FUNDRAISER
Thank you to all the families who sold cookie dough and garbage bags this year. Pick up is scheduled for this Saturday, Feburary 6th. Check with your club coordinator to find out the time and location to pick up your order. Please remember, you must wear a mask and social distance at pick up!
BEEF WEIGH-IN SET
4-H’ers who plan to exhibit market heifers, steers, and carcass animals at the 2021 4-H Fair must have their animals weighed and tattooed in the morning on Saturday, February 20! Weigh-in will take place at the Ogle County Fairgrounds between 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Weigh-in ends at 9:30 a.m. If weather conditions are questionable, check the Ogle 4-H Facebook page, and/or website to see if the event has been cancelled. The snow date will be Saturday, February 27. Upon arrival, please enter the north gate (which says “enter”). Stay straight. This will be the waiting line. The scale is located in the west end of the swine barn.
Call the 4-H Beef Superintendent, Rachel Safranek at 815/262-1856 if you have questions. Call Jodi Baumgartner at 815/238-4301 if you have questions the morning of weigh-in.
OGLE COUNTY 4-H HORSE DRILL TEAM
The Ogle County 4-H Horse Drill Team is gearing up for the new year. Of course, last year, because of COVID, they couldn’t participate in the usual activities. The drill team normally rides in Leaf River Daze, Mt. Morris 4th of July, and Autumn on Parade, and other parades the team may wish to participate in. Besides the parades, they have performed before the rodeo at the Ogle County Fair and at the Build-A-Barn Spooktacular.
With working hard all summer they have also enjoyed participating in drill team competitions, and usually compete at the Walworth County Fair competition, Elkhorn, WI.
As the drill team is gearing up to start a new year, they are always looking for new 4-H Members to join the drill team. You do not have to be enrolled in the Horse Project, just in 4-H. There will be an informational meeting on March 7th at 2:00 at the Bertolet Memorial Library, Leaf River. It is March in Northern Illinois, so we ask that you RSVP to the Extension Office ~ (815) 732-2191 ~ in case of bad weather and we have to reschedule.
Click here for a copy of the flyer with more info.
CHICK GIVEAWAY
Each year, schools in Ogle County participate in our 4-H chick embryology project and we have chicks that need homes. If you would like to be the recipient of some of these chicks, please let our office know. We should have chicks available May 14. Since the number of chicks available depends on the success of the hatch, we will put you on a list on a first come, first served basis. These chicks are free, and come from a pullorum-typhoid free facility. Call the Extension Office if you would like to have your name added to our list.
COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITY FOR FAMILIES
This is a great time of the year to participate in a family community service project. Enter those here https://go.illinois.edu/Ogle4HCommunityServiceChallenge to have your name entered in a drawing that will take place on February 22. You can also earn County Blue Sheet points for your family participation! This can be anything from a donation to your local food pantry, purchasing items for Hope of Ogle County, purchasing gift cards for Hospice, or volunteering your time at the Kitchen Table in Rochelle. Tis the season of giving, and 4-H is all about "Hands for Larger Service."
NEED PUBLICATIONS?
This year, you will need to order your publications online at https://go.illinois.edu/pubsrequest. They can be ordered anytime during the year. Publications will again be provided by Etnyre & Co. Don’t forget to send out your thank you notes!
CLUB ATTENDANCE POLICY
Ogle County 4-H members who wish to exhibit at the 2021 Ogle County 4-H Fair must have…
- Attended a minimum of 50% of the club meetings held since joining. (Note: The “join” date is September 1 for all youth who are continuing membership for consecutive 4-H years. The “join” date for new members is the first club meeting attended). You must be present for a minimum of 45 minutes of a club meeting to be counted present.
OR
- Fulfilled those obligations established and agreed upon in a properly signed and filed 4-H Agreement (contract).
*It is the responsibility of club leaders to ensure that this policy is enforced and attendance data is maintained. The Extension staff will resolve any problem situations that occur in the process of applying this rule. Their decisions will be final.
TALKS AND DEMONSTRATIONS
All 4-H members who enroll in a 4-H club must complete a talk and/or demonstration during their 4-H club meeting, tour, workshop, or other activity of that club to be called a 4-H member. Youth who do not comply are not eligible to take part in 4-H exhibitions, receive 4-H premiums, or other 4-H awards and recognitions that are available to 4-H members. Cloverbuds are not expected to present a talk or demonstration.
OGLE COUNTY PROJECT HONOR AND 4-H EXPEIENCE AWARD APPLICATION AKA THE BLUE SHEET
The Blue Sheets are updated, fillable, and do your calculations for you again this year. You can find the updated application on our website or here. Please download and save the application BEFORE you start filling it out, so you don't lose information you enter. Save your work often, so you don't lose your data.
FAMILY GUIDES
The Ogle County 4-H Family Guide is filled with important information about our 4-H program. It can be used as a valuable reference tool. Families can download it on our website or here.
QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ETHICS (QAEC) CERTIFICATION
For youth enrolled in Horse, Rabbit, Poultry, Dog, and Cat
The Quality Assurance and Ethics training is required for all youth that enroll in horses, rabbits, poultry, dogs, and cats. Members must take the training whether they own a live animal or not. It is advised that they complete this one time as soon as they are enrolled in the project area. Counties will monitor completion of this. Failure to complete QAEC will result in the member’s animal science project enrollment being cancelled and they will be ineligible to exhibit at county fairs. The website is open and can be accessed at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/qaec/ . Certification must be completed by May 1.
NOTE: Youth must be logged on to a desk top or lap top computer for this program to accurately verify your certification. An iPad or iPhone cannot capture the information for county staff to see when your certification has been completed.
YOUTH FOR THE QUALITY CARE OF ANIMALS (YQCA)
For youth enrolled in Dairy Cattle, Beef, Swine, Sheep, and Goats
The YQCA is a livestock quality assurance program. All 4-H exhibitors enrolled in dairy cattle, beef cattle, swine, sheep, and goats will be required to certify in the YQCA program yearly. Youth must either attend a face to face class or certify on-line via the website http://yqca.org The YQCA program is for youth ages 8-21. The online version is broken into age divisions as follows: juniors 8-11, intermediate 12-14, senior 15-18, and young adults 19-21. This certification is annual with test out options of 1-3 years. Youth exhibiting swine at the Illinois State Fair and 4-H fairs are no longer required to be PQA plus certified. The cost for the face to face training will be $3 and $12 for the online version.
More information will be coming about the Ogle County 4-H In Person Training.
LIVESTOCK OWNERSHIP DEADLINES
All 4-H’ers who intend to exhibit animals at the 2021 Ogle County 4-H Fair must abide by the following animal ownership deadlines:
- January 1st
- Performance Cows (Beef)
- Dairy Cows
- Dairy Goats—Milking Does
- February 1st
- Beef Steers
- Quality Meats Beef
- May 15th
- All Sheep
- Meat Goats
- Beef Bucket Calves
- June 1st
- Breeding Beef Females
- All Swine
- Dairy Calves & Heifers
- Dairy Goats—Kids & Yearlings not in milk
- Pygmy Goats
- All Rabbits
- All Poultry
HORSE AGREEMENTS
Don’t forget that horse agreements are due May 1 in the Extension Office!! This means that you must own or have leased a horse by this date.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 4-H HORSE & PONY SHOW
The Northern Illinois 4-H Horse & Pony Show will be held June 13, 2021 at the Stephenson County Fair Grounds, Freeport, IL. This is not an open show. The exhibitors must be 4-H members and enrolled in the 4-H Horse project. Classes are showmanship, horsemanship, equitation, pleasure, speed, trail and fun. Please watch for more information as details for the show are being finalized.
BUILD-A-BARN ACTIVITIES
The Build-A-Barn committee is a committee planning events to raise money to have a horse barn erected on the Ogle County Fairgrounds, and they are gearing up with activities for 2021.
Here are the activities being planned:
- Build-A-Barn Tack Swap – March 7th from 10:00 – 4:00. Watch for more information on where it will be held. If you would like to reserve a table, please contact Lynne Radville at (815) 238-7892.
- Fun “Fuzzy” Horse Show at the Ogle County Fairgrounds - May 16th
- Build-A-Barn Benefit Horse Show – June 26th and 27th at the Ogle County Fairgrounds. Saturday is English Day and the morning starts with jumping. Sunday is Western Day and ends with speed classes. Both days have halter, showmanship equitation/horsemanship, pleasure and a few fun classes.
- Build-A-Barn Tack/Craft Sale – July 17th at Stagecoach Pass Farm, Durand. If you would like to reserve a table, please contact Lynne Radville at (815) 238-7892.
- Build-A-Barn Benefit Horse Show – Sunday, August 1st at the Ogle County Fairgrounds on the last day of the fair.
- Build-A-Barn Open Fun Show – August 28th at the Ogle County Fairgrounds.
- Spooktacular – Demos and a horse show at the Ogle County Fairgrounds - October 16th and 17th
Build-A-Barn has two raffles going, one for a grill and one for meat. Tickets will be sold throughout the year with the drawing for both on October 17th.
2020-2021 CLUB REPORTERS
As a club reporter, it is important that you write a brief article about your club meetings and special events. These reports can be sent to the local newspapers as well as the Extension office for publication on our website. To be included on the Ogle County Website, reporters can send their reports to Jodi Baumgartner at jbmgrtnr@illinois.edu. Pictures must be sent by email as a JPEG. All articles must be attached as a .doc not a .docx. If you need contact information for the local newspapers you can contact the Extension office.
** Visit our website at https://extension.illinois.edu/bdo/4-h-ogle-county to check out the club reports! | 
