Iowa State University Extension programs are available to all without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability.

117 N JOHN WAYNE DR, WINTERSET, IA | 515.462.1001 | MON-FRI, 8AM-12:30PM & 1PM-4:30PM LEARN MORE AT WWW.EXTENSION.IASTATE.EDU/MADISON/4H

Beef Weigh-in p 2 & 5

Beef Queen p 2

State 4-H Recognition p 2

CWF Trip p 3

IA 4-H Youth Conference p 3

Horse Project p 4

New Family Orientation p 4

Pioneer Grants p 4

Superintendent Mtg p 5

New Volunteer Training p 5

Judges Training p 5

Calendar p 6

Livestock Dates p 6

Maria Forgy

WHAT’S INSIDE:

2013 County Fair/Extension Intern The Madison County Fair Board and Madison County Extension are looking for a creative, energetic self-starter to work as the 2013 Madison County Fair/ISU Exten-sion Summer Intern. The applicant needs to be in college and have advertising and fair experience. Position duties will include, but not limited to, developing and implementing an advertising plan within a fixed budget; publicizing the fair through press releases and contacts; designing advertising posters for the fair; working with the board of directors on follow up with fair supporters, sponsors, and department superinten-dents to develop daily activities; serving as liaison between community, fair board, and Extension personnel; and serving in a support capacity to the fair board presi-dent. Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to forgy@iastate.edu by Dec. 19th, 2012. For more information, contact Jim Ed Beach, Madison County Fair Association president, at 515-996-2224 or Maria Forgy at 515-462-1001. Merry Christmas, have a very blessed holiday season.

MADISON COUNTY EXTENSION

MARIA FORGY MADISON COUNTY EXTENSION County Youth and Outreach Coordinator forgy@iastate.edu 515.462.1001

CLOVER CONNECTION DECEMBER 2012

Congratulations to all award recipients at the annual banquet on Nov. 5th!

4-H IS BASED ON RESEARCH

YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES 4-H Market Beef Weigh-in— Saturday, December 8 Madison County 4-H and FFA members planning to exhibit Market Beef and Pen of Three animals at the 2013 Madison County Fair/Iowa State Fair will weigh-in, tag, and complete identification forms on all market heifers and/or steers on Saturday, December 8, from 8:00-11:30 AM at the Madison County Sale Barn. When you first arrive at weigh-in, please come to the office at the south end of the Sale Barn to start you paperwork.

**This will be the ONLY date for weighing in beef animals.**

BREED STEERS must have a tattoo in their ear at the time of weigh-in. This information must be recorded on the Beef ID form. Registration papers are not needed at this time.

Iowa State Fair Verification Madison County will again serve as an official verification site for youth planning to exhibit at the 2013 Iowa State Fair (ISF). Any youth planning to exhibit market beef at the ISF MUST complete the verification process on 4-H Online by Jan. 15th. All market beef must also be retinal image scanned. A cost of $5 per animal will be collected at the time of verification.

Ak-Sar-Ben: Ak-Sar-Ben still requires DNA samples for all market beef wishing to enter the Ak-Sar-Ben Livestock Exposition. The Iowa 4-H program and Ak-Sar-Ben no longer have a shar-ing agreement for the DNA samples. Because of this, ani-mals being nominated for the ISF and Ak-Sar-Ben will pay a total of $10 per animal. Animals being nominated for Ak-Sar-Ben only will pay $5 per animal.

In case of bad weather, cancellation will be reported on KCCI News Channel 8, or you can contact Maria at 515.371.6394.

For questions prior to beef weigh-in, please contact 4-H beef superintendent Mark Moore at 515.462.4194 or Ma-ria at 515.462.1001.

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Hello! My name is Sarah Al-Mazroa. I am 2012

Madison County Beef Queen. As our annual meeting quickly approaches, my time as queen comes to an end. What a super year! It has been a great experience working with the Madison County Cattlemen!

On behalf of the Madison County Cattlemen, I would like to invite anyone between 16-20 years of age to apply for the 2013 Madison County Beef Queen. The 2013 Madison County Beef Queen will be awarded a scholarship plus be asked to fulfill some duties. Those duties include representing the Madison County Cattlemen at the Madison County Fair, Iowa State Fair, Madison County Covered Bridge Festival and various Cattlemen cookout events.

To become the Madison County Beef Queen, you must first complete an application. It can be found at the Madi-son County Extension Office and must be returned by Dec. 20, 2012. The applicants will then go through an interview process with members of the Madison County Cattlemen Board. The queen and runner ups will be announce at our annual meeting held in January.

If you have questions, please contact Ron Lyon at (515) 490-5520 or Sarah Al-Mazroa at (515) 468-7589. Thank you and good luck to all!

State 4-H Recognition—Apply for an Award! The 2013 4-H recognition materials and applications have been updated and posted on the Recognition Opportunities public webpage. (Applications may also be picked up from Madison County Extension Office.)

This site has information about all of the opportunities to apply for as well as links for the application materials. Op-portunities that require state application include: State 4-H Project Awards, National 4-H Congress, National 4-H Con-ference, and State 4-H Council. Applications for the Iowa Youth Technology Team are not being accepted in 2013. You can also access the evaluation forms, which serve as a good resource when creating support materials and answer-ing short-answer questions. There are also links with helpful tips for designing support material and preparing for inter-views.

Applications are due on site or postmarked no later than February 1 to the State 4-H office. Applicants will also par-ticipate in an interview on Saturday, March 23 in Ames.

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WANT TO KNOW MORE? FIND US AT: WWW.EXTENSION.IASTATE.EDU/MADISON/4H

YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES

Winter Hullabaloo: Ages 8-13 $110 Join us at the Iowa 4-H Center for a winter wonderland cele-bration December 27-29th. Campers will enjoy snow tubing (weather pending), winter night hikes, lots of crafts, games, and more. We will celebrate winter, camp style! Check-in is 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 27th and check-out is 10:00 a.m. Saturday, December 29th. For more information and registration form please go to: www.iowa4hcamp.com.

Winter Teen Scene: Ages 14-18 $60 Miss camp and all your camp friends? Join us during winter break at the Iowa 4-H Center for a fun winter break geta-way. Hang out with some of your favorite counselors, do camp crafts, go on a camp adventure, watch a movie on the big screen, and enjoy all your favorite parts of camp winter style! Check-in is Saturday, December 29th at 1:00 p.m. and check-out is Sunday, December 30th at 10:00 a.m.

Iowa 4-H Center

Iowa 4-H Youth Conference 2013 It’s not too early to start thinking about the up-coming Iowa 4-H Youth Conference—or to share the theme! Unmask Your Opportunities and attend June 25-27, 2013. More information will come after the first of the year.

2012 Citizenship Washington Focus (CWF) Citizenship Washington Focus (CWF) is a ten-day trip for 4-H youth in 10th, 11th and 12th. The trip provides a setting to experience leadership and citizenship in a whole different way at the National 4-H Center. Youth who have participat-ed in previous trips have returned to report that it has been the single most educational highlight of their 4-H career.

Participants can select either June 7th – 15th or June 14th – 22nd to attend the trip. 4-H’ers and adult chaperone will travel by chartered bus to Washington D.C. Some highlights of the trip are: Lincoln’s Springfield home, Gettysburg Battlefield, Capitol Hill, Smithsonian Museums, Mount Vernon and Kennedy Center. Besides tours and workshops, you’ll have time for socializing and meeting new friends.

Cost of the trip is $1,450. This includes lodging, transporta-tion, tour site admissions, and most meals. Registration and a $400.00 deposit will be required to secure a spot. Registra-tion opens October 1, 2012 and closes December 15, 2012. To learn more about the trip and get registration in-formation visit: www.extension.iastate.edu/4h/cwf.

Do you have questions about your health, your body, your sexuality or anything else about your life? Check out a new blog called www.IAMINCONTROL.org to find answers to your questions and learn how you can take control of your life. Hear from teens like you and health experts on topics like …

Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs Body Image Bullying & Suicide Fitness and Nutrition Life Skills Social Circle Teen Pregnancy and Sexual Health

A ‘Live Chat’ feature is also available if you need more infor-mation on a health topic. If you would like to talk to a teen counselor, you can call the Teen Line at 1-800-443-8336, 24 hours a day, seven days a week! IAMincontrol.org was developed by Iowa State University Extension & Outreach with funding provided by the Iowa Department of Public Health

MISSION STATEMENT 4-H EMPOWERS YOUTH TO REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL WORKING

AND LEARNING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CARING ADULTS 4

Family & Volunteer

OPPORTUNITIES

Give the Gift of Camp Iowa 4-H Center gift certificates make a perfect gift any time of

the year. Gift certificates can be purchased in any amount and are redeemable for either items in the camp store or to be deposited toward a summer camp registration fee. The gift certificate recipient will also receive information on 2013 camps and a 4-H sticker in an Iowa 4-H Center envelope. Gift certificates can be mailed directly to the recipient’s home.

Dupont Pioneer Increases Seed Grants Dupont Pioneer has increased support for 4-H Community Improvement Seed Grants for 2013. Maximum award amounts will in-crease from $250 to $500. Application deadline to county offices is Jan. 15, 2013. Updated application and infor-mation will be available soon. "Dupont Pioneer is committed to helping Iowa 4-H youth learn leadership and organization skills by providing "Seed Grant" funds to 4-H clubs throughout Iowa. The Dupont Pio-neer Community Improvement Seed Grant funds enable Iowa 4-H youth to develop, start, and complete a local im-provement project for the benefit of the entire community," said Rob Vincent, Pioneer farm manager coordinator. The objective of the Dupont Pioneer Seed Grants is to stimu-late local 4-H clubs in Iowa to plan and carry out community improvement activities by providing "seed money" needed to make these projects successful.

New 4-H Families—Join Us for

New Family Orientation!

Saturday, January 26, 2012 10:00-11:30 AM Extension Office

PLEASE RSVP BY JAN. 20, 2012

Learn about: 4-H resources Deadlines, paperwork, policies, etc Any questions you may have about Madison

County 4-H

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Horse Project Horse Educational Classes Offered— Hippology Has Begun What is Hippology? It is the study of the horse. Participants will learn about horse anatomy, health care, and nutrition to name a few topics. The dates for the remaining 2012 calen-dar year are December 3 and 11. Dates for 2013 are as fol-lows: January 21, February 4, 18, March 4, 18, 25, April 1, 8, & 22.

These classes take place at Foursquare Gospel Church in Winterset beginning at 6:30 PM to 8 PM. If you have ques-tions, please call Jana Peters at 462-4177.

Congratulations to Horse Project Youth who Participated in State 4-H Horse Judging Contest! Exciting news to post from the State 4-H Horse Judging con-test! Shelby Dunbar, Jessica Hanrahan, and Sophie Erpelding each in the winners bracket. The youth judged three halter classes (Mules, Hunter Type, and Paint Mares) as well as showmanship during the morning session. In the afternoon classes that were presented to them for judging were west-ern pleasure, western horsemanship, hunter under saddle, hunt seat equitation, and trail. They also observed a ranch horse pleasure class. As seniors, Shelby and Jessica prepared and presented two sets of oral reasons, an explanation of why they placed the class the way they did, on the Paint Mare halter class and the western pleasure class. As a jun-ior, Sophie answered questions about the same classes. Re-sults are as follow:

Sophie Erpelding: 1st place Class Questions Shelby Dunbar: 1st place Class Placings 9th place Oral Reasons 4th Place Overall Jessica Hanrahan: 3rd place Class Placings 7th place Oral Reasons 3rd place Overall

Get Signed Up! If you plan on participating in the horse project this 4-H year, make sure you sign up in this project area when you enroll/reenroll. This ensures that you will be on our email and mailing list. Also, make sure that you “friend” us on Fa-cebook to get the latest announcements! Also, check out our website at www.madisoncountyhorseproject.com as we will be updating information for the upcoming year soon.

Horse Project Youth to Participate in Western National Roundup Shelby Dunbar will be competing n the Western National Roundup Horse Bowl Contest this coming January. She qual-ified for this prestigious event last March at the State Horse Jamboree by winning the state contest with her horse demonstration/illustrated talk titled, “Does the Shoe Fit?” Good luck to you while representing Iowa 4-H!

4-H PLEDGE

I PLEDGE MY HEAD TO CLEARER THINKING, MY HEART TO GREATER LOYALTY, MY HANDS TO LARGER SERVICE, AND MY HEALTH TO BETTER LIVING, FOR MY CLUB, MY COMMUNITY, MY COUNTRY, AND MY WORLD.

Family & Volunteer OPPORTUNITIES

2012 Volunteer Retreat Please mark your calendars – the Volunteer Retreat is Feb. 8-9 at the FFA Enrichment Cen-ter in Ankeny! More details coming soon.

Training for New Volunteers REGISTRATION NOW OPEN AT http://www.extension.iastate.edu/4h/page/training-registration-new-volunteers-fall-2012-winter-2013

Multi region new volunteer training is designed for new 4-H volunteers committing to a long term experience working with 4-H youth as club, project, Clover Kids – both leaders and assistants. Volunteers committing to these roles are required to attend a multi-region new volunteer training within the first 12 months of being screened and approved as a 4-H volunteer.

The 6 hour training is designed to give new volunteers a better working knowledge of positive youth development, the Iowa 4-H Equation, and tools that will help them be more confident and capable in their roles working with youth. The training includes breakout sessions for Clover Kid volunteers and club volunteers. Volunteers who attend re-ceive a notebook of positive youth development resources and information.

Training dates and locations for New Volunteer Training for 2012-2013 Club Year Jan. 19—Greenfield Feb. 9—Ankeny

Judges Training Registration Open! Judges Training for fall/winter/spring 2012-2013 is now scheduled. New judges, experienced judges, volunteers, parents, and staff are welcome to attend. Cost is $20.00 for those attending all day and $5.00 for those attending just in the afternoon. Registration money will be collected onsite. Register online here!

Dates and locations for fall/winter training: Jan. 19—Marion

Mar. 2—Storm Lake

Mar. 9—Iowa City

Mar. 9—Algona

Mar. 9—Carson

Mar. 16—Osceola

Save the Date: 4th Annual Iowa 4-H Gala The Iowa 4-H Foundation invites all 4-H staff, volunteers and alumni to attend the 4th annual Iowa 4-H Gala on March 2nd, 2013 at the downtown Des Moines Marriott Hotel. You won’t want to miss this formal night full of fun and energy raising money to support 4-H. The evening will feature many delicious food stations, Dueling Pianos entertainment, silent and live auctions, and the highlighted dessert and purse auctions. New for 2013, we are offering a discount for 4-H staff and young 4-H alumni (21-30) to attend the gala for $50. Other registration prices are $100 for individuals, $150 for couples and $1,000 to sponsor a table of 10. Other sponsorship opportunities are available. Register online today at www.iowa4hfoundation.org/gala. Contact Shelly Greving with questions shellyg@iastate.edu or 515-294-1607.

Superintendent Meeting There will be a superintendent meeting on Thursday, De-cember 6th at the Extension Office starting at 6:00 PM. All project superintendents should bring their changes for the 2013 fair book to this meeting. Also, if your depart-ment needs a judge for this year, please bring suggestions and contact information with you. Last date for submis-sion of fair book rule changes will be December 12, 2012.

Help Needed Market Beef Weigh-in

The market beef weigh-in will be held on Saturday, December 8 from 8:00-11:30 AM at Madison County Auction in Winterset. We are in need of volunteers to help with the day. People to run the gates, tag-

gers, and even the retinal imager will be needed to make the day run smoothly. If you can only help for part of the morning, that is fine too. Everyone’s help is appreciated. If you are willing to help, please con-

tact Maria at forgy@iastate.edu or 515.462.1001.

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WANT TO KNOW MORE? FIND US AT: WWW.EXTENSION.IASTATE.EDU/MADISON/4H

Calendar—Dec 2012/Jan 2013

DATE 4-H Club/Group What When & Where Contact/Topics

Dec 5 Youth & 4-H

Committee Meeting Extension Office

6 PM Extension Office

Dec 6 Department

Superintendents Superintendent Meeting

Extension Office 6 PM

Maria Forgy/ Fair book changes

Dec 8 4-H/FFA Beef Project Members/Volunteers

Market Beef Weigh-In Madison Co. Auction

8:00-11:30 AM Maria Forgy

515-371-6394

Dec 11 Department

Superintendents Proposed rule changes due

Extension Office 4:30 PM

Extension Office

Dec 24-25 MERRY CHRISTMAS EXTENSION OFFICE

CLOSED

Jan 1 HAPPY NEW YEAR EXTENSION OFFICE

CLOSED

Jan 15 4-H Clubs/FFA

Leaders/Volunteers Pioneer Grant

Application Deadline Extension Office

4:30 PM Extension Office

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2012-2013 TENTATIVE LIVESTOCK DATES

All weigh-ins are held at the Madison County Fairgrounds. Beef Weigh-in: Sat, Dec 8, 2012 8:00 a.m.—11:30 a.m. FSQA Training: Sat, Mar 23, 2013 8:00 a.m.—10:00 a.m. (4th - 6th gr.) 8:30 a.m.—10:00 a.m. (TEST OUT—7th-12th) 10:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m. (7th - 12th gr.) Swine Weigh-in: Sat, Mar 30, 2013 8:00 a.m.—10:00 a.m. Sheep Weigh-in: Sat, Apr 27, 2013 8:00 a.m.—9:30 a.m. Livestock IDs Due: Wed, May 15, 2013 Fair Entry Period: May 1– June 3, 2013 Livestock IDs must be submitted for market/breeding beef, feeder calves, cow-calf, swine, market/breeding sheep, dairy cattle, goats, dog, rabbits, and horse.