Fairfield County goat exhibitors can get their animals in the barn next weekend right here in Fairfield County! The Fairfield County Farm Bureau will be hosting the Glass City Jackpot Goat Show on Saturday, August 24th at the Fairfield County Fairgrounds. For more information, visit their Facebook Page at: Glass City Jackpot Show
A Skillathon is an event to test knowledge of specific subject matter using the experiential learning model of exploring, reflecting, and applying that knowledge. Skillathons are created from materials directly or modified from Learning Laboratory Kits, information provided in the Ohio 4-H Animal Resource Books, and other resources, along with input from industry experts. Each Skillathon is comprised of four educational and challenging stations.
The Ohio 4-H Program offers a virtual Skillathon opportunity for 4-H members to participate and practice their knowledge in any species. Fairfield County youth participating in any Ohio State Fair VIRTUAL Skillathon will not need to complete a county Skillathon as this will meet the Fairfield County Junior Fair Requirement. If youth choose to complete the alternative Skillathon at the Ohio State Fair (virtually or in-person), they will also need to submit their completed project record book to the Extension Office by Friday, September 20th at 4:00 p.m. However, if an exhibitor wishes to compete in the Fairfield County Premier Exhibitor Contest, they will need to complete the Fairfield County Skillathon for each specie they wish to compete in to be eligible. Project record books are to be COMPLETED for EACH 4-H/FFA project taken to the Fairfield County Junior Fair.
If participating in the VIRTUAL Skillathons, they must be completed by September 1st to meet the Fairfield County Skillathon requirement. No registration is required – just click on the direct links below to get started.
On Thursday, July 25th, fourteen Fairfield County 4-H members participated in the Ohio 4-H Livestock Judging Contest at the Ohio State Fair. This contest allows you to evaluate 8 classes of livestock (sheep, goats, hogs, beef cattle), select their placings for each class, and provide oral reasoning to support their placings. Juniors had to complete two sets of oral reasons and two question classes while Senior participants had to complete four sets of oral reasons.
The Fairfield County Junior Team placed 16th. Those youth participating in the Junior division were: Lydia Smith, McKenna Miller, Macie Miller, Evan Walters, and Stella Koehler.
The Fairfield County Senior Teams placed 19th, 31st, and 23rd. Those youth participating in the Junior division were: Evelyn Koehler, Abigail Walters, Owen Russell (from Pickaway County), Addie Dennis, Lily Dennis, Brin Leigh Hoisington, Henry Hoisington, Cole Rowley, Paisley Alt, Emilyn Kanet.
Full contest results can be found at this link.
Congratulations to Fairfield County 4-H/FFA members completing the Ohio State Fair In-Person Skillathon for Goats. For a complete list of Ohio State Fair Skillathon Results, visit: https://ohio4h.org/animalsciences/ohio-4-h-skillathons
2024 Ohio State Fair In-Person Goat Skillathon Results:
4-H/FFA members planning to exhibit pygmy goats at the fair are invited to attend the Pygmy Goat Clinic at the fairgrounds in the #4 Barn (former Beef Barn) on Sunday, September 8th at 4:00 p.m. Interested in exhibiting pygmy goats in the future? You’re welcome to attend also! This clinic is hosted by the Fairfield County Junior Fair Pygmy Goat Superintendents.
The objective of the Premier Exhibitor Contest is to encourage youth exhibitors to explore multiple aspects of the livestock specie project they are enrolled in, and to reward those youth that participate at the highest level. While some exhibitors may choose to only participate in a single aspect of an animal project, the reality is that all the various opportunities available for any given project are interrelated and participation can enhance the knowledge, skills, and enjoyment gained from the project.
It’s all interrelated and encouraging youth to expand the knowledge of their project by participating in a variety of opportunities while also in a competitive environment will enhance the learning experience.
Requirements
Eligible Species
Scoring
The Premier Exhibitor for each species will be the exhibitor with the highest point total from the activities listed for each specie (dropping the scores as mentioned below).
The goal is to encourage exhibitors to explore various opportunities available to them within their species and allow for lowest scores to be dropped when sufficient experiences are able to be offered (for example, Beef Exhibitors have far more project opportunities available to them than Pygmy Goats). The objective would be to encourage exhibitors to earn points for exhibiting animals in at least two ways at the Fairfield County Fair in addition to participating in Skillathon, showmanship, rate of gain (if applicable), and judging contests (if applicable). If exhibiting more than one animal in an activity, the highest placing animal will be used for the Premier Exhibitor scoring.
The *Fairfield County Skillathon will be a mandatory activity for participation in the respective species’ Premier Exhibitor Contest. A Skillathon is an activity to test knowledge of specific subject matter in a hands-on experiential learning model. Skillathons will take place on the assigned day and times in September, and this will be the only opportunity for participants to complete the Skillathon for their respective species and be eligible to participate in the respective Premier Exhibitor Contest. Exhibitors will earn corresponding Premier Exhibitor points based off of their raw score (out of 100 points). Skillathons will be comprised of four stations. A completed project book is required at Skillathon.
The Fairfield County Livestock Judging Contest will take place on Sunday of the Fairfield County Fair for swine, beef, sheep, and goats. Exhibitors will earn corresponding Livestock Judging Contest points based off of their raw score. Total points possible will be determined on the day of the contest. The Fairfield County Dairy Judging Contest will take place on Monday of the Fairfield County Fair for dairy cattle.
Rate of Gain will be available to all market beef, dairy steer, and dairy feeder exhibitors.
Breeding/Market/Showmanship/Rate of Gain class/heat points will be assigned according to class rankings (placing 1st through 5th, followed by participation points).
Livestock Sale: If the Premier Exhibitor has a market animal in that respective species, they will sell third in the market sale for that species following the Overall Grand and Reserve Grand Champion Market Animals. If an exhibitor chooses to take home and earns Premier Exhibitor, they will lose their sale slot. (In that case second place Premier Exhibitor will not move into that sale slot).
Ties: Exhibitors will complete a tiebreaker station at Skillathon for their respective specie. Scoring from the tiebreaker station will only be used to help break ties for the overall rankings of each specie’s Premier Exhibitor.
Awards will be given for 1st place winner of each age group (Age 8/9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18), from which, overall 1st through 3rd place winners will be chosen for the Premier Exhibitor Program for each specie.
As printed in the 2024 Fairfield County Junior Fair Book.
The Ohio 4-H Animal Science Design Team Livestock Evaluation webinar series are continuing, and our seventh and eighth sessions are on Oral Reasons! These series are being recorded so that if someone is not able to attend, they can review it later.
DATE: Monthly TBD
TIME: 7:00–8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: ZOOM – go.osu.edu/livestockevaluation
All Recordings can be found along with other additional resources: https://ohio4h.org/node/3429
Jennifer Reynolds, USDA Animal Health Technician
When you have picked out your fair goat or sheep project, make sure the breeder has officially identified the sheep or goat before it leaves the farm. The most common form of official ID is a scrapie tag that will have a U.S. shield on the tag and will start with a state abbreviation according to the premises where the animal was born (flock/herd of origin). Other forms of official identification can be found in our USDA Official ID Types Handout . Always make sure the exhibition you are showing the sheep or goat at accepts the form of official ID you are using. If you are using official tattoos or 840-approved microchips for official identification, remember that tattoos must be legible, you must have your corresponding paperwork in the form of a registration paper or owner statement, and microchips should be in the correct location. You should arrange for a microchip reader to be available at ID check time at the fair. The important thing to remember about official ID is that it cannot be duplicated and it’s unlawful to remove. There is no reason why a sheep or goat should have two scrapie tags – it only needs one which identifies it to the flock of birth.
Scrapie is an incurable, fatal, degenerative disease that affects the central nervous system of sheep and goats. It is classified as a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, the same class of disease as BSE, otherwise known as Mad Cow Disease. Sheep and goats are exposed to scrapie at birth if they are born into an infected flock and may not show signs or symptoms of the disease until 2-5 years of age. This is why flock of birth/flock of origin identification is so important. You can learn more about scrapie and disease resistant genotypes for sheep on the USDA Scrapie website page. If you are a sheep or goat producer and have not yet signed up for scrapie ID and live in Ohio, please call our Ohio USDA APHIS VS office at 614-856-4745 to get a scrapie flock identification number assigned.
Published in the Ohio Animal Health Newsletter – July 2024
Quality Assurance is an annual requirement of the Ohio Department of Agriculture for youth taking livestock projects to county and state fair. In Fairfield County, Quality Assurance Training is required for all members who will be exhibiting a livestock project at the Fairfield County Fair or Junior Exhibitor at the Ohio State Fair. Beef (Breeding & Market); Dairy Breeding, Dairy Steers, & Dairy Feeders; Goats (Dairy, Meat, Market & Pygmy); Poultry (Breeding & Market); Sheep (Breeding & Market); Swine; Rabbits (Breeding & Market), and Alpacas/Llamas.
Deadlines for 2024:
Email reminders have been sent to advisors over the last month for those who have yet to complete this requirement. Also, families are receiving final email reminders today (June 28th).
All Quality Assurance information has been shared with club/chapter advisors and has been posted on the blog since April 25th. Read all Quality Assurance options for 2024 here.
All 4-H members are encouraged to participate in the 2024 Ohio State Fair Livestock Judging Contest on July 25th at the Ohio Expo Center.
Pre-Registration is required by July 8th and must have a county 4-H Educator’s approval – please contact Leslie Cooksey if you wish to participate. The cost is $15 per member and if Fairfield County 4-H youth wish to participate in this contest, members will be reimbursed by the 4-H Advisory Committee. Click here for additional rules and contest information.