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:
All Muskingum County Youth must have QA Certification by June 1.
Please pay close attention to the dates and plan accordingly.
1) QA program provided by OSU Extension.
NEW THIS YEAR! Youth will participate in a hands-on simulation with activity stations. Each youth will select an animal situation card to determine what animal they will be caring for as they progress through the simulation. Stations will be facilitated by QA volunteers.
Program Dates
Veteran’s Building, Fairgrounds
April 3, 6-8 p.m.
April 15, 6-8 p.m.
April 30, 6-8 p.m.
The simulation takes approximately 1 hour to complete. Youth who wish to complete the simulation can arrive anytime between 6-6:45 p.m. Youth arriving after 7 p.m. will not be allowed to complete the simulation that evening.
Parent/guardian attendance is not required, but is encouraged-especially for younger members and members on Winning 4-H Plans.
2) 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 certificate to muskingum4h@osu.edu.
3) Test-Out
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 3, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Veteran’s Building
April 15, 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.