4-H

Club Meetings (pay attention to dates & Locations) Print out the attached 4-H flyer with meeting dates for the whole 4-H year! Remember you must attend 4 club meetings to show at the Freestone County Fair

  • Fairfield 4-H will meet April 2nd at 4pm at the Fairgrounds **This will be a Sheep & Goat Clinic** Open to all members and will count as a meeting, bring your sheep and/or goat
  • Freestone Community 4-H will meet April 16 at 6pm at Freestone Community Center (739 FM 80 South, Teague)
  • Wortham 4-H will meet April 5 at 6pm at the Wortham Chamber Building (next to the post office)

Freestone County Fair June 12-17, 2023 Follow Freestone County Fair Association on Facebook to see announcements and information.

  • Market and Breeding Sheep, Goat and Swine Validation is Saturday April 1st from 7-9am at the Fairgrounds. All breeding and market sheep, goats and swine must be validated to be eligible to show at the County Fair
  • Rabbit Validations: Monday May 15th 5:30pm-7pm at Teague Ag Barn, Thursday May 18th from 5:30-7pm Fairfield Ag Barn. You must attend 1 validation date to get your rabbit validated for county fair. There is no breeding rabbit show this year just a single fryer show—so you only need market breed rabbits to show at the county fair both in the market rabbit and single fryer show. If you have questions let me know.
  • Broiler orders Pick up will be April 28th, details on pickup will be sent out that day.
  • Judges: (to the best of my knowledge)—The Rule book and Schedule is attached. Make sure you read it!
    • Market Sheep & Goats-Bucky Jackson
    • Breeding Sheep & Goats-Luke Parr
    • Market Swine-Ian Schaefer
    • Breeding Swine—Dr David Frazier
    • Heifers-Payton Meuth
    • Market Steers-Brett Moriarty
  • Entry deadline will be April 15th. Entry must be submitted online. Once your animal has a tag # you can submit your entry. Rabbit & Chicken exhibitors put in your Initials for Animal validation or animal #, Exhibitor Social Security number must be included to submit entries.
    • https://www.fairentry.com/Fair/SignIn/18048
    • ALL Entries: Sheep, Goat, Swine, Rabbit, Cattle, Chicken & Ag Mechanics Must be entered online by April 15th.
    • Ag Mechanics Rules and information is attached.
    • **New for this year all entries are $25 a piece. Remember you can only enter 1 market animal per species per exhibitor, but no limit on breeding entries.

Shooting Sports

  • Archery practices will take place on the 1st & 3rd Sundays *you must be enrolled in 4-H to attend practice, If you are new please reach out to Jerry Bonds 903-654-2228 to know where practices are held, also follow Freestone County 4H Archery on Facebook
  • Shotgun practices will take place on the 2nd & 4th Sundays at 2pm at the Shotgun Range 442 FM 833 E Fairfield TX. If you are new please text Josh  Holcomb 903-394-1459, to get added to the text reminders *you must be enrolled in 4-H to attend practice

Contests & Teams:

Livestock judging ** Take note there has been some date changes and time change to Reasons practices.

practice dates I have scheduled (tentatively) April 2, April 16. I will send out information at least a week in advance of where practice is and what time.

Reasons Practices for 6th-12 graders only @ Extension Office

  • from 4:30-5:30pm:, March 29th
  • from 4:45-5:45pm: April 5, April 19

Some contests that are coming up that kids are welcome to attend if they are interested. Let me know if you’d like to be registered:

  • April 14th Leon County Livestock Judging Contest. Let me know by March 17th if you want to attend! No on site registration  Must let me know by Friday March 31st if you want to attend.
  • April 22 District Livestock Judging Contest in College Station—This is what we are all working towards, so make sure you have this on your calendar and we can have full teams at this contest.

Livestock project resources can be found here: https://freestone.agrilife.org/livestockprojects/. I will be coming to the January club meetings to discuss picking out a project for County fair and offer some guidance on livestock projects. I have also attached Livestock project resources and resources and links for feeding, both have a lot of videos and information please feel free to utilize them as needed.

Major Show Cattle & State Fair Validation Tag orders:

  • NEW All major show heifers must now order and pay for tags. We will have to tag all Major show heifers, just like steers. If a heifer is already validated she does not have to be brought back to validation to receive a tag, unless she has changed owners.
  • All Steer, Heifer, Sheep and Goat tag orders are due to me at the Extension Office by 5pm Wednesday April 5th.
  • Steer & Heifer Tags are $30 a piece, Sheep and Goat tags are $20 a piece. Make all checks payable to Freestone County 4-H Adult Leaders.

State Fair Swine & Major Show Steer and Heifer Validation is Friday June 23rd. Swine will begin at 7am and Steer and Heifers from 8-10am, at Fairfield Vet Hospital

State Fair Sheep & Goat Validation is Wednesday June 28th from 4-6pm at the Fairgrounds sheep and goat pavilion.

FAQs

I am new to 4-H what do I do?

Visit a 4-H club! Pick a club that works for your schedule and go to a meeting. You will see firsthand what happens at the club meetings, get to meet the volunteers, and see the youth involved. You can ask questions at the club meeting and even get enrolled! If you would rather ask the Extension Agent (Erin Davis) questions give us a call 903-389-3436.

If you don’t fill out a paper form and pay by check for your enrollment at the club meeting you can enroll online: 4honline.com

What happens at club meetings?

There are officers of the club (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer etc) that will be at the front of the room running the meeting. They will call the meeting to order, go over the minutes from the last meeting, treasurers report, announcements (dates and deadlines for things coming up), there will be an educational presentation, recreation (game or activity) and even sometimes snacks!

Make sure you sign in at every club meeting, so the club managers can keep track of how many meetings you’ve attended. (You must attend 4 club meetings to show at Freestone County Fair). Parents please sign in as well.

Club meetings will last 30-45 minutes. It is recommended that parents attend the meetings as well so you can hear the announcements and know what is going on.

I’m interested in a project but need help getting started

Look at the Explore guides and information and the Texas 4-H Website (https://texas4-h.tamu.edu/projects/), if there is a project leader listed reach out to them to find out more. If you have additional questions reach out to Erin Davis, County Extension Agent 903-389-3436 and she can answer your questions and get you started!

When is the Freestone County Fair?

Freestone County Fair is always the week prior to the 3rd Saturday in June. The sale takes place on the third Saturday, so the shows will take place Tuesday-Friday. The 2022 Dates are: June 13-18, 2022

More information about the fair can be found at: http://freestonecountyfairandrodeo.com/index.html

Erin will present information about county fair livestock projects (heifers, sheep, goats, swine, rabbits, poultry) at the January club meetings. But keep in mind County Fair steers are validated the first Saturday in December. If you need help finding a livestock project Erin can help just let her know.

Projects Offered:

Citizenship

Consumer Education

Dog Care & Training

Entomology

Fashion & Interior Design

Food & Nutrition

Health & Personal Safety

Horticulture

Junior Master Gardener

Leadership

Livestock Judging

Meat Science

Natural Resources

Outdoor Education & Living Skills

Photography/Videography

Public Speaking

Range Science

Robotics

Rocketry

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math

Small & Companion Animals

Soil and Crop Science

Sportfishing

Theater & Performance Arts

Veterinary Science

Wildlife & Fisheries

Workforce Preparation & Careers

Youth Entrepreneurship

Livestock Project areas:

  • Dairy Cattle
  • Beef Cattle
  • Sheep
  • Goats
  • Swine
  • Rabbits
  • Broilers
  • Horse

Most common project areas will have information presented at club meetings and there will be livestock project clinics.

Specific project information can be found at: https://texas4-h.tamu.edu/projects/

Projects with additional meetings/practices outside of club meetings

  • Livestock Judging-join the Remind class if interested text @79472f to 81010
  • Livestock Quiz Bowl-join the Remind class if interested text @37ec7a to 81010

Contest Opportunities

Information on contests will be posted here: https://agrilife.org/d84h/events-and-activities/

  • Variety of Fishing opportunities for both teams and individuals
  • Shotgun shoots (contact the Shotgun coach for info)
  • Archery shoots (contact the Archery coach for info)
  • Food Challenge/Food Show
  • Dairy Judging
  • Horse Judging
  • Photography
  • Fashion Show, Fashion Storyboard, Duds to Dazzle
  • Consumer Decision Making
  • Livestock Judging
  • Meat Judging
  • Soil Judging
  • Leaders 4 Life Skillathon
  • Education Presentations
  • Public Speaking
  • Share the Fun
  • Horse, FCH and Livestock Quiz Bowls
  • District & State Horse Show
    • Some contests are also offered at Major Shows (Fort Worth, San Antonio, San Angelo, Houston, Austin) pay attention to Major show information when posted.

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