Livestock Quality Assurance (QA) Certification is required for all youth exhibiting a market animal, dairy cow or dairy goat project at the Muskingum County Fair.
Certification can be obtained in one of three ways:
1) Youth can participate in an QA program provided by OSU Extension. Youth may attend any QA regardless of the animal they are exhibiting.
QA Program Dates
Veteran’s Building, Fairgrounds
April 28, 6-8 p.m.
May 7, 9-10:15 a.m. (Livestock Clinic to follow)
May 9, 6-8 p.m.
- Parent attendance is not required, but encouraged.
- Plan to arrive early, as youth will not receive credit for attending if they arrive more than 10 minutes after the program starts. Youth must complete and submit the attendance card at the end to receive credit.
2) Complete the Youth for the Quality Care for Animals (YQCA) Online Course.
The online module completed must be for the correct 4-H age. Only the YQCA courses currently meet ODA standards. BQA, PQA, BEST and other online programs do not meet this requirement. Families use their 4HOnline log in to complete the course. The cost is $12 per youth.
Program details: go.osu.edu/yqca
If youth complete YQCA, they need to forward the completion certification to mcconnell.210@osu.edu. This is the only way we get the verification.
3) Youth can participate in the test out option.
All youth 12-14 years of age (4-H age) may take a QA test designed for their age group. If they pass the test with a score of 70% or greater, the youth will be certified in QA until they turn 15 years old.
All youth 15-18 years of age (4-H age) may take a QA test designed for their age group. If they pass the test with a score of 70% or greater, the youth will be certified in QA for the remainder of their Junior Fair years.
Youth will either take the Large Animal (Beef, Dairy, Goat, Sheep, Swine) test or Small Animal (Poultry, Rabbit) test. QA certification is good for all animal projects taken no matter which test is passed.
Youth are only permitted to take one test per calendar year. If a youth does not pass the QA test, they will be required to attend a QA program to gain certification.
A study guide is available online at: go.osu.edu/qastudyguide.
QA Test-Out Dates
Participants must pre-register no later than the day before the test-out: go.osu.edu/muskqatestout
April 18, 2-4 p.m., Extension Office
April 28, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Veteran’s Building
- Youth may arrive to take the test anytime in the testing window, but must submit the test by the end time.
- Youth complete the test at their own pace. It is 50 questions multiple choice.