Jefferson County 4-H

State fair static exhibits and County Fair Awards are available to pick-up at the Extension Office. We need to clear out our meeting room, so please come and pick them up as soon as possible. The following youth have items that need to be picked up:

• Cameron Rogers
• Kellen Sones

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

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

We still have 2 kits left that can be picked up!

If you haven’t checked out the Special Garden Project, now is the time! The 2025 Special Garden Project will focus on the Goldie Husk Cherry. This old-fashioned fruit from the tomato family has sweet berries inside golden husks. The fruits have many uses and can be eaten raw, dried, frozen, canned, or made into tasty treats like pies, desserts, or preserves. (I assure you the husk cherry is different than a groundcherry, which is a weed in Nebraska, that looks very similar, but isn’t edible.)

Learn more about the Special Garden Project and how to get started at https://4h.unl.edu/special-gardening-project. Order your seeds from the Extension Office by January 31st.

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

Organizational leaders and club treasurers, please remember that the 2024 Club Treasurer’s Report is due January 31st. The form is required to be completed even if you have a zero balance all year. If you have any questions please contact the Extension Office 402-729-3487.

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.

Please contact us by Tuesday, December 31st at 5 pm to be considered.

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!

We plan to have a training on Tuesday, December 31, 2024 from 11 am to Noon at the 4-H Building at the fairgrounds in Fairbury. All youth that plan on showing livestock animals at the county/state fair, must complete YQCA training each year. Youth must pre-register at yqcaprogram.org prior to the training. There will also be a training in Wilber on Thursday, January 2nd at 1:00 pm at the Saline County Extension Office.

The 2025 Market Beef Weigh Day will be held on Sunday, March 9th at the Fairbury Livestock facility. More details on times and specific information to come, but mark the date on your calendar.

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.
  

Interested in learning more about the Nebraska 4-H Fed Steer Challenge?

Last chance for applications, please apply by December 15th, 2024 for the 2025 program year.

For more information regarding the Fed Steer Challenge, or to apply to participate in 2025, visit https://4h.unl.edu/fed-steer-challenge. A recorded learning session is available on our website to learn more about the program.

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 2024 & 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.

December

6 - Snowman Project Kit orders due

24 & 25 - Office Closed for Christmas

31 - YQCA Training, 4-H Building, Fairbury

January

1 - Office Closed for New Year's Day

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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