This Week in Gillespie 4-H: November 6th - November 12th
Monday - November 6th, 2023
Tuesday - November 7th, 2023
- Harper Stock Show Entry Night @ 6:00 PM
- Stonewall 4-H Meeting @ 6:30 PM
- Willow Creek 4-H Meeting @ 6:30 PM
- Cave Creek 4-H Meeting @ 7:00 PM
Wednesday - November 8th, 2023
- Harper 4-H Meeting @ 6:30 PM
- TURKEY'S ARRIVE
Thursday - November 9th, 2023
- DEADLINE Fort Worth & Sandhills Stock Show Entries
Friday - November 10th, 2023- Spark 4-H Red Carpet Rodeo Leadership Retreat
- Extension Office Closed in Observance of Veteran's Day
Saturday -November 11th, 2023- Spark 4-H Red Carpet Rodeo Leadership Retreat
Sunday - November 12th, 2023- Spark 4-H Red Carpet Rodeo leadership Retreat
- Robotics @ 3:30 PM (Must be Pre-Registered)
- November 13th- Swine Validation in Fredericksburg
- November 14th- Clover Kid Experience
- November 16th- Holiday Baking Championship
- November 16th- Swine Validation in Harper
- November 17th-18th- Weekend in Aggieland
- November 18th-DEADLINE GCYLS Show Entries
- November 20th- DEADLINE Major Stock Show Entries
- November 20th- County Council Meeting
- November 21st- County Broiler Pick Up
- November 24th- 28th- National 4-H Conference
- November 27th- Adult Leaders Meeting
- November 28th-30th- District 10 Fall Roundup
- December 1st- DEADLINE for Grandstand Stock Show Entries (online)
- December 1st- Natural Resources Photography Contest Opens
- December 2nd- Robotics Sumobot Competition in Seguin
- December 13th- Gillespie 4-H Christmas Party
Club Meetings
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New News
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.
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Swine Validation Dates
Broiler pickup date has changed! Broilers will now be picked up on Tuesday, November 21st!!
We will also have HydroGel cups available to be purchased at pick up. They are $3 a cup (recommended 1 cup per 25 birds). Please have exact change!
HydroGel cups are a ready-to-use hydration supplement, containing 95% water with nutrients specifically formulated for hatchling poultry. These cups enhance hatchling survival rate and their ability to overcome the stress of transportation.
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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
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
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Sheep & Goats
Let’s take a deeper dive into the boot work that we talked about last week!
WHY? Why do we do this? Short version is it is a trend in the show ring that if you are hunting success is something to start thinking about.
1) Sheep/goats stand tied up or on a rack/stand for 15-20 minutes. This teaches patience gets them use to being around you and standing with their heads up.
2) Gets sheep and goats use to being touched on their bodies (specifically their legs). Which will making setting their legs in the show ring a breeze.
3) Moving sheep/goats from the pens to the rack by hand or halter/chain is a great way to teach them to lead. Once they have been taught to lead, I highly suggest walking them by hand or with a chain/halter like you would at a show to ensure that you are show ring ready.
4) BONUS you get the trend of having extra leg wool/hair will allows your animals to look stouter featured.
- Tie animal or put on rack/stand ideally in an area that will not get muddy.
- Rise animals legs from knees/hocks down.
- (Once a week, if you are doing boots more than once a week skip this step) Wash and rinse boots with a shampoo – I prefer a shampoo that isn’t harsh that won’t remove all the oils from the hair. DON’T use DAWN – it takes all the oil out of the cute ducks on the commercials 😊
- Work in conditioner – let sit for 10 minutes. Main and Tail is a great one to use, a lower cost option that I have used in the past is Save Professionals. (Not the cheapest version but the 1st step up)
- Using a comb bush any knots out of boots – while conditioner is soaking.
- Rinse condition and blow dry. If you are working goat legs you want to try to train that hair to stand up so you are going to blow dry it in the opposite direction of the way it naturally grows.
Should I wrap them?
Wrapping boots is a great tool to help keep them clean but can be done wrong and can do more harm than good if you are not careful. I urge GREAT caution on wrapping and recommend an elastic wrapy thing that you can use instead. Text me for the link to order. These wrapy things are disposable, breathable, and are not to tight but stay on. If you are new to doing boots I would recommend either NOT wrapping or text me for the wrapy things. We do not wrap goat boots.
Another thing to think about before wrapping is do you have a wool picking issue (where another lamb or the lamb is eating their wool) if you have this issue an alternative to wrapping is to put a muzzle on them. More work at feeding time to remove and take off but easier and less laundry than wrapping.
I recommend having a goal of every other day! Life happens and every other day may not always happen but if you shoot for that you will be making a difference.
How Much Do Your Pigs Weigh
Keeping track of your pigs weekly weight is the best way to see how much they are gaining per day. Weighing one day a week, on the same day is important and when they are full. You want to be sure you’re keeping track as well because most importantly, will they make weight at the show?
Each show besides County has a weigh back. What’s a weigh back? Usually, it’s ten (10) pounds over or under the actual weigh you turned in. Please be very aware of what you’re putting in the feed/water bucket after declaring your weight.
With County being the first show, the minimum weight is 190lbs and the maximum is 290lbs but we do not have a weigh back, therefore the over and under rule does not apply.
Every show after, does have a weigh back, be sure to check each show premium books/rules to find out the minimum and maximum weights.
Example: Minimum Weight: 230lbs
Maximum Weight: 290lbs
This means your project can weigh as less as 220lbs and as much as 290lbs with most using a ten (10) pound weight back.
Also, keeping a “days until weigh in at the show” calendar on your phone is a great way to know what they could possibly weigh on check-in day! If you’re not weighing your pigs weekly, now is the time to start! 64 days until County!!!
4-H Spotlight
Stock Show Season is on our heels! Although there is plenty to keep you busy, there is also some down at stock shows. This group keeps things entertaining with a game of Uno to help pass the time!
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If you have someone you would like to nominate for 4-H spotlight please email emily.grant@ag.tamu.edu
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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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