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THE 4-H FOCUS January 2019

4-H Families and Friends,

The final countdown is on to 2019! Be sure to take these last few days of the year to spend time with your loved ones and reflect on all of the triumphs of 2018. We accomplished so much this past year as a 4-H program thanks to the hard work of our members and volunteers. Some highlights include: 7 new All Stars, 15,000+ participants in our embryology pro-gram, over 450 local member awards and the formation of 2 new clubs! With positive attitudes and willing hands, we will continue to grow over the next year and reach even greater heights! We wish all of you a joyous new year and look for-ward to seeing what we can achieve together in 2019.

Kim Monroe

4-H Program Technician

kmonroe@vt.edu

Carly Wright

4-H Extension Agent

carlymg@vt.edu

Reminder: 4HOnline Enrollment Deadline!

All 4-H members must be officially enrolled in their respective clubs via 4HOnline by December 31st in order to exhibit their animals at the Loudoun County Fair in 2019. There will be NO exceptions.

4HOnline: va.4honline.com

Please note that meetings, community service projects, Fair Qualifiers, etc. that you attend prior to enrollment will NOT count.

Upcoming Events

Pennsylvania Farm Show Trip

When: Sunday, January 6th (All Day)

Where: Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex

Loudoun Fair & Associates has sponsored a charter bus for 4-H members who would like to attend the PA Farm Show in 2019. Details went out to the listserv earlier this month. Space is LIMITED - please email John McClintic (ferrumcountry@yahoo.com) as soon as possible to sign up.

4-H Leadership Day: *Fair Qualifier*

When: Saturday, January 19th (9:00am)

Where: Loudoun County Fairgrounds - Sykes Hall

Join other 4-H members from across the county for a morning full of leadership and team building! To register, please visit: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080845a8a623a46-loudoun. Deadline to register is January 16th.

4-H Day at the Capitol: *Fair Qualifier*

When: Tuesday, January 29th (All Day)

Where: State Capitol - Richmond, VA

While at the Capitol, 4-H members will learn about how a bill becomes a law, tour historical buildings and serve as ambassadors of the Loudoun County 4-H program. Registration is now closed, as the van is completely full!

Presentation Day: *Fair Qualifier*

When: Tuesday, February 19th (6:30pm)

Where: Loudoun County High School

Come “wow” our judges with your public speaking skills and teach them something new while you do it! More information will be provided in the upcoming weeks. To register, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/LoCo4HPresentation2019. Entries are due by Friday, February 8th at 5pm.

County News

Senior Spotlight on...

Ms. Amanda Thomas

Graduating Class: Loudoun Valley High School 2019

College: Ferrum College

Major: Agriculture Science, Animal Science

4-H Club Membership: Dairy Club (6 years), Goat Club (2 years) and Home Economics Club (2 years)

4-H Leadership Positions: President, Vice President, Secretary and Reporter

4-H Activities: Share the Fun, Fashion Revue, PA Farm Show, Dairy Club Judging Team, VA State Fair Junior Dairyman Competition and the VA State Judging Competi-tion (1st Place)

Outside Activities: Western Loudoun Lacrosse and LVHS Lacrosse

Amanda also has plans to play on Ferrum’s Division 3 Women’s Lacrosse Team.

Senior Spotlight

Holiday Hours & Winter Weather Policy

Extension Office Holiday Schedule 2019

Closed on Monday, December 31st

Re-open Wednesday, January 2nd, 8:30am

Closed on Monday, January 21st

Re-open Tuesday, January 22nd, 8:30am

Inclement Weather Policy:

The Extension Office follows the Loudoun County government openings and closings. If the government is closed, delayed or releasing early, our office will do the same.

4-H programs will follow along with Loudoun County Public Schools. If schools are closed or let out early, 4-H programs for that day/evening will be cancelled. If Club Leaders feel that the roads are clear enough in time for their program, they will contact the Extension Office for guidance. In the event that the clubs continue with a program when schools have been cancelled, 4-H members can not be penalized for missing that program.

County News

Club News

Sheep Club

Submitted By: Alexandra Knight

During the December meeting, our members Camryn Monroe gave a presentation on Dorset Horn sheep and Viktoria Scharf gave a presentation on Southdown sheep. The club also discussed this year’s Fair rules. For the December educational program, Mr. Knight and Mrs. Monroe discussed sheep carcass evaluation and the results from this year’s Carcass Contest. Then, all the members signed Christmas cards for our Fair sponsors. Our next club meeting will be on Wednesday, January 2nd at Sykes Hall.

Beef Club

Submitted By: Taylor Miller

The Beef Club met on December 19th. During the meeting we voted on rules and went over Fair rules and Bylaws. No changes were made to the Beef Club rules. We had a nice get to-gether with a gift exchange. The Beef Club is currently selling tickets to the All You Can Eat Shrimp and Oyster fundraiser in February. If you were not at the meeting, please see Ms. Stanford for tickets to sell. As a reminder, our steer weigh-in is December 29th from 10 to 11. Steers must be tattooed to show at the Fair! Club animal housing forms are due December 30th. Ms. Stanford and Mrs. Lawson advise if you were not at this past meeting you can email the paperwork to them for signatures. Happy New Year and we will see you at the next meeting on January 16th at 7pm.

Alpaca Club

Submitted By: Alina Bogdan

This month the Loudoun County 4-H Alpaca Club had two business meetings. At those meetings we discussed our Bylaws, read our Constitution and voted on new rules for our club for this year and the years to come. We also talked about things like sharing our alpacas, spending money and upcoming events.

We discussed ideas for new events (bake sales, farm tours, etc.), when we should have them and what we should do for the events. We talked about money that will be earned during these events and how we should spend it. Additionally, we talked about vet bills, supplies, food, etc.

On November 10th we had our very first show and there were a lot of feelings and work involved. We all had a lot of fun, and there was a lot excitement!

Club News

Rabbit Hopping

Submitted By: Mary Grace Menuey

The Loudoun County 4-H Rabbit Hopping Club called its meeting to order on December 14, 2018. We had six members present their homework from last meeting, which was to talk about an illness their rabbit had, how they knew it was sick, and how they treated the illness. We listened to a lesson about rabbit body types by Teagan Russell and we also had a Christmas party and sock exchange. We went over our finished business, which was: our pet food drive, project books, and Achievement Night. Our club awards for Achievement Night went to: Elizabeth Menuey and Stephanie Jones, who both received the Fair Friends Award; Calle Junker, Sarah Burns, Anna Kasianides, Eleni Kasianides and Grace Kasianides, who all received the Above and Beyond Award; Mary Grace Menuey, who won the Junior Rising Star Award; and Alisa Hart, who won the Intermediate Rising Star Award. Our upcoming events are the Pennsylvania Farm Show, Loudoun 4-H Leadership Day, 4-H Day at the Capital (for intermediates and seniors), Cloverbud Fun Day, Presentation Day, Cookies and Cider, PASARBA and Rabbit School. Our next meeting will be held on January 11, 2019 at 6:30 p.m.

Eastern Loudoun

Submitted By: Oishee Sinha and Kashvi Ramani

Greetings, fellow 4-H members! This month’s Eastern Loudoun 4-H meeting was held at Mill Run Elementary School on December 13th and was called to order at 7:05 pm. To start off the meeting, we sang the song “Do your ears hang low?” Afterward, leaders from winter clubs came and gave us a small summary of their latest club meeting. Important dates to keep in mind are Share the Fun, which will be held on March 9th and Presentation Day which will be held on February 19th. We’re excited to see all the talent in our amazing 4-H group! The rest of the meeting consisted of the cookie exchange, where club members brought 12 or 24 cookies and depending on how many you brought, you were allowed to get 6 or 18 cookies that others brought. The remaining 6 are given to charity so we as a 4-H group can spread some holiday cheer! The two of us shared our cookies, but some members ate all 6 or 18 cookies themselves! While some members were collecting their cookies the rest of us played some fun games in small groups. In these groups, we got to play games like “Duck, Duck, Goose”, “Froggy Mur-der”, and “Down By the Banks”! Overall, this was a very productive meeting. Most of us went home with delicious cookies and even if we didn’t take part in the exchange, we spent some quality time with our fellow 4-H members!

Club News

Overlook Horse Club

Submitted By: Ashley Carusi

Our December 4-H meeting started promptly at 7:04pm. Six out of eight members were

present. We had a lot to discuss this meeting so we got right into it. We talked about the January

Fair Qualifiers and who would participate in them. Then we went over the requirements to partic-

ipate in the district and state horse shows. We are trying to organize a skills testing day for levels

one and two and a lot of planning went into it during the meeting. To wrap up our formal busi-

ness we decided to get an early start on planning our demos for the Fair. Our educational activity

was testing our knowledge of horses and disciplines in a hippology slideshow. The meeting con-

cluded at 8:15 pm.

Canterlopes

Submitted By: Jessica Tillman

We started off the day by going to Lynden Farm and cleaning off the horses and the car-riages. After a couple hours, we went to the parade to get ourselves and the carriages ready. About an hour later, we walked along the streets and passed out bells and candy canes. It was really fun to see the looks on the kids’ faces! We eventually got back to Ketterman’s and said goodbye to each other.

Shooting Education

Submitted By: Andrew Durham

We have had 2 business meetings so far this fall: October and December. At the October meeting we elected officers. Zachary Dantzlerward was elected President, Patricia Gaylord was elected Vice President, John Dykstra was elected Treasurer and Andrew Durham was elected Sec-retary/Reporter. A safety review and discussion followed by shooting practice completed the meeting.

In our second business meeting we discussed funds and signed thank you notes for donors. The donors included: VA Youth Sports Association, Larry and Brenda Potterfield, Paul Benneche, Bill Roos and Colleen Adler. Members reviewed safety protocols and practiced with both air rifles and air pistols, shooting from one of three positions: prone, standing and seated.

Safety and shooting practice were the only activities during the November meeting.

Club News

Goat Club Submitted By: Clay Grisius

This month the Goat Club meeting was primarily focused on rules. Mrs. Monroe came in and explained the Extension Office’s Addendum of Rules and how they differ from each individual club’s rules. We also went over old rules and added new ones. We now have a new rule that re-quires that each member obtains a sponsorship before Fair cleanup. We also removed a section of a rule that mandates members to sign in upon coming to the fairgrounds. Additionally, we now require 5 stamped buyer letters by Fair cleanup. Furthermore, we have set up our committees to be run on a member motivated basis. Next meeting, we’re having a food drive!

Chefs & Stitches

Submitted By: Dean Evans

On December 1, 2018, our club gathered to make stockings. We chose our material and cut out a pattern. Then we pinned the material together and sewed our stockings. We learned some more sewing skills and en-joyed using them.

Dairy Club

Submitted By: Christian Gurdak

The last Dairy Club meeting was held at 7pm on December 4th at the Purcellville Library. During the meeting we talked about selling baked goods at the Purcellville Parade as a fundraiser. Also, the club voted to participate in Share the Fun again this year. We discussed a few ideas and we’ll decide what to do at our next meeting. We also finalized the members for the competitive Dairy Judging Team. After official business we painted cow ornaments and had our white ele-phant gift exchange. It was a really fun meeting.

Leaps & Squeaks

Submitted By: Sabrina Marvil

At our December meeting Leaps and Squeaks shared a potluck dinner and had an orna-ment gift exchange. We all brought food and treats to eat while we celebrated the holidays with an ornament exchange. Members drew numbers out of a hat and then lined up to pick a wrapped ornament off the table. Earlier this month our club participated in Backpack Buddies, where we bagged food to give out at local schools.

Club News

Forage Club

Submitted By: Jill Harrison

This month the Loudoun County 4-H Forage Club held their meeting at Philomont Fire House on December 9th. This meeting we discussed attendance to the 2019 Forage and Grass-lands Council Winter Forage Conference. Afterwards we adjourned our meeting and our For-age/Machinery of the Month presentation was done by Brinn McClintic on the Bush Hog. After-wards John McClintic gave an updated presentation on soil health to the members. Next month's meeting will be held January 6th at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

Poultry Club

Submitted By: Caroline Ludwig

During December there were a lot of exciting things happening at Poultry Club! Our pro-ject books were finally updated and so were the housing forms. We made sure our project books are easy and understandable for the first year 4-Hers. Our club education for this month was pre-sented by Pete Dalton, the “Fox Man”. He gave a presentation on all of the predators of a chicken and told us how to protect our flocks against them. Viktoria Scharf gave a presentation on good chicken coops. We are all looking forward to the January meeting when we will have our annual white elephant gift exchange, so make sure you bring a crazy gift!

Hoofprints

Submitted By: Madison Hart

The activity for our December meeting was “horse expenses.” We wrote how much we thought a horse was and how much vet costs were, etc. It was surprising to learn how much it costs to purchase a horse, all of its necessary equipment and supplies, and what is required to maintain and care for the horse. On December 1st, the Hoofprints Club walked in the Middleburg Christmas Parade. We met there and our leader brought two of her horses. We dressed them up and some of us rode, and some of us walked in the parade. It was rainy and cold, but it was still a lot of fun! On the 19th our club had a “pony play date.” Our leader brought one of her horses to Franklin Park. We met there as a club. We all rode for about 10 to 20 minutes. It was really fun, and we got to learn more about riding.

Virginia Cooperative Extension

County of Loudoun

750 Miller Drive, SE, Suite F-3

Leesburg, VA 20175

(703) 777-0373

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