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GROWS

Come on spring.. I know you can do it! Say it with me, “I think I can, I think I can “. Our office is gearing up for the

fair. The fair schedule and fair books should be in with in a couple of weeks. I will send out an email as soon as I get

them in. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call the office or come in and ask.

Really Important Dates:

June 1st– For all species of animals to be shown at county, other county, Clay County and State Fair need to be Id’d.

Animals including swine, horse, dogs, dairy, breeding beef, and sheep/goats, bucket/bottle animals. Market beef

have been ID’d at weigh-in. Look in newsletter for more information. YQCA also is due this day!

June 15th -All fair entries are due including Communications, Garden Tour, and Clothing Entries. Plus ID’s for poul-

try, rabbit and pets are also due.

Making the Best Better!

Kiersten Beilke

Office Closed: As of now our office is closed to the public until farther notice. All staff are working remotely

from home and can still be reached by phone or email. We have been told Extension/4-H programs are to

be held virtually or not at all until May 9thso there is a good chance we won’t be back to the office until

then. Please reach out if you need anything from us! We have access to online meeting rooms and all sorts

of other resources to work through this unprecedented time.

HUMBOLDT HAPPENINGS– May 2020

Kiersten Beilke

Humboldt County Extension and Outreach County

4-H & Youth Coordinator

kbeilke@iastate.edu

~ Office- 515-332-2201 ~

www.extension.iastate.edu/4H/humboldt

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ALL LIVESTOCK

On behalf of the Iowa 4-H Program and considering the current and ongoing situation regarding the COVID-19 virus, adjustments

are being made to this year’s livestock identification process and county weigh-ins. We have been in contact with our partners; FFA,

State Fair, and Iowa Association of Fairs to make sure we are all on the same page.

• As of today, all county weigh-ins for meat goats, sheep and/or swine are to be cancelled. This is for the health and safety of our 4-

H families and staff. Unfortunately, that means fairs that conduct rate of gain contests will not be able to do so for the 2020 fair

season. For those counties who’ve already had their weigh-in this spring, those contests could still occur. (we dont hold weigh ins

for swine before fair)

• The May 15 livestock ID deadline will be moved back to June 1. This applies to ALL livestock that are usually identified by May 15

including: Breeding Beef, Dairy Cattle, Dairy Goat, Dog, Horse, Meat Goat, Sheep and Swine. Pets, Poultry and Rabbits will remain at

the June 15 deadline, with fair entries. Remember YQCA is also due June 1st.

• Tagging Procedures – we are asking county extension offices to work with families to obtain official 4-H ear tags, or if county staff

are comfortable could set up on-farm tagging. We are not requiring counties to do that latter, it’s just another option. Any process

that is utilized should keep in mind good bio-security practices and measures for people and animals. Additionally, for Identification

purposes, we are asking all tagged animals be documented by photo that is uploaded to 4-H Online. Process will be outlined in the

FAQs mentioned below.

• Retinal Imaging – since 4-H sheep and meat goats are required to have retinal images collected for State Fair eligibility, we are

hopeful that adding two weeks to the ID deadline will allow staff to collect those images, perhaps on the farm or if circumstances

improve and social distancing is less of a concern, those animals could come to a central site for image collection.

SHEEP/GOAT

Kiersten will be coming to your farm to tag and photograph (tag in ear).

If planning to show at the Iowa State Fair you will need to have the animals retinal scanned. Kiersten will do this when she is your

farm, but needs to know a head of time how many animals you will need retinal scanned.

Please email Kiersten by with how many tags you will be needing and if any will need any animals retinal scanned and number to

be scanned. She will then set up a time to come out to your farm after May 9th.

BUCKET BOTTLE ANIMALS (lamb, calf, goat)

Please email Kiersten with how many tag(s) you will need. Then the tag(s) will be place in a Ziplock baggies with your name on the

baggie. The baggie will be placed in a tote that will be placed outside the back of the Extension Office after April 10th. Once the ani-

mal is tagged you will have to enter the information into 4HOnline (Clover Kids K-3rd graders will need to complete the paper form

which will be in your baggie and returned to the Extension Office by June 1st).

BREEDING BEEF

All purebred and commercial heifers must be tattooed. Calfhood vaccination tattoo is not acceptable as the official tattoo. NEW

FOR 2020: A secondary identification method is required for all breeding beef. This can include one of the following: 1) Registration

Number (if registered through a breed association); 2) Calfhood vaccination number; or 3) Official Iowa 4-H ear tag. Both the tattoo

and secondary method of identification must be recorded in 4-H Online by June 1st. If you are in need of an Ear Tag as second form

of Identification please let Kiersten know so she can put the tag in a Ziplock bag with your name on it and put it in the tote. The

tote will be placed outside the back side of the Extension Office after April 10th.

SWINE

County Fair Only Swine: Please email Kiersten with the number of tags that you will be needing for the swine you are exhibiting.

She will place them in a baggie and put your name on the baggie, in that baggie will be placed in the tote. The tote will be placed

outside the back side of the Extension Office. In the baggie there will be a copy of the swine ID sheet for you to fill out and then you

can input the data in 4-H Online by June 1st, please remember that we also require that you input Ear Notches into 4HOnline.

State Fair Swine: Kiersten will be coming to your farm so that she can collect the money ($10 per tag), provide you with the tags

and tagger, and then collect the DNA samples that will then be sent to the State Office all at once. So please email Kiersten by April

15th with how many tag(s) you will be needing and then she will coordinate a time with you to come to the farm after May 9th.

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Animal Identification– June 1st

All animals to be shown at the Humboldt County Fair, Iowa State Fair, or Clay County Fair must complete the

identification process on 4-H Online before 11:59pm on June 1st ( the only paper copies I will be accepting

are FFA Members and Clover Program). Breeding Beef, Sheep, Meat Goats, Market Swine, Dairy, Dairy

Goats, Horse and Pony, Dog, Bucket Bottle Animals have to be IDed by June 1st. Pets, Cat, Rabbit, Poultry

(those are due June 15th with livestock entries, but check with other counties on due dates if you are plan-

ning on showing in a different county. You simply login to 4HOnline and identify your animals, at http://

ia.4honline.com . Here is link to the help sheet Animal ID Online ( www.extension.iastate.edu/4h/

page/4honline-information-families-and-leaders ) Don’t be afraid to reach out for help if needed, we are

always available from 8-4:30 Monday– Friday.

Market Beef have been entered by the county staff after the weigh-in happens.

What happens if you forget to login and id your animals in 4HOnline? You will not be able to exhibit those

animals at any county fair. There are NO EXCEPTIONS; please don’t miss this deadline.

Fair Entries… ~Due June 15th~

All fair entries are due to the Extension office by Monday, June 15th.

Fair entries include: Communication (working exhibit, educational presentation, share the fun, and extem-

poraneous speaking), Clothing Event (clothing selection, fashion revue, and $15 challenge), Garden Tour,

and all animals (beef, sheep, swine, horse, dairy, poultry, goats, rabbits, and pets). Paper forms are availa-

ble at the Extension office. All Humboldt County Fair entries have to be done on paper and turned into the

Extension with payment (checks payable to Humboldt County Fair).

Online Learning Resources

By now we may all be going a little stir crazy and be looking for new and innovative ways for kids to stay en-

gaged and learning during their (very) long school break. Did you know that the Iowa 4-H product team has

curated a wide variety of youth-led learning resources that are available for at-home learning? All of the re-

sources provided are publicly available for you and your family to use! The goal is to provide resources that

young people can use to stay engaged in learning while out of school. There are a variety of resources cover-

ing all project areas from Ag & Natural Resources to Healthy Living. Check https://

www.extension.iastate.edu/4h/4h-at-home-learning-resources If you need more ideas on how to keep your

kids engaged with 4-H feel free to reach out or check out Facebook where Kiersten will be posting lots of ide-

as!

Summer Day Camps– Virtually

We have been recommended to take our summer day camps virtually for this summer for the safety of our staff and participants. See attached flyer on the next page for more information, these will be free of charge. For those that have signed up , your checks will be shredded and you can sign up for this new adventure oth-erwise you can wait and the summer educators will reach out to you at the end of the May. Contact Kiersten if you have any questions.

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Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA) is a national multi-species quality assurance program

for youth ages 8 to 21 (4th– 12th graders) with a focus on three core pillars: food safety, animal well-

being, and character development.

YQCA will be replacing the old verification services called FSQA. YQCA certification is the new re-

quired youth quality assurance certification. If you are planning on showing any of these animals you

need to complete YQCA.

• Swine

• Cattle

• Sheep

• Goats

• Rabbits

• Poultry

YQCA is available as an online program for youth, you can now view it on your own time.

The way to complete this training is it go to https://yqca.learngrow.io/Account/Login

, sign in using your 4-H Online log in. Help Sheet link: https://www.extension.iastate.edu/4hfiles/

agriculture/YQCA/YQCAWebBasedMemberInstructions.pdf There is a $12 fee per child to go with

this training (if you need financial assistance please contact the office) which is paid when you log in

your child. I ask that you have your training completed by June 1, 2020. Once you have completed

the training you will see a certificate on your screen, you will then have to email that certificate to

kbeilke@iastate.edu so that I have proof you completed it.

PLEASE CONTACT THE OFFICE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.