At the 2024 Grant County Fair, a survey was administered looking to find faults in the current way the Grant County 4-H Livestock program had been operating.  These survey results were delivered to the new 4-H Agent, Mason Malin upon starting in October of 2024.

Upon reading through the 23 surveys that had been completed, Mr. Malin noticed the following:

1. There was a 50/50 split for whether or not participants wanted separate species meetings, or one livestock club meeting.
2. 60% of participants could only attend 1-2 meetings per month for livestock education hours
3. 78% responded that their children would be more likely to show multiple species if meetings were consolidated into one livestock club

These responses led Mr. Malin and Grant County 4-H Staff, along with input from the local FFA Advisors to devise a new course of action to help improve the current state of the Grant County 4-H Livestock Program.  In order to improve the Grant County 4-H Livestock Program, multiple things needed to be addressed.  These included:

1. Finding a solution for families that had to be at multiple meetings each month in order to receive their education hours.  
   • The solution to this was to include Goat, Sheep, Swine, and Cattle Clubs under one Grant County 4-H Livestock Club, allowing all livestock exhibitors to attend one meeting, instead of several.  
2. Devising a plan for curriculum and content for these new Grant County 4-H Livestock Club meetings.  The meetings began in November of 2024 and continue through April of 2025.
   •  Each meeting covered a different topic, and topics ranged from Feeding, Fitting, Housing, and even a Goal Setting workshop to be held in April.  

The new and improved Grant County 4-H Livestock Club has seen an average of 20 4-H members at each meeting.  As the program year has gone on, it has been noticed that the time of the meetings needs to be adjusted to help families make it on time.  Currently the meetings are from 5-7pm and several families have reported that 5:00pm is too early for them to attend, and would prefer a 6:00pm start time.

With the support of the new livestock club structure, goals are being set for the 2025-2026 livestock club meetings.  The goals are as follows:

1. Provide more hands-on education opportunities
2. Provide education focusing on the following areas:
   •  Livestock production
   • Record Keeping
   • Genetics
   • Showmanship clinics
   • Livestock judging
   • Etc.
3. Develop programs that will guide participants towards owning and managing their own livestock operations, and growing their knowledge of agriculture based businesses.  

Another survey will be conducted following the 2025 Grant County Fair to see what areas have been improved upon, and what areas still need improvement.