PDF of Newsletter

 

A Letter From the Extension Agent

As we learn more about parliamentary procedure it’s important to understand club officer positions.  Each club has at least four officer positions.

The president’s responsibilities include creating the agenda, running the meeting and encouraging members to participate.

The vice-president fills the president’s role when he/she is absent.  It’s also common for this officer to serve as the chairperson on committees.

The secretary keeps records of the club including meeting minutes, attendance and correspondence.

The treasurer is responsible for tracking finances such as recording, deposits, writing checks and submitting reports.

Your club may have other officer positions such as historian, recreation leader, parliamentarian and reporter.  See the attachment to this newsletter email for more information about officer positions.

Sincerely,

Allison Kosto, Extension Agent - MSU Extension Broadwater County

 


Greytak Calendars

Greytak calendars are available to purchase from the office. The calendars are beautiful hand drawings by Montana artist, Don Greytak.  Calendars are $15 each. Exact cash or checks made out to 4-H Council please.

 

County 4-H Leaders Training

The long overdue rescheduled annual County 4-H Leaders Training is on Monday, January 27th at 6:00 pm at the Methodist Church in Townsend.  The topic of the night is conflict management and dealing with difficult people.  All types of leaders, club, project, committee members and parents, are encouraged to attend.  Dinner is provided and there will be door prizes!  Please RSVP to the Extension Office by Tuesday, January 21st to help us plan food and supplies. 

 

Countywide 4-H Shooting Sports Leaders Meeting

There will be a meeting for shooting sports leaders of all disciplines on Wednesday, February 12th at 6:30 pm at the Extension Office.  At the meeting, leaders will have a chance to meet the new overall 4-H shooting sports coordinator, Sean McLaughlin, and discuss ways the county can work together to improve and enhance the entire shooting sprots program.

 

Montana 4-H Legislative Breakfast

The 4-H Legislative Breakfast is a state 4-H event that provides an opportunity to share the work and success of 4-H with Montana legislators.  The event will be held the morning of Tuesday, January 21 at 6:30 am with a preparatory dinner on the evening of January 20 at 6:00 pm. Registration is in Zsuites and closes on January 8th. The cost for the dinner is $30 and the breakfast is $35. The county 4-H Council will provide up to $25 per person for 4-H members to attend.  It is open to any age.

 

County Contest Committee Meeting

There will be a planning meeting for county 4-H contests on Monday, January 6th at 6:30 pm at the Extension Office (Flynn Building, 416 Broadway, Townsend). If you volunteered to be a part of this committee, please attend this meeting. If you have any questions, please contact the office.

 

The office will be closed on Monday, January 20th for Martin Luther King Day. 


Stay Connected with Sports You!

We are trying something new by offering members and parents to join us with Sports You. Sports You is a data-secure, school-safe, US owned and operated messaging platform. It can be used via a web browser or an app. We intend to use this to push out reminders and post documents. It is not mandatory to join, but if you think this will help your family stay connected with what is happening county wide, then please do! See the attachment with this email for instructions on how to join.

 
4-H Directory

Attached along with the newsletter is the 2024-2025 4-H Directory.  This is your resource list of 4-H leaders in our county.  It includes contact information for club leaders, committee members and project leaders.  We are continuing to recruit leaders and will send out updated lists as needed.  We suggest printing the directory, so you have it handy.  The individuals on this list are great resources for many of your 4-H questions so don’t hesitate to contact them in addition to the office.  

 

Countywide 4-H Activities

 

Committee & Council Meetings

4-H COUNCIL: The next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 25 at 7:00 pm at the Extension Office (416 Broadway, Townsend). There will be no meeting in January.  Contact Karen at 406.949.4852 if you have any questions or agenda items. Agenda items must be submitted by noon the Friday prior to the meeting.

INDOOR COMMITTEE: The next meeting will be Tuesday, February 25 at 6:00 pm at the Extension Office (416 Broadway, Townsend). Contact Karen at 406.949.4852 if you have any questions or agenda items. Agenda items must be submitted by noon the Friday prior to the meeting.

LIVESTOCK COMMITTEE: The next meeting will be Tuesday, January 7th at 7:00 pm at the Extension Office (416 Broadway, Townsend).  If you have any questions or agenda items, please contact Jason Noyes at 406.949.4851. Agenda items must be submitted by noon the Friday prior to the meeting.  

HORSE COMMITTEE: There is currently no meeting scheduled.  If you have any questions, please contact Jan Finn at [email protected] or phone (406) 266-4992 - home phone or (406) 521-0001 - cell phone.

INTERSTATE EXCHANGE CLUB: The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday January 23rd at the Extension Office. There will be a by-laws meeting at 6:00pm and the business meeting at 7:00pm.  If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Beatty at 406.490.1362 or Todd Beatty at 406.490.1361.

 

4-H Animal Project Activities

 

Beef

The next market/breeding workshop will be on Sunday, January 26th from 2-4pm at the 4-H Building at the Fairgrounds (189 US HWY 12 E, Townsend). Please bring your Record books, a writing utensil and a notebook. This workshop will focus on cattle industry markets and marketing strategies for 4-H/FFA members. Next workshop will be February 16th and March 27th. If you have any questions about the beef project, contact John Ferrat at 406.949.7911 or Samantha Ferrat at 406.949.0869.

 

Rabbit

The next rabbit workshop will be held on Sunday, January 5th at 3:30 pm at the Extension Office (416 Broadway, Townsend).  Please bring your rabbit food labels. Rabbit workshops are planned to be held monthly on the first Sundays at 3:30 pm. If you have any questions, please contact Dannielle Douglas at 406.465.3318.

 

Dairy Goat

The next dairy goat meeting will be held Saturday, January 4th at 5:30 pm -location TBD. Meetings are planned to be held monthly on the first Saturday at 5:30pm. Locations will change throughout the year. These meetings are also open to Meat Goat members. If you have any questions, please contact Danyel Henke at 406.980.0995.

 

Swine

There are monthly meetings planned January through June for the swine project. These meetings will be held on the third Thursday at 6:30pm at the 4-H Building at the Fairgrounds (189 US HWY 12 E, Townsend). The first meeting will be on Thursday, January 16th. If you have any questions, contact Travis Volkman at 406.253.6160.

 

4-H Non-Animal Project Activities

Cloverbuds

The Cloverbuds will be meeting on Sunday January 19th at 3:00 pm at the Extension Office (416 Broadway, Townsend). These meetings are planned for third Sundays at 3:00 pm from January to May. If you have any questions, please contact Jessica Lancello at 406.860.5355.

 

Sewing

The next sewing workshop will be Saturday, January 11th at 9:30 am at the Extension Office (416 Broadway, Townsend). If you are planning on participating in the sewing project next year, please attend! Sewing workshops are planned for the second Saturday of the month until April. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Holland at 406.266.3473

 

.22 Rifle

The initial orientation for .22 rifle is scheduled for Thursday, January 9th at 6:30pm at the Broadwater Rod and Gun Club (96 Canton Lane, Townsend). We will be assigning shooting groups and then you will be either shooting the 1st and 3rd Mondays or the 2nd and 4th Thursdays. If you have any questions, please contact John Pavao at 406.422.9590.

 

Scrapbooking/Visual Arts

There is another scrapbooking/visual arts workshop scheduled for Monday, January 20th at 6:30pm at the Extension Office (416 Broadway, Townsend). If you have any questions, please contact Karen Noyes at 406.949.4852.

 
Cake Decorating

Cake decorating workshops are scheduled for the 2nd and 4th Fridays in January, February and March. The first workshop will be on Friday, January 10th at 5:30pm at the Extension Office (416 Broadway, Townsend). If you have any questions, please contact Roxanne Six at 406.980.1204.

 

Archery

Archery workshops will be starting on Tuesdays, January 7, 14, 21 and 28th at 6:00 pm at the 4-H Building at the Fairgrounds (189 US HWY 12 E, Townsend). Archery workshops will be every Tuesday until March 11th. If you have any questions, please contact Jason Noyes at 406.949,4851

 

Photography

There will be a photography workshop on Friday, January 17th at 6:00 pm at the Extension Office (416 Broadway, Townsend). Please bring your cameras to this workshop. If you have any questions, please contact Dannielle Douglas at 406.465.3318.

 

Vet Science- more info coming soon!
 

Important Upcoming Dates

Leadership Academy - Sundays at 3:00 PM​

January 12, 2025​

February 9, 2025​

March 16, 2025​

Citizenship Seminar – January 19-21, 2025​

Legislative Breakfast – January 20-21, 2025​

Montana State Shooting Sports Event – March 7-9, 2025

Youth State Award Deadline – May 1, 2025​

Montana 4-H Congress (Pre-Congress) - July 6-8 and 8-11, 2025

 

Statewide 4-H Opportunities

 

Shooting Sports Leaders Trainings

Did you know that shooting sports leaders must go through extra trainings in order to become certified? Anyone interested in becoming a shooting sports leader, please reach out to the office. There are some training courses coming up this fall, so now is a good time to start the process! Once certified, leaders only have to recertify every seven years.

Here is the list of trainings scheduled for2025.  

·         Malta  - January 10-11, 2025. We will offer Archery, Rifle and Pistol.

·         Havre and Circle TBD.  We will offer Archery, Rifle, and Pistol.

For a listing of statewide Shooting Sports events, make sure to check out the Montana 4-H Shooting Sports page regularly!

 
Montana 4-H Shooting Sports Schedule 2024-2025

4-H Shooting Sports Matches 2025

Miles City  1/10-11/25 Archery, Rifle, Pistol       [email protected]

Kalispell    1/25/2025     Archery, Rifle, Pistol, Hunting [email protected]

Shelby      1/26/2025   Marias Fair Invitational      [email protected] 

Great Falls  12/24-2/28/25  Cascade County Postal [email protected]

Great Falls   2/15/2025        Cascade County Invitational [email protected]

Victor   2/8/2025   Bitterroot 4-H Archers Inv. [email protected]

 Hope Earp – 406-961-4615

Ronan  2/15/2025  Fred Grant Memorial invitational [email protected]

Fort Benton 3/1/2025  Chouteau County Archery Inv. [email protected] 

Dillon 2/22/2024 Beaverhead County Invitational [email protected] 

Bozeman  3/7/2025 – 3/9/2025 State Shooting Sports Inv.  [email protected] 

Grand Island, NE 6/22/25-6/27/25  National Shoot    [email protected]

 

Qualifiers 2025

Bozeman 3/7/2025 - 393/2025 State Shoot   [email protected]     

Livingston   TBA         Archery Pre-Qualifier [email protected] [email protected]

Livingston TBA         Archery Qualifier [email protected] [email protected]

Logan TBA Shotgun qualifier  [email protected]

 

Carbon County Archery Shoot

There is an indoor archery shoot scheduled for Saturday, February 2nd, 2025 in Red Lodge. Registration is done through this online form and the deadline is January 28th. For more information, please contact the office.

 

Monthly Online Leadership Academy 

Join the Montana 4-H Leadership Academy workshop series on Sunday afternoons in the 2024-2025 4-H year. Each month, the Ambassador Officer Team will present a different workshop topic that they have found to be important as they have developed their own leadership abilities. This workshop can be paired with a local county leadership meeting to work on skill building, planning, and mentorship. The leadership academy is for Montana 4-H members interested in exploring and developing their own leadership skills while serving their county 4-H program in new ways. The workshop content is considered beginner level for emerging leaders. Members with more leadership experience may find this to be a review and should consider mentoring younger members just starting out in leadership activities before or after these workshops. Visit the Leadership Academy website to register for the workshop series and receive the Zoom link. Following Sunday Trainings at 3:00 PM: 

January 12, 2025 February 9, 2025 March 16, 2025

 

4-H Citizenship Seminar

This event is taking place on Sunday, January 19 - Tuesday, January 21 (early afternoon to early afternoon) in Helena. It is open to youth ages 13-19 (as of October 1, 2024).  Registration is done through Zsuites and closes on January 8th. The cost for this program is $95. Funding assistance may be available through the county 4-H Council and the Mike Ferrat Memorial Fund.

More details are available on the Montana 4-H Citizenship Seminar Events page.  

What is Montana Citizenship Seminar? Montana Citizenship Seminar is designed to inspire 4-H youth as they learn about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Youth delegates gain hands-on experience with the legislative process by participating in a mock legislature, create and debate bills, work with other youth from across the state, meet with elected officials, tour the capitol, and participate in a service-learning project. Citizenship Seminar is held in Helena in the years when the legislature is in session. Youth delegates share their 4-H experience with current legislature representatives during the Legislative Breakfast which is hosted on January 21st by Montanans for 4-H. 

 

Scholarship Opportunity

Montana 4-H Foundation is happy to inform you that we are now accepting applications for higher education scholarships. 

Applications are due February 14, 2025.  There are multiple scholarships available. To begin the process, please review all scholarship eligibility and criteria on the Montana 4-H Foundation website.

 

2025 Rec Lab March 28-30th  

What is Rec Lab? Rec Lab stands for Recreation Lab and means that everything is hands-on and fun! This event is a 4-H member favorite: It provides an opportunity for youth and adults to enhance their leadership, communication, and team building skills in an action-packed and interactive setting. Rec Lab programming provides participants with tips and tricks for being a better club, camp, and community leader. This event is ideal for younger senior members to attend as a first-time state event. It allows them to form relationships with 4-H peers from across the state, broaden their skills, and widen their network.  Youth participants must be 13+ as of October 1, 2024. Adult chaperones must be as least 21 years of age.Registration will be done through Zsuites. Watch for more information on when registration will be live!

 

2025 Rec Lab Workshop Proposals

4-H District 6 invites you to submit workshop proposals for the 2025 Montana 4-H Recreation Lab, which will be held on March 28-30 in White Sulphur Springs, MT.  Workshops will take place on Saturday the 29th. The theme is "There's No Place Like 4-H."  Workshops can be taught by Extension Agents or staff, volunteers or teen members, so please share with others. 

Proposals are due January 15.  All proposals are done online this year.  The proposals form is available online.

 

Other Opportunities

 

States 4-H International Exchange Program- Outbound Programs

States’ 4-H Summer Outbound programs provide American 4-H youth with the opportunity to travel to foreign countries for a month-long cultural immersion experience. Delegates live with volunteer host families* and engage in experiential learning about a new way of life. Delegates experience aspects of daily life that allow them to more deeply understand both their host culture and their own culture. Our network of like-minded international partners recruit host families and plan enrichment activities. Opportunities are available for Argentina, South Korea and Taiwan. Applications are due January 3rd, 2025.

 
People Partner Grants - Montana 4-H Foundation

These grants, up to $500, provide incentives and financial support to 4-H clubs, groups and individuals for programs that enhance the quality of living for people in their communities. Applications should meet the following criteria:

•    Youth should be involved in determining, planning, conducting, and evaluating the project.

•    The project will make it possible for people to accomplish something educational and worthwhile that helps them reach a higher quality of life.

•    There is community support and acceptance of the project, as evidenced by “partners” listed in the grant application, additional funding sources, and resource persons and agencies involved.

•    The project has lasting benefits.

Applications can be found on the Montana 4-H Foundation website. and must be postmarked by February 1.

 

Future Rural Educator’s Club

Are you interested in going to college to become a teacher? MSU’s Rural Pathways Program helps future educators transition from high school to post-secondary through their Bridge to College program! The program uses an online learning community with monthly virtual meetings to both help build skills and prepare you to transition into college! For more information visit the Future Rural Educator’s website. Also see the flier attached to the newsletter email.

 

2025 MontanaFair Junior Livestock Show 

The event will be August 8th-16th in Billings. Animals participating in this show must be tagged on the following dates: Beef on Sunday, January 5th from Noon-3:00pm and Swine/Sheep/Goat on Saturday, May 3rd from 8:00-11:00 am.  Both tagging events are at the Public Auction Yard in Billings. For more information, contact the Extension Office.

 

4-H and FFA KMON Judging Contest

This is a judging contest scheduled for January 15th and 16th in Cascade and Great Falls. Contest are available for poultry, meats, livestock, Ag sales and Agronomy.

Registration is available online and due by January 5th. Contact the office for more information.

 

Montana Winter Fair Livestock Judging Contest

The Montana Witner Fair Livestock Judging Contest (cattle and sheep) will be held on Friday January 17th. Registration will be done through the Montana Winter Fair website and open through January 16th.

 

MONTANA WINTER FAIR – AG AMBASSADOR COMPETITION 2025

The Montana Winter Fair Ag Ambassador competition will be happening on Saturday, January 18th, 2025. This event is open to ANY junior high or high school student. They do not need to be a 4-H or FFA member to participate.

As part of the event, students are asked to tell the story of agriculture through a variety of methods. For 2025, participants should focus on the topic of Agriculture in a Changing World. Examples of topics students can focus on include changes being made on their own/family farm/ranch, changes in the industry, new technology available, etc.

The prizes awarded for the competition are as follows:

• Prepared Speech (delivered in person): 1st Place - $150, 2nd Place - $75

• Newspaper Article: 1st Place - $100, 2nd Place - $50

• Radio Spot: 1st Place - $100, 2nd Place - $50

• Social Media Posts: 1st Place - $100, 2nd Place - $50

The newspaper, radio, and social media posts will be completely virtual, but the prepared speech will be an in-person event, to be delivered in Lewistown during the Winter Fair on January 18th.

1)       Newspaper Article - completely virtual – 500-800 words, sent to event organizers by January 12th

2)       Radio Spot - completely virtual – 50-60 seconds long, pre-recorded and sent to event organizers by January 12th

3)       Social Media Posts - completely virtual – 3 posts on any appropriate platform, including a picture or video (max. 60 sec/video), and posts written using 60 words or less; sent to event organizers by January 12th

4)        Prepared Speech – 7-12 minutes, delivered in person in Lewistown on the day of the competition

Registration Deadline: January 10th – and is done online through the Montana Winter Fair website.  

Please feel free to email with any questions!