2024 Livestock Quality Assurance Opportunities

It is MANDATORY for ALL Fulton County Junior Fair animal exhibitors (including breeding animals) to attend Quality Assurance class each year. If you do not attend a QA session, you are ineligible to exhibit at the Fulton County Fair. The Ohio Department of Agriculture minimum standards are in-person instruction on three pre-determined Good Production Practices with an interactive activity. The instruction is to last at minimum one hour and is to be repeated annually. QA classes are listed below, some require pre-registration and those instructions are at the end of the post. If you intend to complete QA at a state 4-H livestock clinic, check with the Fulton County 4-H Educator if it will quality for QA credit in the county. Mandatory sessions are for new and returning 4-H/FFA animal project members wanting to exhibit any animal at the fair.

All 4-H Quality Assurance trainings must be completed by June 1st. Quality Assurance Sessions will only be held at club meetings if a club volunteer received QA Assistant Instructor Certification by completing training for the current year.

Horse QA will be conducted online through EquiSTEP (link to be updated in January 2024), by each individual exhibitor, in accordance with Ohio Horse 4-H curriculum. Horse QA only allows youth to show horses at the fair. It will not certify you for other fair animals. June 1st deadline.

Dog project members have two options to certify for quality assurance. 1) attend one of the Quality Assurance Sessions listed above; 2) view the videos shown at the annual Dog Kick Off event; or 3) check out and view “Safety Around Dogs” video. Dog Quality Assurance only allows for youth to show dogs at the fair. It will not certify you for other fair animals. June 1st deadline.

REMINDER: Quality assurance is not required for youth taking pet care projects such as guinea pigs, cats, mice, gerbils, hamsters, rats, chinchillas, ferrets, hedgehogs, and pet rabbits. These animals do not exhibit at the fair.

Registration and Other Instructions

QA registration and additional neighboring county dates and info can be found at go.osu.edu/nwoqa2024. All of these sessions will be accepted as QA certification, some are in-person, some are virtual. IF YOU ATTEND QA OUT-OF-COUNTY, IT IS THE EXHIBITOR’S RESPONSIBILITY TO HAVE THEIR CERTIFICATE TURNED IN NO LATER THAN JUNE 1, 2024 TO THE FULTON COUNTY OSU EXTENSION OFFICE.

QA requirements can also be completed through your community club, or local FFA advisor, if eligible.