This Week in Gillespie 4-H: October 30th

Monday - October 30th, 2023

Holiday Baking Championship @ 4:00- 6:00 PM
DEADLINE for GCYLS Scholarships

Tuesday - October 31st, 2023

Wrede 4-H Meeting (off-site)
Happy Halloween!

Wednesday - November 1st, 2023
Gillespie County Stock Show Entries Open
State 4-H Scholarships Open

Thursday - November 2nd, 2023
Robotics @ 5:30 PM (Must be pre-registered)

Friday - November 3rd, 2023
No Events Scheduled

Saturday -November 4th, 2023
No Events Scheduled

Sunday - November 5th, 2023
Harper 4-H Trash Pick Up @ 1:30 PM
Robotics @ 3:30 PM (Must be Pre-Registered)
Daylight Savings Ends.... Set Those Clocks Back!

November 7th- Harper Stock Show Entry Night
November 8th- Turkey's Arrive in the Afternoon
November 10th- DEADLINE Fort Worth & Sandhills Stock Show Entries
November 10th-12th- SPARK Leadership Retreat
November 14th- Clover Kid Experience
November 16th- Holiday Baking Championship
November 17th-18th- Weekend in Aggieland
November 18th-DEADLINE GCYLS Show Entries
November 20th- DEADLINE Major Stock Show Entries
November 22nd- County Broiler Pick Up
December 1st- DEADLINE for Grandstand Stock Show Entries (online)

Club Meetings

**** Meetings sometimes change after dates and locations have been posted. Please

always verify meetings with Club Managers****

New News

4-H Enrollment is Open!

Make sure that club members and volunteers are enrolled, especially if you are planning in participating in any 4-H projects or livestock shows. The youth club member participation fee discount period will end on October 31. Starting November 1, the regular fee of $30.00 will be charged. Youth members are not guaranteed the $25.00 discounted fee unless they are processed and paid fully by October 31.

Note: Fees for adults and clover kids will remain the same.

ENROLL

Quality Counts is required for county and major livestock show entries and must be completed at each grade level division (junior – grades 3-5, intermediate – grades 6-8, senior – grades 9-12). It does not have to be renewed every year.

EACH CHILD WILL NEED A DIFFERENT EMAIL ADDRESS

If you are having login or technical issues, please contact: learnonline@ag.tamu.edu.

Quality Counts Website

Next Monday we will be hosting a FREE webinar over the basics in getting started in a youth poultry project for livestock shows. The presentation will last about 30 minutes with time for questions at the end.

Swine Validation Dates

Swine Validation Dates will take place in November! If you have a a pig at the Fredericksburg Ag Barn, Cory Rains will be scheduling validation dates.

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Join Texas 4-H and watch some Texas Texas A&M Football! Begin your weekend in Aggieland on Friday, November 17th, with informational workshops hosted by Texas A&M University - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty and staff! Join Texas 4-H on Saturday, November 18th, for some Aggie Football and Tailgating fun! See the website for more details!

For BOTH event registrations, including the tailgate, workshops, t-shirt order and football ticket purchases Click HERE

Join the 2023-2024 Texas 4-H Council members in November for SPARK (formerly Junior Leadership Retreat), the premiere statewide leadership retreat for junior and intermediate level 4-H members!! 4-H members will have the opportunity to spark their interest through service-learning activities, project experiences, art and crafts, recreation, and knowledge. Most importantly, they will have a chance to meet 4-H members from across the state, make new friends, and of course, dance!! Registration is now open and closes on November 4th. Council has a fun weekend planned and we hope everyone can join them for the Red Carpet Rodeo!

Registration is through the Texas 4-H Conference Center website https://texas4hcenter.tamu.edu/services/youth-camps-and-retreats/ Click the Green Register Now. Cost is $170/camper and closes on November 4^th. This event is open to 3^rd – 8^th Grade 4-H Members.

Adult Chaperones are required. The required ratio is 1 adult for every 8 youth. Each youth should have a chaperone of the same gender assigned to him/her. As in the past, male chaperones are needed, or the Center will have to limit the number of male campers. So, keep this in mind if your county is bringing youth you will need to also have a male Chaperone with the group. Chaperones must be officially screened volunteers in 4HOnline. Make sure to get your chaperones registered sooner rather than later. Cost for the Chaperones is $0.00.

Upcoming Photography Contest Information

NATURAL RESOURCES PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST
We are excited to announce the continuation of the state-level Natural Resource Photography Contest. It is open to junior, intermediate, and senior members, and categories are focused solely on the Natural Resource project areas.

Here are a few key points:

Open contest (no qualifying required) to all counties
Open to juniors, intermediate, and senior age divisions
10 Natural Resource themed categories
Same scoring matrix and general rules as the state contest
Entry timeline is December 1-15
No late entries accepted

STATE PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST

The rules for the 2023-2024 state contest are also attached. For those who may be new to Extension, the state 4-H photography contest is a senior-only qualifying contest where photos qualify directly from COUNTY to STATE. Each county may submit no more than 1 photo per category (15 total). As stated in the rules, counties are highly encouraged to have some type of selection process in place to determine which photos are eligible. The timeline for entry is April 1-15.

Key points:

Qualify from county level (district contests have no bearing on qualifications)
Open to senior age division only
15 categories (includes a new “Abandoned” theme for this year)
Entry timeline is April 1-15
No late entries accepted

Rules & Guidelines

Livestock Corner

Quality Barn Time with Sheep & Goats

What is your day in the barn filled with? How much time do you spend in the evening…depending upon your goals here is a basic barn routine to help you get your sheep and goats ready for the show ring. Setting up and practicing showing every day can lead to sour sheep and goats with bad habits. These things that you can do accomplish a lot without ALWAYS just practicing showing.

Day 1 – Walk your animal for 10 minutes. Walk up the road or in the pasture, you don’t just have to walk in a circle like you do at the show.

Day 2 – Put your sheep/goat on the stand/rack or tie them to the fence for 15 minutes. Be sure not to leave the alone. While they are standing there set their back feet square, so they get use to standing correctly and you touching their legs.

Day 3 – Do legs! More on this next week in livestock corner. Short version is washing the animals leg hair/wool from their knee/hocks down.

Day 4 – Walk your animal for 10 minutes.

Day 5 – Do legs!

If you can fit these 5 days into your 7-day week you will be spending quality time with your livestock and your evenings will be filled with productive barn time. Just think if you are doing legs they are also standing still in a rack/stand or tied to the fence for at least 15 minutes and getting use to touching their legs.

Healthy skin and hair for pigs

As most of you know, trends change often in the stock show world…hair and skin is a big deal in pigs as any other species.

Making your animal look the part is huge, therefore keeping a daily hair care routine is a must. Washing your animal at least least twice a week is huge and using a spray on conditioner after washing.

Using a rice root brush twice a day is good for their hair and skin. Rice root brushes, keep their hair in line and open up the pores on their skin to keep it from drying out. A good conditioner like pre show for your white pigs or an oil based conditioner for your dark pigs is good to use as well. Hair and skin will set you apart from others and also tells someone how much time and effort you put in at home besides training.

If you ever need help with your project please contact our office and set up an appointment with Brad or Emily.

4-H Spotlight

Our weekly spotlight goes to Tuckyr Geistweidt, who tied for 2nd place in American trap shooting and 4th in doubles trap shooting at the Heart of Texas Shooters Extravaganza. He was also 5th place overall in his division. Way to go Tuckyr!

If you have someone you would like to nominate for 4-H spotlight please email emily.grant@ag.tamu.edu

STAY CONNECTED WITH GILLESPIE COUNTY 4-H

There are ALOT of opportunities available for 4-H youth on a county, district, and state level and through external organizations. We do our best to keep you updated with these opportunities through the following methods! If you have any questions please let us know.

The members of Texas A&M AgriLife will provide equal opportunities in programs and activities, education, and employment to all persons regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation or gender identity and will strive to achieve full and equal employment opportunity throughout Texas A&M AgriLife. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating

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