All youth who plan to exhibit a food animal at the Pike County Fair or the Ohio State Fair must annually attend or complete a quality assurance program, or they may pass a test based on the appropriate skill level for their age (twelve to fourteen or fifteen to eighteen) under the supervision of Ohio State University Extension or Ohio agricultural education before exhibiting terminal or partial terminal market livestock, including Market beef, market swine, market lambs, market goats, market poultry, market rabbits, lactating dairy cattle and lactating goats in a junior livestock show. Youth who pass the test will be exempt from annual quality assurance re-certification until they move to the next age bracket or they are no longer a junior exhibitor (nineteen years of age or older on January 1).
Attend one of these FREE in-person trainings held at the Pike County Fairgrounds, 311 Mill Street, Piketon
- Thursday, December 28, 2023: IN-PERSON starting at 3:00 p.m. at Art Hall
- Thursday, February 22, 6:00 p.m. at Art Hall
- Thursday, March 12, p.m. 6:00 p.m. at Art Hall
- Tuesday, April 16, 6:00 p.m. at Rabbit Clinic and QA at Multi-Purpose Building
- Tuesday, April 23, 6:00 p.m. at Poultry Clinic and QA at Art Hall
Can’t make it to one of the above Quality Assurance trainings?
You can complete your Quality Assurance training online by May 31 at the Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA) website. YQCA is a national multi-species quality assurance program. There is a $12 fee for the online QA training that is payed online when enrolling in the YQCA training. The fee is not refundable and not reimbursable. After completion of the online YQCA program, you must download your completion certificate submit it to the Pike County Extension Office by June 1. You can print your completion certificate and bring it to the Extension Office, or you can attach the pdf of the completion certificate to an email and send to Julie Evans at evans.1243@osu.edu.
QUALITY ASSURANCE: TEST-OUT OPTION
Monday, February 19, 1-6 p.m. at Extension Office (Come any time during that time frame)
Guidelines:
- Youth ages 12-14 who pass the test with a score of 70% or higher can test out of their annual QA program for up to 3 years. The passing of this test only exempts attendance at QA until the member reaches a 4-H age of 15. At that time, they would take the 15-18 year-old test.
- Youth ages 15-18 years of age who pass the QA test with a score of 70% or higher can test out of their annual QA program permanently.
- All ages are based on a member’s 4-H age (the age that they are as of January 1 of the current year).
If you would like resources to study for the QA test, visit the Quality Assurance Section of our webpage.