Hello 4-H Families!

We are in the planning stages of Project Day and Public Presentation Day for April - May, so keep those in the back of your mind.

Rec Lab is in Hobson, MT this year. Kim will be hosting two workshops with Adriane Good (Pondera County) and Kari Lewis (Glacier County). If your teen leader would like to attend, please let us know. This is a really fun opportunity and it is really close this year. The registration deadline is March 1st.

Kim is headed off to the 4-H Update in Lewistown the first week of February. This is an annual conference with all the other 4-H Agents around the state. They will discuss upcoming opportunities for the youth and any rule changes that have been made in the past year.

Please make sure you have all the project books that you need for the year. The following members still have books in the office: Jagger Flesch, Rowen Russell, Desirae Salois, and Jacob Preuss.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions. You can stop by the office anytime!

Kim & Jackie

 

Livestock Committee Updates

Lamb weight limit - Maximum lamb weight limit has been increased to 165 pounds. This is more in line with other fairs and allows those larger framed lambs to be appropriately finished. A heavier carcass also provides the buyer more meat for their fixed processing costs.

 

Maximum Sale Participation Weight 

Any animal weighing 12% or more above the maximum payweight will NOT be eligible to sell in the market livestock sale. Those animals may participate in the show but will not be able to sell.

Maximum sale participation weights are:

  • Beef – 1,680
  • Lambs – 185
  • Swine – 336
  • Goats – 123

 

Weigh in Deadline:

Swine Weigh In and Breeding Projects are due April 17th. Lamb/Goat deadline May 8th.

 

Small Ag Committee Updates

Small Ag Committee met Jan 25th. We decided to break into committees to look at the rules for each animal and make descriptions, expectations, and revisions for the fair book. We will regroup in March with proposals and make decisions for the fair book.

Tina would like to host some dog obedience workshops if people are interested. We would like to have another small animal workshop around April where we make toys for the animals to be entered at the fair. We will have our usual showmanship workshop in June.

We clarified the rule that the Cloverbud age kids can now enter as “Open Class” entries for small animal showmanship. We will have someone from Open Class come to our next meeting with the specific rules for that.

We held officer elections. Ashely Denno is the new President, Tina McIlvain is the Vice President, Brittany Hotchkiss is the Treasurer, and Leanne Winkowitsch is the Secretary.

We discussed having a small animal Round Robin show but, we just can’t find a time that would work since all of our shows are on a different day.

We will be asking the same judges back this year and we were discussing if the judges fee was at a good rate. I will be looking into what other fairs pay and we will re-evaluate at the next meeting. We might do a fundraiser so we can pay our judges more. We talked about doing a turkey raffle or maybe a chicken bingo at the fair.

The committee is asking for members to keep an eye out for chicken, rabbit, cat, dog, pocket pet themed goodies for the goody bag. There may be some at the new dollar stores and lots of chickens and rabbits around Easter.

Our next meeting will be March 29th at the MRE at 6:30 PM.

 

The following 4-H members will need Livestock Quality Assurance this year:

We will have one at project day in April/May

Taylor ParsonsBrinlee Flesch

Ty ParsonsMorgan Riphenburg

 

4-H Leadership Academy:

If you are an ambassador or teen leader, join the Montana 4-H Leadership Academy workshop on Sunday, February 13th. The Leadership Academy is a network of Montana 4-H members interested in exploring and developing their own leadership skills while serving their county 4-H program in new ways.

 

Local county leadership groups will have an opportunity to join with groups from around the state as well as the Montana 4-H Ambassador Officer team, virtually and in person when possible, to work on skill building, planning and mentorship.

 

Each month the officer team members will be presenting a different workshop topic that they have found to be important as they have grown their own leadership abilities. This workshop should be paired with a local county leadership meeting to work on county projects that serve the local 4-H program and community.

 

Leadership Academy Dates:

February 13 - Ages and Stages for Mentors

March 13 - Successful Service Learning

April 10 - Lead with a Purpose

 

4-H 2022 Camp Dates

The 2022 4-H camp dates are June 13-16, 2022. If you would like to get an application to be a camp counselor, please get ahold of the office and we will get you one! The camp application deadline is February 11, 2022.

 

Updates: We will be meeting soon to determine whether we will be splitting by county again.We will let you know what is decided.

There was a survey emailed out to all 4-H Families about their preferences for camp. Please be sure to fill out that survey! https://tinyurl.com/bddmf9fh

 

Public Presentation Day

Keep an eye out for more information about an upcoming Public Presentation Day in April or May!

 

Montana 4-H Rec Lab

On March 18-20, 2022 Montana Rec Lab will be held in Hobson MT. Plan to travel 4-H Highway 2022, the Road to Success! Mark your calendar's for this amazing state wide event and help spread the word to all your 4-H friends in Montana. The Montana Rec Lab is open to all 4-H members in Montana ages 13-19! More information will be coming out. There are scholarships available for Toole County Members upon request. The application will be available in early February. The registration deadline is March 1st, 2022.

 

What is Rec Lab? Many teens will tell you Rec Lab is their favorite statewide event. It has a really casual, fun and hands on feel. Often times all of the activities... including sleeping take place in one building like a school. Everyone drags in 100 lbs of air mattresses, sleeping bags and extension cords for phone chargers into the school gym to stay for the weekend. It is almost impossible in this environment not to make new friends! People spend time between meals and workshops sitting at cafeteria tables playing games and getting to know each other. The workshops are very engaging and often hands-on with project and activity based topics. It is a great way to roll into more leadership opportunities at the county and state level. If you have members that have not had an opportunity to attend any state events, this is the perfect one for them to start with, It is really fun, the schedule is easy to follow and it is less intimidating to interact with peers.

 

Project Day

We are planning a Project Day for April. The date is TBD

One station will be Quality Assurance. All members that are taking an animal project need to have this training every other year. If anyone would like to teach a station in a specific project, please let us know.

 

Dog Members

The Marias Fair Ag Committee is looking to organize some dog workshops that covers obedience and showmanship.

The Glacier County 4-H dog leader is willing to lead weekly sessions in Cut Bank to go about six weeks. The sessions will be indoors and may have a potential follow-up later in the spring and summer at the dog park or the Marias Fairgrounds dog arena.

The first session would be an introduction that would have a training session with the dogs after.

She would like to get started in the new year.

Any dog members who are interested please go to https://bit.ly?3e9HBNW. Sign up as soon as possible so that she can make the schedule!

 

Air Rifle/ Pistol Tournament

On February 27th there is a tournament at the Pondera Shooting Sports Club. If you would like an Entry Form please let the Toole County Extension office know! The Deadline to sign up for the Tournament is February, 18, 2022.