Jefferson County 4-H

The 2025 Jefferson County Fair Dates are: July 9th-13th, 2025.

Theme: “Make a Beeline to the Jefferson County Fair”

It’s time to get enrolled in 4-H for the 2025 4-H year! To enroll, visit: https://v2.4honline.com/. For returning families, please do not create a new account; rather use your log-in credentials for 4honline used in previous years. Instructions can be found here: https://4h.unl.edu/enroll/returning-member. Enrollment instructions for new families can be found here: https://4h.unl.edu/enroll/returning-member

4-H enrollment is required for Clover Kids (ages 5-7) online at https://v2.4honline.com/. Youth should select at least one Clover Kid project to complete enrollment. Selection of multiple projects online is not required to exhibit multiple projects at the county fair. Check with our local 4-H club leaders for information about what is offered for Clover Kids during their club time.

We will be electing new members to the 4-H Council and are looking for interested adults and youth. The council is composed of 6 adults and 6 youth members. Adult members serve a 3-year term, while youth members serve a 1-year term and can serve 3 terms. We would like to invite anyone who’s interested in serving on 4-H Council to contact the office. Youth members need to be at least 13 years old by January 1, 2025.

We are still looking for volunteers to be a part of 4-H Council. It is a great experience for youth to get involved!

The Nebraska 4-H Diamond Clover program encourages 4-H youth to engage in a variety of programs, projects, and activities that will enable youth to acquire skills and abilities that will prepare them for success in the future.

The program consists of six levels that require a young person to plan and report a broad range of age-appropriate accomplishments. For each level, the Nebraska 4-H Diamond Clover program provides a list of accomplishments from which 4-H youth choose their goals. The accomplishments increase in quantity and difficulty for each level. At the beginning of the 4-H year, participants plan what to accomplish and at the end of the 4-H year, they report on their completed accomplishments. Successful completion of a level's Plan & Report form results in a 4-H youth earning that level of the Diamond Clover program.

Diamond Clover Forms can be downloaded at https://4h.unl.edu/statewide-events-opportunities/awards-recognition/diamond-clover/. Forms are due to the Extension Office April 1, 2025.

We have a YouTube channel for all of our Jefferson County 4-H videos from events and projects that you can check out anytime! Our channel is named Jefferson County Nebraska 4-H Youth Development and can be found at this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMY3WfF8GnGUrEBvVKEsgeA/. Make sure to check it out and subscribe to our channel!

In order to have an excellent camp experience, we are looking for 4-H teens ages 14-18 to serve in the Camp Counselor role. Camp Counselors guide campers through activities, stay in the cabins, and provide leadership for their group of 8-10 campers. We need a minimum of 10 girl Counselors and 10 boy Counselors!

Accepted counselors will be required to attend Camp Counselor Training on May 28th at 6:30 p.m. in Fairbury.

** Keep an eye out for the Camp Renegade Counselor application link (coming soon)!

Save the date for Camp Renegade - June 10-11 at Camp Jefferson near Fairbury.

Camp Renegade is an overnight residential camp for youth ages 8-12 years old. 4-H membership is not required to attend. Camp is $70 per camper and covers meals and supplies.

** Keep an eye out for the registration link (coming soon)!

The 2025 Market Beef Weigh Day will be held on Sunday, March 9th from 1 - 2:30 pm at the Fairbury Livestock facility. Participation isn't required to show at the fair, but if you want to participate in the average daily gain contest animals will need to be weighed on this day.

We will be holding a training on Monday, April 21, 2025 at 11 am at the Extension Office in Fairbury. Youth must pre-register at yqcaprogram.org in order to attend so we can ensure adequate spacing for all participants. When you get registered, make sure to take the pretest before attending the training. Contact the office with any questions and we can send you the instructions for how to get all of these steps done.

If you are interested in showing a horse at the county fair, please contact Emma at 402-806-3570 ASAP for information on where to get started and be sure you get all the required parts done.

The following changes were made and approved at the September 2024 Jefferson County Fairboard Meeting to the county fair horse program:

• Levels testing is due with entries on June 15th.
• Levels 1 testing - written and skills
• Level 2 - if you pass both of Level 1 - you can do the YQCA class in place of written test but still have to take the skills testing for Level 2.
• Skills testing: The adult testing, can not test their own children, or children who ride/use that adult's horses.
• If you plan to show at the State Horse Show, levels testing and skills need to be passed for each class entered for the state show. Different classes require higher levels than at county fair in most cases. Levels testing is due by June 1st (the above is for county only requirements)
  
• Halter classes have been changed to better showcase the horses exhibited at the fair. They will still be separated by mares and geldings:
• Yearlings
• 6 and under
• 7 and up
• Aged class which is 15+
• No horses will be stalled on the fairgrounds in 2025. Horses will be brought day of show only and then released.
  

The program consists of three levels that require 4-H members to plan and report a broad range of age-appropriate and project-related accomplishments. For each level, the Livestock Achievement Program provides a list of accomplishments from which 4-H members choose their goals.

• Juniors, ages 8-9, must submit pictures, posters, presentations, and other learning activities to receive the distinction of Junior Member of Excellence.

• Intermediates, ages 10-13, must complete 100 points worth of activities to receive the distinction of Intermediate Member of Excellence.

• Seniors, ages 14-18, must complete 150 points worth of activities to receive the distinction of Senior Member of Excellence.
  

At the beginning of the 4-H year, youth must apply to participate in the program. Upon acceptance into the program, participants plan what to accomplish. At the end of the 4-H year, they report on their completed accomplishments. Additionally, participants must complete their annual 4-H Online enrollment process, YQCA requirements, and project record books in order to receive a Member of Excellence distinction.

More information at: https://4h.unl.edu/statewide-events-opportunities/livestock-program/livestock-achievement-program/

Apply now to attend one of the biggest youth agriculture outreach events in the state—the Nebraska Agricultural Youth Institute (NAYI). NAYI brings together high school juniors and seniors to learn more about Nebraska agriculture, network with agriculture leaders and discover the many careers available in agriculture. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) helps sponsor and coordinate NAYI every year.

NAYI will be held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus July 7–11, 2025. Applications for NAYI are available at nda.nebraska.gov/nayi and must be submitted online. Current high school juniors and seniors interested in attending have until April 15, 2025, to apply. This year’s theme is “Agriculture It's in our Genes.”

Join Nebraska 4-H as we go on-site to learn more about science, agriculture, technology, and more! Virtual Field Trips offer facility tours, educational experiences, and additional resources for teachers. Virtual Field Trips are perfect for youth in 7th-12th grades. Each session will be recorded and made available for on-demand viewing. Youth do not need to be 4-H members to participate.

There are also numerous field trips that have been archived to view at your convenience. Check them out. See the link below to view of all the tours available.

https://4h.unl.edu/virtual-field-trips

We are looking for ideas for workshops in 2025. We would like to hear ideas of what you would be willing to attend. We would also like to hear from you regarding what times would work best for most people, after school, 1⁄2 days when school is out, etc. Please contact the Extension Office 402-729-3487 and let us know what YOU are interested in.

Just as a reminder, check out our Facebook page! The page name is "Jefferson County Extension & 4-H Youth Development". Along with our newsletter, we will be using this page to update our members about upcoming events, activities, and deadlines. We also hope to use this page to provide information about community outreach opportunities, scholarships, and research that is important to our followers. The staff will do our best to keep this updated and inform you all of what is going on at the office, Jefferson County, and in Nebraska.

March

9 - Market Beef Weigh Day - Fairbury Livestock

April

1 - Diamond Clover Forms Due at office

21 - YQCA Training, Extension Office, Fairbury

21 - Public Speaking Contest - Grace Lutheran Church, Fairbury

May

28 - Camp Counselor Training

June

10-11 - Camp Renegade, Camp Jefferson

13 - Fair Entries Due

July

9-13 - Jefferson County Fair

Email: darci.pesek@unl.edu
Website: jefferson.unl.edu
Location: 517 F Street, Fairbury, NE, United States
Phone: 402-729-3487
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeffersoncountyext

Nebraska Extension is a Division of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln cooperating with the Counties and the United Sates Department of Agriculture.

Nebraska Extension educational programs abide with the nondiscrimination policies of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the United States Department of Agriculture.

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