Madison County 4-H has a bustling agriculture industry, despite a very heavy urban influence in the county. In Madison County 4-H, we like to think of our urban, suburban, rural and farm diversity more as an opportunity than a problem. With our two colleges, Eastern Kentucky University and Berea College both having farms, that just makes 4-H Livestock Field Trips easier to organize! When we started revitalizing our Livestock Club at the end of 2020, we had about 3 consistent members and we knew something had to change. And change it did. Rather than rely on one leader to lead a club meeting every month, the county 4-H agent discussed with our AG leaders in the community about the possibility of doing a “round robin” style livestock club where each leader would be responsible for 1-2 meetings per year.

                Leaders were appreciative of his because they could focus their energy on one meeting a year and what they want the youth to learn. We have 5 certified Livestock Leaders in our county, and we have 15 more background checked volunteers who help with Livestock Programming: Livestock Club, Country Ham Project, Youth Agricultural Incentives Program (YAIP), Livestock Skillathon Team, Livestock Quizbowl Team, and/or Farm Field Day.  Now, because we have so many leaders, our youth are guaranteed a meeting with a different person’s expertise every month. Because our leaders have different schedules, our meetings don’t always fall on the typical “3^rd Thursday of the month” or what have you. A dancer with practices every Monday can attend the meetings that are on Tuesday or Thursday. It truly has made a difference in the number of livestock educational hours our 4-Hers are able to obtain. We have 40 livestock members now, with typically 25-30 showing up on average.

                Our community engagement has increased. Our Club has a meeting at Bluegrass Stockyards of Richmond once a year, because one of our livestock leaders works there.  One of our leaders works at Ag Credit, and we do a meeting about ag financing there. Still yet, one of our leaders owns the feed and farm supply store in town and does a meeting at his store annually. Because our club uses the contacts of our leaders, we’ve also been invited to Meade Tractor, the local John Deere Dealership. They discussed Equipment Safety as you would see it on a livestock farm—from lawn mowers to a 15 ft batwing John Deere Rotary Cutter, and hay equipment as well!

                As a 4-H Agent, one of the things that has helped me the most is the style of the program. As mentioned in the opening, we have youth engaged in Livestock Programming that live in town, and youth who live on a farm—and we’re proud of both of them! By having most of our meetings off location, it lends itself to having hands on examples that pertain to both. For example, at Meade tractor, most everyone has a lawn mower, and most livestock youth want to see hay equipment and rotary cutters up close. Another example would be the farm store, youth who have very little ag experience see the fencing wire, gap handles, and supplies for the first time. Youth who have put up fences with their families on their farms see the different options and may start to understand why their families made the decision to utilize barbed wire, over electric fencing based on the cost, durability, and other features.

                Our volunteers are wonderful, and the main reason our Livestock Programming is successful, but they are not the only reason. Our Livestock Club is successful specifically because there are so many other avenues the youth can lean on to have progressive experiences within livestock. One such experience is our Country Ham Club, which has 30 participants this year. They put their hams in to cure back in January, and they are working on getting their 6 educational hours through our livestock club. They are looking forward to shucking their hams in April. Our Country Ham Youth also give speeches about their ham project at the Madison County Fair, where their hams are displayed for 10 days. Then they of course give their speech at the Kentucky State Fair. Last year at our ham auction, after all their hard work, youth averaged $987.50 for their hams. This money goes directly back to the 4-Hers.

                Another example of a progressive experience in Livestock Programming would be our Livestock Skillathon and Quizbowl Teams, this year we had 4 Seniors, and 3 Juniors complete at the Kentucky 4-H Skillathon Contest. For the first time to my knowledge, we also had a senior team in the Quizbowl Contest! Quizbowl is a contest where students are asked questions and they use a buzzer system to answer and earn points for their team. Skillathon is a comprehensive contest where youth learn to identify equipment, breeds of livestock, feedstuffs, and retail meat cuts. They also learn how to handle breeding, feeding, and quality assurance scenarios such as giving injections, reading EPDs (a system used to determine the best sire for a herd or flock based off of genetics), and calculating average daily gain. The senior team won 4^th place team identification, 5^th place quality assurance, 4^th place team evaluation, and 5^th Overall in Skillathon. The Senior team also won 3^rd place in Quizbowl. One of our Junior members won 5^th in evaluation, and there were 3 senior members with individual awards as well. More than their awards however, I had a parent tell me while the kids were in the skillathon contest, “I always take my kids with me when I go buy hay. They know what to look for because of skillathon. The last time we went, my oldest daughter said, “It’s a little stemmy, dad. But it will be okay.”” During the quizbowl contest, one of the questions was, “What toxicity would you be concerned about if sheep were allowed a free choice beef mineral?” A parent got my attention and gave me a thumbs up. After his daughter answered “Copper.” (the correct answer!) He said, “Every time I go buy feed, she reminds me not to get anything with copper in it since it is toxic to sheep.” The 4-H agent appreciated knowing her 4-Hers were putting their practical knowledge to use more than she appreciated their honors and awards—although that is fun too!

                Our livestock members have been given a unique opportunity through the Kentucky Office of Agriculture Policy and our local Madison County Farm Bureau Board to apply for grant money (up $1500) to be used for agricultural projects. Some youth have gotten greenhouses, honeybees, equine facilities, show calves, goats, sheep, and much more! 24 of our Livestock Club Members took advantage of this opportunity this year. They also give a speech or demonstration related to their project at our 4-H contests. We have increased our participation in the County, Area, and State Communications Contests by more than double since implementing YAIP and asking country ham youth to give speeches and demos at our local contest.

      Livestock Club members as well as livestock volunteers also get involved in our Farm Field Day program where every 3^rd grader form across the county is invited to learn about agriculture. There are typically between 600-800 total 3rd graders from year to year.  Livestock Club members have brought out their cattle, horses, sheep, and goats, (many of which purchased with YAIP money) to share their knowledge of our industry with the 3^rd graders. In fact, we even had a Livestock Club member who took it upon herself to lead a Livestock Club meeting this past month about giving injections. It was informative and fun for the whole group!

                Incorporating multiple leaders to assist with the 4-H Livestock Programs helped to solve a plethora of issues we were not even aware of at the time. There have been so many encouraging stories since we began running the program in this way! The numbers certainly do not lie, an increase from 3 to 40 youth participating in less than 5 years is incredible. The county 4-H Agent could not be more thrilled to work with wonderful volunteers who never cease to put the youth first.