4-H Weekly Blast

ENROLL TODAY!!!!!

October 31: Last day to enroll before fee goes up!

October 31: Winter Coat Drive/Items Deadline

November: Tickets and Money due to your clubs for 4-H Giveaway!

November 2-3: Holiday Classic, Bell County Expo

November 6: Major Show Entry Day, 8am-6pm, Extension Office

November 19: Major Show Swine Validation, 4-5:30pm, YEB

November 25: Holiday Gift Idea Exchange, 6pm, Cameron FMC Fellowship Hall

November 25: Drawing for 4-H Giveaway

November 29-December 15: Tractor Supply Fundraiser

December 12: D8 Scholarship Workshop, 7pm, Zoom

December 17: Consumer Practice, 6:30pm, Extension Office

Cloverbud Friendly*: This means that cloverbuds are welcome to come and participate in this activity. To learn more about the projects in the calendar, find the information below about the event.

· County Extension Office: 908 N Crockett Avenue, Cameron TX

· YEB (Youth Exposition Building): 301 S Houston Ave, Cameron, TX 76520

· Extension Office Conference: Meeting Room inside Milam County Annex (OLD BUILDING-where the Office used to be)

· Bea’s Kitchen (Senior Center inside of Milam County Annex): 806 N Crockett Avenue, Cameron TX

• Cameron 4-H Club: First Tuesdays, 6pm, Yoe High School Cafeteria
• Gause 4-H Club: First Monday, 6pm, Gause Baptist Church Family Life Center
• Rockdale 4-H Club: 2nd Mondays, 6:30pm, Peace Lutheran (starting in October- first meeting in September has already happened)
• Thorndale 4-H Club: 4th Monday, 6pm, Thorndale Chamber
• Shooting Sports 4-H Project Club: 3rd Monday, 5pm, 892 CR 232 Rockdale, TX, to be added to the group list for Shooting Sports, you need to click on the GROUPME and add the Link.

The New 4-H year started on September 1st! Please mark this on your calendar to register and re-enroll on 4-H online NOW!

ENROLLMENT: Enroll TODAY!!! This is for 4-H members and volunteers!!! www.join4h.com Tell your friends to sign up!!! To re-enroll or join 4-H, please see our website: http://counties.agrilife.org/mc4h/4-h-enrollmentguidelines/ This link will show you the steps to join as well as many important items for the 4-H year! Join us for 4-H fun!

PLEASE CHECK YOUR ENROLLMENT BEFORE YOU SUBMIT IT! If you are awaiting review, you are good! If it says resubmit or incomplete, you will need to finish before you can be approved!

All Contests and Livestock Shows (any competitive event) requires an Eligibility Form to be completed 2 weeks prior to the contest/show. Please print and complete this form and turn it in to the County Extension Office, 908 N Crockett Avenue, Suite B, Cameron, TX 76520. Or it can be faxed to 254-697-7046. We do have a drop box for after hours. For questions, please call the Extension Office and visit with Office Manager, Carolyn Hux.

REMINDER: YOU MUST BE ENROLLED ON 4-H ONLINE BEFORE COMPLETING AN ELIGIBILITY FORM!

We are so excited to get back to cloverbuds meetings this year! Cloverbuds are Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students. We regularly meet each month and learn about 4-H and have fun!!!! This year, we have a new 4-H leader, Corley Callahan! She is excited about getting going and has some fun activities for you all!

All meetings will be at 5:15pm at the YHS Cafeteria (303 E 12th St, Cameron, TX 76520).

Here are the dates and themes for each month:

Dates:

November 5

December 3

January 7

February 4

March 4

April 1

• March 22, March 26-30

• All rules have been posted on the MCJLS website and can be found here: https://mcjla.org/

Rules have been posted for MCJLS!

IMPORTANT DATES:

• November 1: Beef Heifers
• November 4: Notify Commercial Heifer Chair of Intent to Tag
• November 9: Commercial Heifer Tag In
• December 2: Mkt. Swine Lambs, and Goats, 3:30-6pm
• December 9: Mkt Broilers, 5-7pm, YEB
• February 22: Rabbit Tattoo, 8am-10am
  
• March 22: Commercial Heifer Recordbooks/Flyers Turned, 8am-12pm, YEB
• April 15: Thank you note drop off, 5-6pm, YEB
• April 21: Thank You Notes Deadline

NEW!!!!!!

EXHIBITOR AND PARENT MUST ATTEND VALIDATION

Entry Nights:

• Monday, January 27: Thorndale
• Wednesday, January 29: Cameron, YEB

All entries must be received by secretary no later than January 29, 2025. After January 29, late entries will be accepted until March 26 for an ADDITIONAL $100.00 per entry.

Below are the dates for the consumer project meetings.

Consumer Decision Making project is teaching youth how to be a better shopper and use these skills to be better consumers in the future.

We learn need vs want, how to find the best quality of an item, and how to give reasons on why you placed an item a certain way.

It’s a fun project with many contests! If you are interested in participating, please fill out the form by October 1: https://forms.gle/XbXEFG9bmdzMYVvw9

Practice Dates:

(Meetings held at Milam County Annex: 908 N Crockett Avenue, Suite B- Cameron, TX)-

Practices will be held at 6:00pm (unless otherwise stated)

• December 17 (NEW)
• January 14 (NEW)
• January 21
• January 28
• February 11, 4-7pm (COUNTY CONTEST)
• February 25
• March 18
• March 25
• April 8
• April 15
• April 22

Contest Dates:

• January/February- Invitational CDM Contest- Gatesville
• February 11th- County Consumer Contest- Cameron (MANDATORY TO PARTICIPATE IN OTHER CONTESTS)
• February 15th- San Antonio CDM Contest- San Antonio
• April 24- District CDM Contest-Belton

Butterbraid Fundraiser:

This fundraiser pays for trip to San Antonio contest that require us to spend the night:

• Start Date: Tuesday, October 1, 2024
• End Date: Monday, October 28, 2024
• Delivery Date: Monday, November 25, 2024

Forms have been emailed!

We will be starting the 4-H Ag Product ID project in the fall. This judging contest involves judging meats, fruits, vegetables, grains, and many other food related items. You will identify the item and then answer a question about its production in agriculture. Below are the dates for the project meetings. It’s a fun project with many contests!

If you are interested in participating, please fill out the form: https://forms.gle/8U4Jb8p6RVARVKm28

Practice Dates:

(Meetings held at Milam County Annex: 908 N Crockett Avenue, Suite B- Cameron, TX), at 5:30 pm on Sundays (Subject to change on Time)

Fall:

• November 3

Spring:

• January 12
• January 19
• January 26
• February 2
• February 9
• February 23
• March 2
• March 16
• March 23
• March 30
• April 6

Contests:

• November 7: District AG ID contest- Belton
  
• February 7: Bell County Youth Fair- Belton
• March 12: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
• April 11: Leon County

Dear 4-H Families,

This past two years have been an extremely successful 4-H years! Milam County youth had great success competing across the state and Milam County 4-H is growing by leap and bounds! With this great success comes the unfortunate problem of funding all the great activities and contests that our youth are participating in at the county, district, and state level. In the past, the annual Mr. and Miss 4-H fundraiser the clubs hold has completely funded the Milam County 4-H programs. However, with more and more youth competing on judging teams and going to contests, attending camps, hosting 4-H Day Camps, exhibitor clinics and the Cloverbud programs are draining our account, and the single club fundraiser is not enough. As a reminder, fundraising is the only source of funding for your Milam County 4-H. NONE of the enrollment fees come to the county level.

Your club managers, leaders, and 4-H County Council voted to do another 4-H Giveaway this fall since last year was so successful! This year the committee even added more prizes to the giveaway! We need your help! We are asking for each 4-H member to sell 2 books of tickets for this great fundraiser! If each 4-H member sells these tickets along with participating in the club Mr./Miss fundraisers, Milam County 4-H will be financially prepared for another great year of programs and projects. Selling just 2 books for $100 can make a HUGE difference!!!

We truly appreciate your help with selling tickets! Remember to see your 4-H club manager to get tickets and please work to sell all tickets and have entries and money back to your club leader by the deadline they set!

The drawing will take place on Monday, November 25th at the Holiday Gift Idea Exchange event. Please check with your 4-H Clubs to find out when the deadline to return tickets will be. All tickets will be handed out at the 4-H Club meetings!

Thank you for making Milam County 4-H AWESOME!!!

The 2024 Holiday Classic is set for November 2 & 3, 2024 at the Cadence Bank Center (formerly Bell County Expo Center)!

For 33 years, the ORIGINAL Holiday Classic livestock project clinics and livestock shows are intended to provide a free educational opportunity for new and inexperienced families participating in the livestock project area. The main purpose is to teach the basic principles of livestock management as they relate to facility maintenance, selection, nutrition, animal health, handling, showmanship, and transportation, facilitate the ethical care, development, and the exhibition of livestock. Must attend education on Saturday to show on Sunday

AGAIN THIS YEAR, we will be hosting a Broiler Workshop with the team ofTexas A&M AgriLife Extension – Poultry Science Department! The Broiler Workshop will take place on Saturday, November 4th at the same time as our species clinic.

This event will be completely FREE to all that attend! Hope to see you in Belton for the 33rd annual Holiday Classic!

Since 2010, Tractor Supply has partnered with 4‑H to help create Opportunity4All and raise more than $20 million through the Paper Clover campaign. 100% of funds raised through the bi-annual Paper Clover campaign directly benefits 4‑H youth. Dates for the 2024 Paper Clover Campaign are: November 29 - December 15, 2024. Tractor Supply will also be selling 4-H ornaments to decorate your tree this season! 100% of proceeds from that campaign will go back to 4-H as well.

What: Scholarship Workshop

When: 12/12

Time: 7:00 PM

The last one will be recorded and shared on our YouTube channel.

Registration: https://forms.gle/19herEQB5mThdSSX7

November 25th, 6pm, Cameron First Methodist Church Fellowship Hall

(Youth participating in craft please arrive at 5:30pm)

4-H members (K-12th grade) and Church Youth are encouraged to participate individually or with a friend/family member.

They will create a food or craft themed for the Holidays and will demonstrate it to the audience on how to make it. They will need to bring the supplies and an item finished for the demonstration along with giving one finished product away as a door prize.

Deadline to submit instructions will be: November 11th

Instructions include how to make the item and a picture of the item. Please also include the 4-H member’s name and 4-H Club or Name and Cameron FMC Youth. Only electronic instructions will be accepted this year.

Click Here for Instructions or use the QR CODE: https://forms.gle/GLAHk6scyMrX9tq46

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

The rules for the 2024-2025 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. We have added 3 new categories this year, as such each county may now submit a maximum of 18 total photos (1 photo per category). As stated in the rules, counties are highly encouraged to have some type of selection process in place to determine which photos are eligible. Key points:

• Qualify from county level (district contests have no bearing on qualifications)
• Open to senior age division only
• 18 categories (includes a new “Patriotic” theme for this year)
• Entry timeline is April 1-15
• No late entries accepted

The Food Show and Food Challenge will be taking place this fall. The district Food Show and Food Challenge will be December 5th in Belton.

Attached are the rules and information about the contests!

If you or your 4-H member are interested in any of these contests, please fill out the form by October 21st: https://forms.gle/u9yRWDzmbbFpqBKM6

Service Project

Brady and Hampton Barton

Kenan and Karsyn Mingus

The purpose of this project is to collect items on a monthly basis for the Milam Touch of Love Animal Shelter in Cameron.

The animal shelter needs many different items.

Items can be dropped off at the Milam County Extension office, brought to 4-H meetings, or contact the Bartons or Mingus families to pick them up.

Items include:

· Dog Food (any kind)

· Cat Food (any kind)

· Collars

· Leashes

· Dog and Cat toys

· Blankets

· Clorox Bleach

· Monetary Donations

Rebecca Barton: 254-709-7245

Heather Mingus: 254-482-0799

The Gause 4-H Club and Milano HS National Honor Society are teaming up to collect new or gently used coats and other winter items during the month of October. Donations will be distributed to members of Milam County communities to help them stay warm in the upcoming cold months. Items can be: coats, hoodies, sweatshirts, winter hats, mittens/gloves, coveralls, thick socks, etc. All sizes are needed.

Donation boxes are located at both Gause and Milano schools. Arrangements can also be made for items to be picked up by contacting project leader Hannah Bakken at 254-598-1931.

Do not forget we have a 4-H Facebook page!!!! We post 4-H Blasts, 4-H contest results and neat opportunities to do in 4-H! Make sure that you “see us first” in your settings. Step 1: Like the Page, Step 2: Click on 3 dots by search and like and then click Follow Settings, Step 3: set as favorite, Step 4: Click on Posts and choose STANDARD, then you will see all 4-H posts when they arrive!

For information about any 4-H related activity, please go to the website or facebook page! www.Join4-h.com or www.facebook.com/milamcountyfourH

Contact Information:

908 N Crockett Avenue, Suite B

Cameron, TX 76520

254-697-7045 or 254-605-0226

Carolyn Hux

Office Manager

carolyn.hux@ag.tamu.edu

4-H Enrollment questions, general 4-H questions

Micah Holcombe

County Extension Agent- FCH

mlholcombe@ag.tamu.edu

4-H FCH Projects (CDM, AG ID, Fashion, Food), Recordbooks, Scholarships

Josh Evans

County Extension Agent- Ag/NR

joshua.evans@ag.tamu.edu

4-H AG Projects/4-H Livestock Projects

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