NWO Quality Assurance Opportunities
2025 NW Ohio QA Flyer_Fulton (includes active, clickable links to registration)
*Keep in mind all FULTON County QA MUST be completed no later than May 15 (or 45 days prior to the start of the Ohio State Fair for OSF participants)!
Additional Opportunities
Check out the links for each of these events, including registration.
Online Quality Assurance Option
We will accept the YQCA online option for credit this year. Youth, age 12 as of January 1 and older, who are officially enrolled in 4-H and/or FFA livestock/food animal projects and who intend to show their project animal at exhibition (e.g., county or state fair) have the option to complete an online Youth for the Quality Care for Animals (YQCA) session. YQCA is in partnership with The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), OSU Extension 4-H Youth Development program and ODA. For the training to meet the Ohio Youth Food Animal QA requirement for the project year:
The online module MUST be completed for the correct 4-H age for the youth. If not, you are required to repay and retake the correct module or attend QA in person.
*The Test Out option offered is NOT accepted by Ohio 4-H!
The online module must be completed by May 15 for the Fulton County Fair or 45 days before Ohio State Fair show.
You must complete the annual online session within the QA calendar year (Oct. 1- Sept. 30).
The other online courses do not meet the Ohio Youth Food Animal QA certification requirements (ie. BQA, PQA, BEST, etc.)
**If you completed the online course in 2022, you must wait until your certificate EXPIRES before you test for 2023!*
Youth can go to the following website to take the age-appropriate on-line module for $12 PER CHILD. Paid by the individual or family. Log in site is: yqcaprogram.org
***Be sure to send a copy of your certificate to lewis.3213@osu.edu when you have completed the module. If your certificate is not sent/received, you will not fulfill your Quality Assurance Requirement.
Please review the PDFs that will help you sign up, register & generate your completion certificate!
YQCA Help Sheet for Certificate
EquiSTEP (Horse QA)
An update on this year’s EquiSTEP (Equine Safety, Training, and Education Program).
EquiSTEP is an annual statewide requirement for all youth participating in Ohio 4-H Horse Program activities and/or enrolled in a 4-H horse project. EquiSTEP replaces the statewide requirement of reading the Horses, Safety, and You (191R) resource and viewing the Every Time, Every Ride and Horses, Kids, and Ethics videos for youth and their families who are new to the 4-H horse program.
The EquiSTEP curriculum follows the 4’Hs and focuses on head (helmet safety), hands (equine safety & handling), health (equine health & nutrition), and heart (sportsmanship) and is designed to rotate topics every year.
EquiSTEP is designed to be completed online by each participant individually through Scarlet Canvas. Fulton County youth must complete EquiSTEP no later than May 15, 2025.
Here is the link to enroll in/access this year’s EquiSTEP: https://cfaesosu.catalog.instructure.com/courses/equistep-2025 (This link is also available at the bottom of the home page for horse.osu.edu.)
To complete EquiSTEP individually, a participant must enroll using their own unique email address. (Participants should not use their school email addresses as the course enrollment invitation will be blocked by the school’s email system.) Participants must view all five videos (introduction and STEPS 1-4) which last approximately one hour in total. Once the videos are completed, participants will be able to access the 10-question quiz. Participants must complete the quiz associated with the training and achieve a minimum score of 7 (out of 10) in order to pass the training. Once the quiz is successfully completed, participants will need to complete the course survey to trigger a certificate of completion. The certificate will be emailed to the participant’s email address as well as their county’s 4-H email address. The participant must select their correct county to trigger the email to the correct email address and they must click on the submit button at the end of the survey to trigger the email.