HARLAN COUNTY

EXTENSION NEWSLETTER

In This Issue

Tractor Safety Courses

Livestock Quality Assur-

ance

“This n That Day “

*please note date

change

Shooting Sports Club

4-H Camp News

Embryology in the

Classroom

4-H Online Enrollment Ends June 15, 2016—(Earlier if you are applying

for the 2016 4 -H King and Queen award)

Hello 4-H Families! As we start a new 4-H programming year, enrollment or re-enrollment has begun at https://ne.4honline.com Please remember that you will need to set your internet brows-er to the latest version of Google Chrome (not Internet Explorer). You will need to log into your family account and profiles for each 4-H member to participate in the 2016 program year. Please do not make a new profile if you were signed up for 4-H last year. If you don’t remember your password, click on the “I forgot my password” button and information will be sent to your email. When you are filling out the form, please click on the box on how you would like to receive your correspondence as by mail or email. Also, there is a box to check if you would like to receive no-tices by text message. There will be no paper forms to submit for enrollment. For more infor-mation contact the Harlan County Extension 308-928-2119 or email us at harlan-county@unl.edu .

http://extenson.unl.edu/statewide/harlan PO Box 258 Alma NE 68920 Phone: 308-928-2119

May

2016

Calendar of Events

May 12– Livestock Quality Assurance—Courthouse Alma 7 pm

May 16—Livestock Quality Assurance—Ag Center, Orleans 7 pm

June 8, 9 & 10—County 4-H Camp—Ag Center-Orleans

June 10—King/Queen Contest entries due at the Extension Office

June 15—Last day to enroll in 4-H—online at ne.4honline.com

June 16– This and That Day—Ag Center-Orleans

July 7—”Just for Fun” Dog Show—Livestock arena at the Fair-

grounds-Orleans—6:30 pm

July 11—Bicycle Rodeo—Fairgrounds, Orleans –6 pm

July 12—Favorite Food Review & Presentation Contest 6:30 pm

July 25—Fashion Show & Interview Clothing Judging 9 am

July 25—Public Fashion Show & Performing Arts Contest—6:30 pm

July 30—Harlan County 4-H Horse Show—8 am

4-H King and Queen/

Ambassador Applications

The Harlan County 4-H

Council is sponsoring the

4-H King and Queen/

Ambassador Contest again

in 2016. Requirements for

applying are below

Must be 16 years of age January 1st of this year (*16 thru 18 years of age)

At least 2 years of active membership including the current 4-H year.

Upstanding individual willing and capable of promoting 4-H in Harlan County.

Once named a king or queen, you are ineligible to compete again.

Responsibilities include:

Maintaining an active partici-

pation in promoting 4-H in

Harlan County as approved

by the 4-H Council. Assist

with the 4-H Banquet, Fash-

ion Show, and 4-H Fair Night

and whenever requested.

There will be $200 awarded

to the Queen and $200 to the

king or each ambassador.

Also the runner ups will each

be awarded $50. The appli-

cations are due by June

10th, 2016 to the Harlan

County Extension Office.

Please contact our office for

more information and the

application. 308-928-2119 or

mpeterson7@unl.edu

Livestock Identification Process Paper Livestock ID Affidavits will still be required by our county

office.

We will be using one size visible EID tags in two colors for all market beef, market swine, market lamb, meat goat, feeder calves, showing at the State Fair or AKSARBEN. Families will be required to submit a Breeding Nomination Card for all breeding animals showing at State Fair. Breeding Nomination Cards will have a $2 nomination fee.

For breeding goats and breeding sheep the scrapie tag identification number will serve as the official identification. For breeding beef a tattoo will serve as the official identification for State Fair and AKSARBEN. Bang tattoos are not an accepted form of identification. Registration papers are required. DNA and breeding card verification will be required for all livestock animals showing at State Fair or AKSARBEN. County-only animals will use regular 4-H tags (no EID tag). There will be no mandatory weigh-in days or group tagging.

Through a four-way partnership with the Nebraska Department of Agricul-ture, the Nebraska State Fair, the Nebraska 4-H Foundation, and FFA, we are able to offer the EID tags at no charge to families for 2016. The cost of DNA is $6 per entry. There will be a total limit of nominations by individuals including both 4-H and FFA entries to help level the playing field for those youth who are in both organizations. Entry Limits: Beef (10) Lambs (20) Swine (40) Goats (20). Youth will have until August 10 (State Fair pre-entry deadline) to select whether they are showing their animal in 4-H or FFA. This could mean they show one organization at the county level and one organization at State Fair. They cannot switch between State Fair and AKSARBEN. Families will be able to select which animal entries they have chosen to show at State Fair in a dropdown menu in the ShoWorks program that you will use to pre-enter your livestock. All nominated animals will be automatically listed as a choice option when pre-entering via ShoWorks.

*All animal affidavit forms are available in our office or online for your convenience at the Harlan County website http://extension.unl.edu/statewide/harlan/4h/ in a downloadable pdf fillable form. No ID forms are required for poultry.

Livestock Quality Assurance All 4-H youth must have met the 2016 LQA requirements before they can show their

livestock animals. This includes swine, sheep, meat goats, beef, poultry, rabbits and

dairy.

Two hands on training meetings will be available:

May 12 at the courthouse meeting room Alma at 7 p.m.

May 16 at the Ag Center Orleans at 7 p.m.

Livestock Quality Assurance is a course designed for youth ages 8-18. Participants learn about the quality of meat and food products that come from livestock. Quality assurance for livestock producers means making a promise to the consumers, or the people who consumer the meat, eggs, milk, and dairy products from food production ani-mals. The promise is that products from livestock will be the highest possible quality and producers will do every-thing possible to make these products safe to eat.

Online Quality Assurance is still available for those who can not attend the hands on classes. Go to http://4h.unl.edu/qualityassuranceprogram cost is $5.00 for the online course. You will need to complete 3 modules and then save and print your certificate for each module to send electronically or by mail to our office.

If you do not have access to the internet or if you are under 8 years of age on January 1, 2016 you must plan now to attend one of the hands on meetings.

NEWS

County Camp for ages 8-12 will be held June 8-10th at the Ag Center in Orleans. Youth will be

camping with other 4-Her’s from surrounding counties. A fun and exciting program is being planned with

the Harlan County 4-H Council offering a $30 scholarship to all Harlan County youth who attend.

The cost is $90 minus the $30 scholarship = $60.00 per camper

Our program activities will include:

Canoeing

Swimming

Crafts

Camp fires and loads of fun!

Please call or email us and register for this event so we can keep you up-

dated with information. 308-928-2119 or megan.peterson@unl.edu

2016 Tractor Safety Classes Nebraska Extension Tractor Safety/Hazardous Occupations courses will be offered at seven locations in Ne-

braska during May and June. Any 14 or 15 year old teen who plans to work on a farm other than his/her par-

ents’ should plan to attend.

Federal law prohibits youth under 16 years of age from working on a farm for anyone other than their parents or

guardian. Certification through the course grants an exemption to the law allowing 14-15 year olds to drive a

tractor and to do field work with mechanized equipment.

The most common cause of death in agriculture accidents in Nebraska is overturn from tractors and all-terrain-

vehicles (ATV’s), according to farm fatality surveillance data. Tractor and ATV overturn prevention are featured

in the class work.

Instilling an attitude of “safety first” is a primary goal of the course, according to class instructors, where youth

have the chance to learn respect for agricultural jobs and the tools involved.

Classes consist of two days of instruction plus homework assignments. Classes are from 8 a.m.—5 p.m. each

day.

Dates and locations include:

May 23-24, Fairgrounds, Kearney

May 26-27, Fairgrounds, McCook

June 2-3, Fairgrounds, Valentine

June 13-14, West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

June 16-17, Legacy of the Plains Museum, Gering

June 20-21, Fairgrounds, Wayne

June 23-24, College Park, Grand Island

June 5-7, Fairground, Gordon

Pre-registration is strongly encouraged at least one week before a location’s start date to the Extension Of-fice at the course site. Cost is $60, which includes educational materials, testing, supplies, lunches and breaks. For more information contact your local Extension Office or Aaron Yoder at 402-552-7240, aaron.yoder@unmc.edu or Ellen Duysen at 402-552-3394, ellen.duysen@unmc.edu

The First day of class will consist of intensive classroom instruction with hands-on demonstrations, conclud-ing with a written test that must be completed satisfactorily before students may continue driving tests the next day.

The second day will include testing, driving and operating machinery. Students must demonstrate compe-tence in hitching equipment and driving a tractor and trailer through a standardized course as well as hitch-ing PTO and hydraulic systems.

Harlan County Regulators

There will be a 4-H Shooting Sports Club starting in Harlan County. We will have BB gun, Air Rifle, .22, and archery practices. This is not limited to just Harlan County. We are welcoming any families

from surrounding areas. We will have 2-3 practices each month in May, June, and July and have our Shooting Sports Competition the week before the Harlan County Fair. Official dates are yet to be de-

termined. We are looking for individuals that are eager to learn, participate and have a great time! You have to be between the ages of 8 and 18 to participate. Please let us know if you are interested

or you have any questions. Please feel free to contact Kelsey Knigge or Mike Valenzuela at the following phone numbers or email address listed below.

Phone 402-394-1134-Kelsey

308-991-7396-Mike

Email: kvknigge_1@yahoo.com

sappacreekgunsmithing@yahoo.com

The “Embryology in the Classroom” project was experienced by the 2nd graders at the

Alma Public Schools during the month of April. The new chicks starting arriving on April

25th.

For more information on “the embryology in the classroom project”—contact Megan Peter-

son at megan.peterson@unl.edu or 308-928-2119.

(photo courtesy of Mary Jo Radil)

Saturdays at Raising Nebraska

Celebrate the International Year of the Pulse through Science Saturdays, a free and open to the public event for all, at Raising Nebraska located on the State Fairgrounds in Grand Island, NE. Science Saturday occurs the second Saturday of every month with the facility open from 10:00 to noon. The highlighted program consists of an educational, interactive and fun 25 minute session. Upcoming programs include:

May 14th – Pollinator Power by Doug Golick

June 11th – Create a Backyard Habitat by Terri James & Elizabeth Killinger

July 9th – Selling your Beans designed by NE Extension Economists

For more details about the Science Saturday program, visit www.raisingnebraska.net or contact Beth Janning at 308.385.3967 or ejanning2@unl.edu

Nebraska Mystery Foods Event

The Second Annual Nebraska Mystery Foods Event will be held on Friday, June 3rd

at Raising Nebraska, locat-ed in Grand Island, NE. This event challenges teams of youth ages 10 to 18 to use their creativity, nutrition knowledge, and decision making to make a dish onsite which includes mystery ingredients. This event is open to all youth. More information will be coming soon!

The family of Lynette Brown have created a Memorial cookbook of Lynette’s favorite recipes.

The proceeds have gone to support the Harlan County 4-H, the Harlan County Homemakers, the

Harlan County Foundation, 4-H Camp and the Ag Center. Please call the Extension office to

reserve your copy now. 308-928-2119 For those of you that have previously placed your order—

you may pick them up at the Harlan County Extension office —new copies have just arrived from

Leroy and his family. These make great gifts for special occasions!

This and That Day Date Change

Please note that This and That Day has been changed to June 16th

due to many events on the previous day. It will be held at the Ag

Center in Orleans. Look for more information in the June newsletter.