Gage 4-H News

Announcements

• Arbor Day- Office Closed
• 4-H Enrollment
• Clover Kids
• Scholarship Update
• Goat Expo Scholarship

Upcoming Events

• Public Speaking & Presentation Contest
• Camp Renegade
• Camp Counselors Wanted

Notes to 4-H Members

• State Fair Eligibility Update

Notes to 4-H leaders & volunteers

• 4-H Council Meeting
• 2024 Tractor & Equipment Safety Training
  

Notes to Livestock Members

• Gage County Livestock Showdown
• Clover Kid Livestock Show
• State Fair Livestock- Entry Info
• State Horse Show Information
• Pen to Plate
• YQCA
  
• YQCA Instructor- Led Options
• Fort Robinson Horse Camp
• Sheridan County Progress Show
• Silver Spurs 4-H Horse Show
• Dawes County 4-H Progress Show
• Top Dog 4-H Club- Jefferson Co. 4-H

Calendar Events

Enrollment is open for the 2023-2024 Gage County 4-H year. The enrollment website is v2.4honline.com. All 4-H youth (ages 8-18), Clover Kids (ages 5-7), and leaders/volunteers are required to enroll online every year. Enrollment deadline is June 15. We encourage all members to enroll using a computer and not your mobile device. Call or email Jacie or Sarah at 402-223-1384 with any enrollment questions.

Please make sure to include or update your child's t-shirt size! This is the sizing guide we use to order the Exmark t-shirts for county fair! It is not a required field so can often be missed.

Updated help guides can be found on our website.

Enrollment fee is $12 for each 4-H youth to be paid online or in the office. There is no fee for Clover Kids or adults. We will not be accepting enrollments until we have received payment.

Clover Kids is a special program for youth ages 5-7 who want to participate in 4-H. The program offers a variety of educational and recreational experiences in non-competitive environments. These opportunities are ideal for developing confidence, creativity, and competence during this stage of youth development.

Clover Kids have special opportunities to participate during the Gage County Fair by exhibiting Clover Kids static exhibits. To be eligible to participate, Clover Kids need to enroll through our 4HOnline system at v2.4honline.com

Gage County 4-H Juniors and Seniors, it's time for you to start looking at scholarships! There are numerous agricultural companies, organizations, and colleges that offer scholarships to students who have long-term career goals in agriculture. There are also a lot of local and county-wide scholarships for 4-H youth. Now is the time to put together a good resume-it helps!

Robert Kracke Memorial Scholarship

Must be postmarked by April 15th to:

Vergene Kracke

Scholarship Committee

1773 CR 2500

Wilber, NE 68465

The 4S Goat Expo would like to extend their scholarship to young goat producers in the state of Nebraska again this year. This scholarship is open to Seniors in High school and Freshman in college. The deadline for this scholarship is May 31, 2024.

Public Speaking & Presentation Contest Sunday, April 21st starting at 2 pm. Please note the Presentation contest has moved away from the Nebraska State Fair and has been added to the Premier Communication Event in June. Because of this, we also had to move the county Presentation contest earlier in the year to be able to send state qualifiers!

Registration is open on 4HOnline to sign up! Must have an approved enrollment before signing up. When you log into 4HOnline, click view next to the youth's name, then on the left side of the screen click on the events tab, and register for a new event.

**Note: you will need to know the title of your speech & presentation when registering.

New for 2024: take from PSA & Video Communications on Rules Page.

Camp Renegade June 11-12

Camper registrations are due no later than May 21 at 8:00 p.m.

Register for camp at: https://go.unl.edu/24camprenegade

Payments should be sent directly to Jefferson County Extension at 517 F Street, Fairbury, NE 68352. Checks payable to Jefferson County 4-H Council. Camp registration is not confirmed until payment has been received.

Camp Counselor applications are due no later than May 1 – youth ages 14-18 as of Jan. 1 can apply.

Accepted counselors will be required to attend camp counselor training on May 29 in Fairbury.\

Direct link to counselor application: https://go.unl.edu/24camprenegadecounselorapp

The decision has been made to change the age of eligibility in 2024 to be 8 years of age before January 1 (of the current year) for all in-person events (livestock, contests, fashion show) at the Nebraska State Fair.

Don't forget to do the Big 4 in order to participate in the Gage County Fair and the Nebraska State Fair. The Big 4 is a printable resource created to help keep track of usernames, passwords and deadlines.

Check out this great opportunity for 14 and 15 year old youth to be equipment certified and allow them to be employed on farms and ranches.

For more information check out go.unmc.edu/tractor-safety-training

The next 4-H Council Meeting will be April 29th at 6:30 pm.

3rd Annual Gage County Livestock Showdown

*Junior Nebraska Cattlemen sanctioned beef show

NEW:*Nebraska Swine Circuit sanctioned hog show

Hog Show hosted by Frontier Cooperative

Gage County 4-H & FFA exhibitors have a discounted rate until April 20th

ALL entries have to be entered into the showman.app

Updated Check-in times:

Check in 7:00 AM- 8:00 AM- Beef/Sheep/Goats

Check in 9:30 AM- 10:30 AM- Hogs

For more detailed information about the show go to:

https://go.unl.edu/gagelivestockshowdown or scan the QR code

*New for the Gage County Fair

• Clover Kid Livestock Show

Please see the flyer below and go to go.unl.edu/gagecloverkidlivestock or scan the QR code for the complete rules & info.

All 4-H/FFA BREEDING livestock, market livestock and FEEDER CALVES will are required to submit a DNA sample/envelope to be eligible to exhibit at the Nebraska State Fair. DNA envelopes for the Nebraska State Fair are due on June 15 to the Extension Office. (New Envelopes for 2024)

DNA nominations will all be $7.00 per animal. With this update, animals will automatically be eligible for both breeding and market. Any DNA nomination submitted through Show Stock Manager will also be eligible for exhibition at the Aksarben Stock Show. https://showstockmgr.com/

Breeding livestock: Registration papers must now show the exhibitor’s name or a co-owner who is an immediate member of the exhibitor’s family and is listed with the online nomination in show stock manager

State 4-H Horse Show at Fonner Park- July 13-17, 2024

All due by June 1st

• All youth must complete Advancement Level requirements
• Horse Identification
• Entry Process- nhorse.fairwire.com.

For more information please go to: https://4h.unl.edu/horse-expo-show-entry

Check out this new opportunity in Fillmore County. It is a great way to get hands on learning to learn more about the livestock industry from pen to plate

Questions: call Alexis Schmidt at 402-759-3712

4-H (ages 8-18) and FFA (under age 19) exhibitors as of Jan. 1st of the current year who exhibit beef, goat, sheep, swine, rabbit & poultry are REQUIRED to complete YQCA training by June 15, to be eligible to participate at the Gage County Fair and Nebraska State Fair. (Clover Kids are not required to complete YQCA training).

Face-to-Face training participants are REQUIRED TO PRE-REGISTER ONLINE and pay a $3.00 fee. Once you have completed the training you will log back into your YQCA account and retrieve your certificate to turn into the Extension Office by June 15.

Online YQCA training is available for $12.00 per youth. Please make a special note to your 4-H age (as of Jan. 1) when selecting a course to complete.

*If you have any problems with the online website (logging in, online testing, etc.), you have to contact the help desk on the website. We unfortunately have no admin capabilities to help if you have issues.

**Make sure you complete both the pre and post survey before YQCA will let you print off your YQCA certificate.

Saline County is offering one final instructor led option

• May 23rd at 9:30 a.m.

Questions contact the Saline County Office at 402-821-2151

The Fort Robinson Horse Camp Committee has been busy putting together a fun camp to celebrate the 50th year of Horse Camp!!

Program, Registration Form, and Scholarship Application are attached below. New this year in addition to the scholarship application, the youth can create a t-shirt design for the 2025 Fort Robinson Horse Camp. If their shirt design is selected they will be reimbursed for their camp fee. Feel free to email t-shirt designs to mmracek2@unl.edu.

Sheridan County Goat, Beef, Sheep, and Swine 4-H Progress Show

Sunday, June 23, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. Sheridan County Fairgrounds, Gordon, Nebraska

Entry Forms are available online at: https://extension.unl.edu/statewide/northernpanhandle/sheridan-county-4-h-0/

For more information contact: Marie Nelson 308-327-2312 Melissa Mracek 402-322-0655

June 29, 2024

Fees $8.00 per class or $40.00 for all day

For more information contact: Tracy Heathers (308) 883-3925, Susan Spicer (308) 882-1463, Gene Heathers (308) 883-0143

Saturday, June 15th, 2024

Dawes County Fairgrounds, Chadron, NE

Attached is the rules & the entry form

For more information contact:

Ryan Sellman *text only 308-430-3634

Melissa Mracek mmracek2@unl.edu

Kylin Munger kmunger2@unl.edu

Dawes Co Extension Office 308-432-3373

The new leader of the Top Dog 4-H club is Penny Holtmeier. Her goal is to grow the Top Dog 4-H club and hold practices between Fairbury and Beatrice every other week. Members could catch practices that work for them. Jefferson County’s dog show is Tuesday, July 9, at 10:00 am.

If there is any interest in joining the Top Dog 4-H club or if there is interest in Jefferson County's dog show please contact Penny Holtmeier at penny.holtmeier@unl.edu

Animal Science Discover Day on May 29, 2024 from 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. in Curtis on NCTA campus. If you have any questions, please fee free to contact

Email: Gage-County@unl.edu
Website: https://extension.unl.edu/statewide/gage/
Location: 1115 West Scott Street, Beatrice, NE, USA
Phone: 402-223-1384
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UNLExtensionGageCo/