May

Hi Everyone,

This letter is coming out a little late, but we thought it would be best to send out after our Liberty County 4-H Council meeting that was held last night (Tuesday, May 4, 2021). The meeting was well attended including some youth members. We have included some of the decisions that were made at the meeting in this newsletter.

Marias Fair

The Marias Fair is just around the corner and we are happy to announce that we expect to hold a somewhat normal fair. The schedule will be much the same as in years past. We do encourage social distancing and will have hand washing and sanitizer stations throughout the fairgrounds to help with hygiene. Registration will begin on May 15^th. and will close on June 15^th. Fair packets will be available for pickup on Monday May 17^th. Your fair packet contains a lot of important information so please be sure to look it over. Instructions on how to register are in the Fair Update section below.

4-H Camp

4-H camp is June 15^th -17^th. Camp is open to all 4-H members ages 8 – 13. Register by signing into your Zsuite account at 4h.zsuite.org under the event tab. The deadline to register is May 14^th. In order to provide a safer environment, the decision was made to split 4-H camp this year.  Glacier, Toole, Liberty, Pondera, and Chouteau counties camp for 1.5-2 days, and Hill, Phillips, and Blaine counties camp for 1.5-2 days. Counselors will be there for all four days. Thank you to Jordan Leach, Ty Backen and Martin Fulbright for volunteering to serve as camp counselors.

Registration fee per camper is $50. Please make checks payable to Liberty County 4-H Council and either drop off at the Extension Office or mail to P.O. Box 607, Chester MT 59522. Scholarships are available through the Liberty County 4-H Council and Bret Wanken Memorial Funds. The Bret Wanken scholarship form can be found on the Toole County website, https://toole.msuextension.org/4H.html. Please contact the Extension office for more information.

Livestock Judging Contest

Pondera County agent, Adriane Good, and Toole County agent, Kim Woodring, will be hosting an invitational livestock judging contest in Shelby on May 16^th. Check-In starts at 12:30 p.m., with the judging starting at 1:00. Awards will be at 5:00. The cost is $5.00 per participant, payable to Toole County 4-H. Please register by Friday, May 14^th.  We will have 10 classes – beef, sheep, swine, goat, and a surprise. Reasons will be given on 4 classes. Individual and Team awards will be given for junior (8-13) and senior (14-18) age categories. See the registration form on the last page.

Liberty County 4-H Ambassadors

We are kickstarting the 4-H Ambassador program again here in Liberty County, thanks to youth interest!  Jordan Leach, Ty Backen, Rhiannon Cole, Sadie Cole, Martin Fulbright and Aaliyah Standiford will be interviewing later on in May to fill those ambassador positions.  4-H Ambassadors are 4-H’ers that are at least 14 years old who promote 4-H here in the county, help conduct 4-H events, and learn fun and vitally important leadership skills through attendance at state and regional 4-H events and contests.

Donations Needed for Silent Auction

This year the silent auction at the Marias Fair will benefit the exhibit building. Traditionally, every club donates an item. The Exhibit Building doesn’t have many fundraising opportunities, so they could really use a boost! Items can be dropped off on Clean-Up Day (July 17) or on Wednesday, July 21.

Cloverbud Day Camp

There will be a Cloverbud day camp on Monday, June 21 at Cut Bank Community Bible Church (102 North Central Ave.) from 10:45 a.m. – 3 p.m. There is no cost to participate, and any enrolled Cloverbuds are welcome. Snacks and lunch will be provided, and Cloverbuds will be making several exhibits for fair. Please register with the Glacier County Extension office at 873-2239 or [email protected] by June 4^th.

Marias Fair Updates:

The 2021 Marias Fair starts on Wednesday, July 21, 2021.

Register online starting Saturday, May 15^th atmariasfair.fairentry.com. Packets will be available to pick up on Monday, May 17^th.   Deadline: Tuesday, June 15    

NEW - Since we are no longer using 4honline for enrollment. 4-H families will need to create a new account in FairEntry. Each exhibitor will need to be added (since the data will not come over from 4-H Online). If you created an account for the state Shooting Sports tournament already, use that same account to sign in with. After next year, the system will recognize your login information and you will be able to reactivate your family’s exhibitor records from the previous year. The process of adding entries should be the same as last year.

• Please register early to allow time to ask questions.
• Members can only exhibit in projects they were enrolled in by the May 1 drop/add deadline.
• A maximum of 50 entries is allowed, including the shooting sports tournaments which are added to your entries after registration. Make sure to count your shooting sports targets and all project interviews when registering.
• Remember, there are cash prizes for the top 4 high point placings.

Fair Website:

The fair book and calendar can be found on the Fair entry sign in page at mariasfair.fairentry.com or on the Marias Fair Extension website at mariasfair.msuextension.orgThe fair book has detailed information about entry requirements.

Food Safety Training

Food safety training is required every 2 years to be eligible to work in the food booth. All Marias Fair participants must work a food booth shift. All Liberty County members need to attend a food safety training. The club leaders are going to see if it will work to have a food safety training at their next meeting. We encourage clubs to share the time and date that they are holding food safety training so that other clubs might attend if possible. Contact the Extension office to set up training. If needs be, we can also host an additional training in the office.

Pork Webinar Series

MSU Cascade County Extension and Montana Pork Producers Council (MPPC) will provide small-scale Montana pork producers with educational webinars. The series includes a variety of topics relevant to small producers and youth with 4H swine projects. May 10 - Vaccination programs and herd health, May 17 - U.S. Pork Industry economic outlook, May 24 - Cookin’ in Hog Heaven

To register please visit https://montana.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6s3hPpuadFGGmWO or contact the MSU Cascade County Extension office at (406) 454-6980. There is no cost to register for the webinars.

Upcoming Events:

4-H Congress: Montana 4-H is moving ahead with Congress on the MSU campus July 13-16, with some modifications. The focus this year will be on all the things that make 4-H camp great, like outdoors, friendship, meeting new people, fun food and spending time with other 4-H members. 4-H Congress will not look too different this year, but we are making some adjustments just to make sure everyone stays safe. You can expect sleeping in your own room in the Yellowstone dorm, spending a little more time outside than we have in the past, a more casual environment with less sitting at tables and in chairs in a ballroom, working together in small groups and wearing a mask and social distancing. What is important is we will be together and be able to learn, compete and build lasting relationships.

Registration for 4-H Congress will be done through ZSuite this year. To participate in this event, please contact your MSU Extension county office as soon as possible for county specific dates, deadlines, and participation requirements. Registration should open on your ZSuite dashboard in May.

Meat and Compete

Glacier County is hosting “Meat and Compete” Each night members will get to eat what they cook and take free resources home as well. There is no cost to participate and sounds like fun. It will be held in Cut Bank. Sessions are from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on May 12, June 9, and July 7. There are a few spots left, so if you are interested call Kari at the Glacier County Extension office at 406-873-2239. See the flyer at the end of this newsletter.

Tiber 4-H Annual Easter Egg Hunt

Thanks to everyone who helped to make the Annual Easter egg hunt a great success.

ClubMeetings

Prairie Pals 4-H Meeting: After the Highway Cleaning May 26^th at Spuds.
Tiber 4-H Club Meeting: May 16^th at the Sweetgrass Lodge at 4 pm. Members will be serving soup.  Check out Facebook.
Sweet Grass Clover 4-H Club Meeting:

• Members - Second Tuesday of the month at 7:00 at the Liberty Co. Ext. Office.
• Cloverbuds - Third Tuesday of the month at the Liberty Co. Ext. Office, right after school.

Please contact the Extension office if you have any questions or suggestions that would benefit our 4-H program in Liberty County. Also, please send any articles and photos of what your members are doing throughout the year to [email protected].