253 Head of Market Beef Weighed In for 2013 County Fair

Ninety-four Clayton County 4-H & FFA members have weighed and identified 253 head of market beef as projects this year.  This is up 9 youth and 7 head from 2012.  Identified for 2013 were 181 Market Steers, 48 Dairy Steers and 24 Market Heifers. The Market Steers averaged 628.6 lbs., the Dairy Steers averaged 568.4 lbs. and the Market Heifers averaged 583.7 lbs.

 There will be 229 days for cattle weighed on 12-15-12 used to figure rate-of-gain this year since the county fair livestock entry day is August 1, 2013.    In order for these projects to be eligible for a blue ribbon, the steers must gain 2.4 lbs. /day and the heifers 2.2 lbs. /day.

 NEW: The county fair classes will be divided into lots based on the beginning weights on entry day of the fair. The Beef Advisory Committee and the Extension 4-H & Youth Development Committee made this decision to wait to divide the classes for safety reasons and to have a more consistent class size throughout the show.

 This year all livestock are being entered into the 4-H online system.  Youth must be enrolled in 4-H in order to identify livestock in the 4Honline system.  4-H families should now confirm data entered by county extension staff.  Log into the 4-H online system at https://iowa.4honline.com.  If you do not verify the data, it will be locked as is on February 1st.

 STATE FAIR: Only the cattle verified at the weigh-in with ear tags and retinal imaging are eligible for Iowa State Fair competition.  This year Clayton County 4-H’ers qualified 18 head of cattle for state fair 4-H show. 4-H members who have verified a market steer or market heifer for the State Fair must confirm the data online by February 1st.

 Thanks to the weigh-in crew for their assistance with the enrollment process for the market beef projects.  Also thanks to the Edgewood Sales Barn for use of their facilities and the Clayton County Cattlemen’s Association for the lunch they provided for the volunteers.