keep kids flowing through the event and an even pace. Once a member STARTS through the Skillathon line, they should be able to complete it in about 20-30 minutes.

Exhibitors need to abide to their appointment times so that we do not have a bottleneck effect with the lines. If this happens, everyone will get behind and wait much longer than anticipated.

To confirm or change appointment times, please contact Stacy Hicks at hicks.686@osu.edu.

Thanks!

 

Bottle Cap Project – FINAL RESULTS

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 on the week of 7/31 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 3,088 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 Alley Park.

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

Bottle Cap Weigh In
Club Name Total
Champions 759
Thurston Future Farmers 433
Sewing Shefs 406
Lithopolis Livestock 346
Camelids Unlimited 231
Banner Chasing Bunch 229
Carroll Country 4-Hers 102
Kountry Kidz 100
Amanda Work & Win 76
Rough Riders 64
Wild About Animals 58
KKEZ 57
Clearcreek Showmen 48
Baltimore Blue Ribbons 31
Shooting Stars 25
Cloverleaf Livestock 24
Superior Showmen 34
Extension Office 13
Pygmies Plus 13
4 Legged Friends 11
Falcon 4-Hers 11
Green Extreme 8
Fairfield Cavy & Rabbits 6
Junior Leaders 3