ALL Dairy Steers, Market Steers, Commercial Steers and Born & Raised Steers must be ear tagged to be eligible to be shown at the 2025 Fulton County Fair.

The Fulton County Steer Tag-In Day will be held on Saturday, January 11, 2025 at the Fulton County Fairgrounds—Steer Barn, 10:00-11:00 AM.  This is a mandatory tag-in for all steers, even if the exhibitor cannot be present. Please complete the attached Steer ID card (at the very bottom of this email) prior to arriving at the Tag-In. Be sure that the Steer ID card comes with your steer if you cannot attend. Exhibitors will pay $2.00 per animal to cover the cost of the EID tag. All animals must be haltered in order to be tagged.

There is only one exemption to this mandatory ruling. Any steer that was tagged as a feeder calf for the 2024 Fulton County Junior Fair does not need to come to the tag-in on January 11, 2025 unless ownership has changed to a different family or they wish to participate in the *NEW* Rate of Gain contest (see more information below), in which the animal will need to be weighed. However, these steers must have an ID card completed with the ID tag number and returned to the Extension Office or to the Tag-In Day by January 11th.

Examples of the exemption:

My daughter exhibited a feeder calf at the 2024 Fulton County Junior Fair. The calf was tagged. My daughter wants to bring the steer to the 2025 Fulton County Fair. Does the steer need to come to the January 11th Tag-In Day? NO, unless they want to participate in the *NEW* Rate of Gain contest (see more information below). However, we do need a newly completed ID card with the 15-digit EID tag number delivered to the Tag-In Day or to the Extension Office before January 11th.

My son bought a steer from a family that tagged and exhibited the steer as a feeder calf at the 2024 Fulton County Junior Fair. Do we have to bring the steer to the January 11th Tag-In Day? YES, ownership of the steer has changed outside of the family and new ownership must be established by having the steer at the Tag-In Day on January 11th.

Each exhibitor will be allowed to tag two steers for each project. Example: An exhibitor could tag-in two Born & Raised Steers, two Market Steers, two Commercial Steers, and/or two Dairy Steers. Also, all Born & Raised Steers must have been identified and tagged by Fulton County Junior Fair 2024 as a feeder calf in order to show as a Born and Raised Steer at the 2025 fair.  Born and Raised Steer exhibitors must complete the attached “Born & Raised Market Beef Steer Application” and turn in at tag in or to the Extension Office before January 11th for the animal to have Born & Raised eligibility for this class at the fair. Failure to submit the form will cause the animal to be shown in the beef steer class. They must also complete the ID card.

*NEW IN 2025—RATE OF GAIN CONTEST*

Directors in charge: Phil Herring & Tracy Bentley

Steers for this contest MUST be weighed in at the Steer Tag-In day at the Fulton County Fairgrounds in the steer barn on January 11th.

The Junior Exhibitors steers for the upcoming Fair will be the project for this. There will be 2 divisions for the contest:

1. Born & Raised Market, Market Beef, Commercial Steers

2. Dairy Steers

Guidelines: This class of steers, Born & Raised market, Market Beef, Commercial and Dairy, has been established to help youth gain feedlot type experience, feeding cattle, and financial management.

Judging Requirements: All steers for this project will be required to be shown at the Fair to be eligible for prize money. Bring completed Project Book to the Interview Judging. Prize money will be awarded separately from the Junior Livestock Sale.

Fair Exhibit: Steers will be required to be displayed at the Fulton County Fair.

Prize Money (2x amount awarded in previous years!):

Beef Steers: 1^st-$400, 2^nd-$250, 3^rd-$150, 4^th-$120, 5^th-$80

Dairy Steers: 1^st-$400, 2^nd-$250, 3^rd-$150, 4^th-$120, 5^th-$80

Questions may be directed to Phil Herring (419-704-6939) or Tracy Bentley (419-452-7278).

Ohio State Fair

Lastly, The Ohio State Fair requires all market beef entered in the 2025 Ohio State Fair to have individual DNA samples taken from each animal that may potentially be entered. These DNA samples must be in the possession of the Ohio State Fair by January 15, 2025. Attached is a document containing sample collection instructions. Please read the attached instructions that will be a part of each sample collection kit, and contact the Ohio State Fair, if you have any questions (Andi Hershey, A.Hershey@expo.ohio.gov ). Note, in 2025, Ohio State Fair will NOT be providing EID tags for market beef entries. Exhibitors must get their own 840 tags for their entries and that 840 tag number MUST be listed on the envelope with the DNA sample.

**NEW** Quality Assurance Deadline: THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2025!!

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 May 15th (**NEW DATE**). 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 2025), 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. May 15th 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. Dog Quality Assurance only allows for youth to show dogs at the fair. It will not certify you for other fair animals. May 15th 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/NWOhioQA. 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 May 15, 2025 TO THE FULTON COUNTY OSU EXTENSION OFFICE.

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