4-H ActionLine May 2020

This major milestone will be celebrated using the theme “A Tradition to Treasure.” You are invited to participate in a number of special activities and “throwbacks” to fairs-gone-by. You can utilize this time of physical distancing to be thinking of ideas for some of the following events and exhibits.

Club Contest—Each club is encouraged to create a 4-H banner. It can simply have your club name on it, or be as elaborate as you can envision—the decision is yours. Get those creative juices flowing, and design a banner that your club members can work on once the quarantine is lifted. Even better, proudly display it in the 4-H Parade!

4-H Parade—One of the special events for the 150th celebration is a parade of 4-H clubs. Show off that banner you created, or even a float! The parade is scheduled for Sunday, August 2. More details to be announced.

4-H Exhibits—4-H’ers are encouraged to enter static exhibits that follow the fair theme. This is a new section added to the fair book. Creativity and craftsmanship is encouraged. This year’s theme will be “A Tradition to Treasure.”

322 S. 14th Seward, NE 68434

PHONE (402) 643-2981 WEBSITE seward.unl.edu

3 Jr. Leaders Remote, via Zoom

4 4-H Council

Via Zoom

7 4-H Clovers

Remote, via Zoom

7 Public Speaking Contest

Remote, via Zoom

20 Shibori Scarves

CC—held via Zoom

21 4-H 101 Remote, via Zoom

21 & 17

Pajama Pants

Pattern and Tutorial Provided

26 Great Outdoors

Materials, lesson, and zoom session provided.

Nebraska Extension—Seward County

Farewell to Jennifer Swerczek—Extension

Assistant, 4-H Youth Development Jennifer brought a passion for teaching STEM and about the outdoors. We’d

like to thank her for the talents she shared with Seward County and we know that she will continue to impact children through her teaching. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors!

Congratulations to our Seward County Senior Scholarship Recipients!

Hannah Bales, Owen Eickhoff, Gavin Hamling, Paige Hansen, Ethan Ideus, Samantha Oborny, Ember Penas, Delaney Read, Alyssa Owens, Megan Vrbka, and Erika Cast who won a Nebraska 4-H Foundation Scholarship.

These deserving 4-H’ers demonstrated a variety of learning and leadership experiences over their 4-H careers.

Attention Horse Leaders and 4-H Horse Project 4-H’ers

Due to COVID-19, NE state 4-H has shut down in person training until June 15th. Please do not use the arena for club ring

practices until further notice. Contact the Extension Office following June 15th for arena and building use at the Seaward

County Fair Grounds. Thank you for your cooperation.

In order to use the arena or buildings, please contact the Seward County Ag Society for arena and building rental dates and

fees. Seward County 4-H Horse Clubs may use the arena on their designated practice night, rent free. Cindy has filled out a 4-H

Horse Club Ring Practice request form. Please contact Cindy Wolverton with questions at 402-641-4490 or at

Cynthia.wolverton@unl.edu.

Page 2 4-H ActionLine

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Next Junior Leader Meeting

Sunday, May 3 4:00 p.m.

Although we are unable to conduct programming in-person in May, we are still planning to connect with you. Following are schedule updates for summer programming. Some of these updates are due to COVID-19 guidelines and some are due to number of 4-H’ers registered. Our May Clover Colleges have been converted to ‘Take It & Make It!” Sessions! You will received supplies, instructions and an online tutorial. Those registered will receive specific

instructions.

May 20, Shibori Scarves Clover College— Will be held remotely; supplies will be available for pick-up

May 21 & 27, Pajama Pants Clover College— Pattern and tutorial will be provided; Zoom support available

May 26, Great Outdoors Clover College— Materials and lesson will be available for pick-up

May 26, Baking is Fun Clover College— This session will be conducted through Zoom

May 27, Amazing Art— Materials and lesson will be available for pick-up

May 28, Babysitting— Will be conducted remotely

May 28, Hanging Wood Poster— TBD

May 30, Explore Shooting Sports— Cancelled (shooting sports trailer not available)

4-H Programming—COVID-19 Updates In accordance with the guidelines from the state of Nebraska and the University of Nebraska, 4-H programming

(including 4-H club meetings) will continue to operate remotely through June 15. We will keep you updated if it

extends beyond this. Please stay tuned for updates. This is a great time to work on those 4-H exhibits!

State Public Speaking Contest— June 24, to be held virtually Big Red Camps— Cancelled for 2020; Exploring the possibility of “Virtual Learning Experiences” for some content areas Life Challenge— County only for 2020; Planning underway for 2021 PASE— Postponing to September 21 and 22;

Altered Summer Schedule for State 4-H Events

If you signed up for the Special Garden Project, your seeds are available for pick-up at the Extension Office. Give us a call at 402-643-2981 to let us know you are coming, and we will have your seeds outside the door. Didn’t register? We have extra seed packets available. Call for availability.

Thank you for your flexibility and patience.

We are continuing to work through the changes to our processes and programming, resulting from the global pandemic.

We can’t wait to get back to working with our 4-H families in person—but, until then, we will continue to brainstorm creative ways to safely teach and engage with you.

Through the 4-H Public Speaking Contest, youth

have an opportunity to write a speech or a public

service announcement (PSA) that incorporates the

topic of 4-H and deliver it to an audience. This year

4-H’ers will get to deliver their speech from home

while connecting live with an online audience.

Clover Kids and Beginner 4-H’ers can recite the

pledge or a poem and receive a beautiful rosette!

Participants will receive results the next day.

Champion and Reserve Champion awards will be

given. Instructions will be sent to those who

register. Register at:https://go.unl.edu/er0v

Or by emailing seward-county@unl.edu

4-H Volunteer Screening

All 4-H volunteers and staff are required to complete

the Nebraska 4-H volunteer screening process. Vol-

unteer screening is done in order to assure a safe, pos-

itive, and nurturing environment for all youth in-

volved with the Nebraska 4-H programs and provide

protection for the child, the volunteer, the educator,

the 4-H Council, the Extension Board, and the Uni-

versity of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension.

It is required that volunteers complete volunteer

screening before working with 4-H youth. We appre-

ciate your help with this process. We are reviewing

all of our enrolled volunteers. If you received a re-

quest to complete a DHHS Central Registry Check,

please complete it as soon as possible. There is a $5

fee at this time. Please let us know if that is a barrier.

YQCA Updates 1. Youth for the Quality Care of Animals certification is due to the Extension Office by June 15th. You may

email your Certificate of Completion to Cindy at cynthia.wolverton@unl.edu or drop off a copy at the Exten-sion office using the drop box in the west door.

3. Because of COVID19 in person training is not allowed until after June 15th, all YQCA training must be com-pleted online.

2. Youth who have already paid for a YQCA instructor-led training (on a date that has not yet passed), may log into their account and cancel their registration.

If payment was received via credit card, the payment will be refunded If payment was received via coupon code, that coupon code will be active again. This coupon code

does not expire and would be able to be used in future years. To cancel a registered training:

1. Go to https://yqca.learngrow.io and login to the account 2. Select the course—you will have an option to “Cancel Registration.” This will cancel the training and refund

the payment/re-activate the coupon code. 3. To sign up for web based training please go to Seward County Web page (https://extension.unl.edu/statewide/seward/qualityassurance/ ), scroll to the bottom for instructions.

Important Animal ID Changes Swine 1. All swine must have an EID tag and ear notch number for 2020. Tags can be purchased at the

2. Extension Office for $2.50 each. Must have your Premises ID to purchase tags. 3. There will NOT be an option to sell your pigs to WholeStone Farms at the 2020 Seward County Fair.

Please let us know if you need help marketing your pigs.

Dairy Goat 1. All commercial breeding goats must have a scrapie tag and ID sheet. 2. Bucks are not eligible to show.

3. All goats must have horns blunted, dehorning is acceptable and preferred.

Please call Cindy Wolverton 402-643-2981 if you have any concerns.

1. Must pass Horsemanship Level 2 to enter in any Roping Performance Class at the Seward County Fair.

2. All horses assigned to stalls will remain on exhibit throughout the fair, unless otherwise released by the horse

superintendent and 4-H staff.

3. Under no circumstances will substitutions of horses be allowed to stall for Champion and Reserve champion

Mare and Gelding, unless released by the horse superintendent and 4-H staff. If Champion and Reserve

Champion Mare and Gelding are not on exhibit for the duration of the fair, then exhibitor forfeits prize

Important 4-H Horse Program Updates

Due to the COVID19 situation and social distancing rule of no more than 10 people gathering in one place and keeping 6 feet between us, the following events and deadlines have been changed.

District Horse Show

1. All district horse shows for 2020 have been canceled. All youth may enter the State 4-H Horse show if they have met the age and advancement level requirement for the classes they will be entering.

2. Entries and horse ID are due to the Extension Office June 15, 2020. 3. Entry forms can be found here: https://4h.unl.edu/horse/district-shows.

4. Horse ID can be found here: https://4h.unl.edu/documents/Horse/F29777%20Horse%20ID%20new.pdf Advance Horsemanship Testing for State Fair Entries

Because of COVID19, the state 4-H office changed our ability to have in person training to June 15th. Guide-lines to complete horsemanship level testing demos and skills test is being revised by the state horse specialist Lena Luck. As soon as we know what that looks like Cindy will contact you with the updates as well as post updates on the Seward County Facebook page.

1. Advancement Levels completed due date for the State 4-H Horse Show is June 15, 2020 to the Seward County Extension Office.

2. In order to abide by social distancing recommendations, skills and demonstrations testing are on hold. 3. Level 1-3 Requirements

a. Written Exam: The youth can take the written exams online and asked not to use any resources while taking the exam. Passing grade is 80% or higher. Please contact Cindy at the Extension Of-fice to access a written exam link.

b. Skills Test: On hold until further notice. c. Demonstration: On hold until further notice.

4. Level 2 & 3 Additional Requirements a. Written report and feed chart should be emailed to Cindy at Cynthia.wolverton@unl.edu or dropped

off at the Extension Office west door drop box.

5. Level 3 Additional Requirement

Health Care Paper should be emailed to Cindy or dropped off at the Extension Office west door drop box.

6. Level 4 Additional Requirements

a. Demonstration, written report and skills test will follow same protocol as above.

Advancement Horsemanship Testing for County Fair Only

1. Completed due date is July 10th.

2. Written and Skills test at this time will be scheduled sometime after May 9th. 3. You may hand in all reports and papers to Cindy anytime you complete them prior to July 10.

4-H Horse Stampede

1. The 4-H Horse Stampede has been rescheduled to July 12, 2020. This will be held in conjunction with the State 4-H Horse show at Fonner Park, Grand Island.

4-H COUNCIL

COUNTY FAIR CONTEST

4-H CLUB BANNER

4-H Clubs are invited to take part in a special 4-H club contest to celebrate the 150th Seward County

Fair. The contest is to create a club banner and carry it in the 4-H Parade on Sunday, August 2 as a kick-off to the Seward County Fair. Clubs may also have a float in the parade, but that is not a re-

quirement.

The parade is currently scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 2. Parade route and specifics are to be determined.

Rules and Guidelines: Banners should be 6 ft. wide (72”) x approximately 30” tall” Banner needs to have a 1-2”pocket on top and club must supply stick

or pole through the pocket for carrying purposes. A closed “eye hook” on each end of the stick/pole is required. Following the pa-

rade, banners should be dropped off at Harvest Hall to be later dis-played at the 4-H Center.

To register, email the following information to seward-county@unl.edu or fill out the online form be-low: CLUB: CONTACT NAME: PHONE #: EMAIL:

https://go.unl.edu/clubcontest

Banners will be judged based on:

1 – Originality

2 – 4-H Spirit

3- Club Spirit (Participation in Parade and involvement in making the banner)

4 - Workmanship

Registration due to Extension Office by July 10, 2020

For more information contact: 402-643-2981

From the Seward County Ag

Society-There are 38 camping

sites available at the

fairgrounds during the Seward

County Fair. This will be on a

first -come first-serve basis.

On July 1, 2020, Jordon

Odvody will start taking reservations. He can be

reached at 402-440-2294.

4-H Historical Display The 2020 Seward County Fair is still scheduled for August 6—9, 2020. Regulations regarding COVID-19 may change that; but, for now, we are still planning a county fair.

There will be a historical display in the Ag Pavilion, made up of photos, stories, trophies, ribbons, artifacts, etc. from previous Seward County Fairs. If your family has an item you would like to share with the fair, please bring it to the Extension Office by Friday, July 31.

Make sure you label your item securely with your name and phone number, and—if possible—the year. After the fair is over, your keepsake will once again be available for pickup at the Extension Office. From the Seward County Ag Society

The Seward County Ag Society continues to make plans for this summer’s 150th annual Seward County Fair. Pre-Fair activities are planned for August 2nd through August 5th, with the Fair occurring August 6th through August 9th. All events will be conducted in accordance with the official guidelines regarding COVID-19 in place at that time. The Ag Society encourages 4-H, FFA, and open class exhibitors to continue to prepare their exhibits for the Fair. The theme for this year’s Fair is, “A Tradition to Remember”. Watch the 4-H Action Line for future updates on the 2020 Seward County Fair.

County Fair Schedule Additions/Changes to Note

9:00 a.m. Saturday, July 25— 4-H Clothing Day (judging and modeling of all Steam I, II, and III garments, Beyond the Needle, and Knitting and Crocheting, as well as Clover Kid modeling), at Seward Civic Center

10:00 a.m. Sunday, August 2— Archery Contest, at Reunion Center 3:00 p.m. Sunday, August 2— Public Fashion Show, at Harvest Hall 5:00 p.m. Sunday, August 2— 4-H Parade/Club Contest 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, August 5— Dog Show, Reunion Center 4:30 p.m. Thursday, August 6— Small Animal Show, at 4-H Cottage 5:30 p.m. Thursday, August 6— Cat Show, at 4-H Cottage 8:00 a.m. Friday, August 7— Dairy Show, at Livestock Center At break in Figure 8 Races, Saturday, August 8— Parade of Champions, at Grandstand Arena 10:00 a.m. Sunday, August 9— Worship Service, at Harvest Hall

4-H ActionLine

322 S. 14th St.

Seward, NE 68434

Important County Fair Changes and Information Inside!

Ann Dobesh, Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development ann.dobesh@unl.edu

TBA, Extension Educator, The Learning Child

TBA, Extension Assistant

Cindy Wolverton, Extension Assistant, 4-H Youth Development cynthia.wolverton@unl.edu

Dorian Krska, Administrative Assistant dorian.krska@unl.edu

Lori Hamling, Support Staff & 4-H Afterschool Coordinator lori.hamling@unl.edu

Julie Roebke, Support Staff jroebke2@unl.edu