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A Letter From the Extension Agent


We just wrapped up another great year!  We ended the last 4-H year with 130 members, 7 clubs and 53 adult volunteers.  Here are some more statistics about our membership last year:

Home Location

·         Farm or Ranch – 41.5%

·         Towns under 10,000 & Rural – 56.9%

·         City (10,000-50,000) & Suburbs – 0.8%

·         Other – 0.8%

 

Gender

·         Male – 50%

·         Female – 50%

 

Top Projects

1.       Swine

2.       Shooting Sports

3.       Beef

4.       Rabbit

5.       Cloverbuds

 

I look forward to another great year!

Sincerely,

Allison Kosto, Extension Agent- MSU Extension Broadwater County

 


Re-Enrollment

The New 4-H year started October 1st.  Instructions on how to enroll are included with the newsletter.  Make sure to get the new 4-H Clover Project Selection Guide from your leader or the office. The enrollment deadline is November 1. This will be the last newsletter or communication that you will receive from the office until you re-enroll.  If you do not have internet access at home, we have a public computer at the office to help you through the process. Remember, if you plan on taking a 4-H project to fair, you must be enrolled in that project.  If you have any questions, contact the office.

 

4-H Achievement Night

The annual Achievement Night has been set for Sunday, November 12th at the 4-H Building at the Fairgrounds.  We will be celebrating with a taco bar at 5:30 pm and the program will start at 6:00 pm.  Come to receive your awards and celebrate our achievements. New members are invited also! Come and watch and see what you have to look forward to at the end of the year! Clubs please have your dinner items to the building by 5pm. Thank you!

 

New 4-H Family Night

New to 4-H?  Been enrolled for a couple of years but still have questions?!  Then join us for a family night on Tuesday, November 21st at 6:00 pm at the 4-H Building at the Fairgrounds (189 US Hwy 12E, Townsend). This is a great time to learn more about the 4-H program, expectations, meet others and ask questions.  The evening features games, presentations and an opportunity to meet leaders and ask questions.  It will cover general expectations of the 4-H program and discuss key components including projects, record books and 4-H activities. Hope to see you there!

 

Christmas Tree Fundraiser

Each year, the 4-H Council conducts a Christmas Tree Fundraiser at Rocky Mountain Supply, and we need YOUR help! This year, there will be two cutting days divided by clubs. Cutting dates are Fridays, November 17th and December 1st at 1:00 pm. Cutting locations and meeting points will be determined. Please contact your club leader if your family is able to bring a trailer and/or a chainsaw and for the cutting date your club is assigned to. The proceeds from the sales benefit the entire county 4-H program including project work, awards and activities. Cleaning and stocking of the tree lot assignments is as follows:

·         Toston: November 19-25  

·         Rocky Mountain Rough Hands: November 26- December 2

·         Winston: December 3-9

·         Old Baldy: December 10-16

·         Elkhorn: December 17-23

·         Radersburg and Crow Creek: Clean up (Tree Lot and Fairgrounds)

                                                                                                                                                       

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that activities related to your 4-H project can also be done outside of the 4-H program?!

For example, if you are taking an art class in school, chances are that you are learning and making things that you could use for your 4-H project.

Townsend School’s 5th day program also offers some art and pottery classes that can be used as learning experiences.

You do not have to attend a ‘4-H’ workshop for it to be teaching you things regarding your project!

Watch STOKE’s programming as well. They also offer classes for robotics, pottery and cooking!

Webinars from trustworthy and recognized sources of course can offer learning experiences that you may not be offered locally.

The most important part is to log these activities in your record books. Log the date, location, what you did and what you learned!

 

4-H Interstate Exchange

If you love to travel, then you may want to check this program out! The Interstate Exchange program is an opportunity for a group of teen 4-H members to share their local community with 4-H group from another state.  In exchange, our 4-Hers get to travel and visit the group in their home state.  The program allows youth to experience the culture, geography and heritage of a different local community with a common 4-H identity.  Participants learn many skills through the process including communication, social skills, caring, accepting differences, building relationships and responsibility.  In the past, our county has exchanged with Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Florida, Maryland and more.

Enrollment for this program only opens every two years, and now is the chance to join!  Plans are made to be partnering with Bradford County, Pennsylvania for this upcoming exchange. We will be hosting them mid to late June 2024 and will travel June 2025. Some of the sites they will likely include in their itinerary are water caverns toured by boat, the Little League Museum, Hershey Park, the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, a coal mine, Niagara Falls and Gettysburg.

Members must be 12 years of age as of October 1, 2023 to host and a minimum of 13 years old to travel.  The first organizational and informational meeting will be held on Monday, November 6 at 7:00 PM at Infinite Hope Counseling located at 108 N Front St, Ste C.  Questions, please call/text Jennifer Beatty at 406.490.1362 or email her at [email protected].

 

Multi-County 4-H Camp - Camp Counselors Needed!

Applications for Camp Counselors are due Friday, December 15th to the Extension Office. Camp is June 4-7 at Camp Rotary near Monarch. Applicants must be in grades 9-12 at the time of application. Counselors are required to come a day prior to camp on June 3rd and attend the entire camp in addition to a training in the spring. Please include your resume with the application that details your skills, training, and accomplishments. The application process can be highly competitive, so complete and timely applications make the best impression! Application and more details are available from the Extension Office.

 
Greytak Calendars

Greytak calendars are available to purchase from the office. Calendars are $15.00 each and make great Christmas gifts! Exact cash or checks made out to 4-H Council please.

 

Countywide 4-H Activities

Committee & Council Meetings

4-H COUNCIL:  Congratulations to the new Council officers!  Karen Noyes will continue as President and Jennifer Beatty as Vice-President.  Andrea Dabling was elected as the new Treasurer and Jeff Kirksey as Secretary.  Welcome to the team!  The next meeting will be Tuesday, November 28th at 7:00 pm at the Extension Office (Flynn Building, 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.

INDOOR COMMITTEE: Elections also took place at Indoor Committee.  The officers are:  Karen Noyes as Chairperson, Jessica Erickson as Vice-Chair and Jennifer Beatty as secretary.  The next meeting will be Tuesday, November 28th at 6:00 pm at the Extension Office (Flynn Building, 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, November 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.  Officer elections will take place in addition to regular business.

TEEN CLUB: The Teen Club will be meeting again in November, day and time to be determined. Teen Club is open to all Middle or High School aged members. If you are not currently in Teen Club, but want to find out what it is about, please come to a meeting! Please RSVP to Karen Noyes at 406.949.4852.

 

4-H Animal Project Activities

Beef Tagging and Weigh-in

The event is on Saturday, December 30th at Noon at GaLor Genetics (8393 US Hwy 287, Townsend).  To respect our host, please try to be on time and not too early.  All market beef animals are required to attend.  If you can’t be there, you must make arrangements for your animal(s) to be there.  Breeding animals are welcomed to get weighed but are not required to attend.  It is recommended to bring your brand inspection paperwork for the inspector to look over and help provide guidance on what needs to be done prior to Fair.  Also please be prepared to share information about your animal including breed, breeder and birthdate.  If you have any questions about the beef project, contact John Ferrat at 406.949.7911 or Samantha Ferrat at 406.949.0869.  If you run into issues on the day of tagging, contact Allison at 406-439-8863.

 
Beef (Market and Breeding)

Please join us for another market and breeding beef workshop at Ferrat Ranch (191 Ferrat Lane, Toston) on Sunday, November 19th from 1-3pm. We will be discussing “Judging terms” to better understand what a livestock judge is explaining in the ring and how to transfer that information to animal selection and project improvement. Time allowing, we will start to work on marketing strategies.  For example how to talk and reach out to potential buyers effectively.

We will be offering the opportunity to get a weight on steers/heifers at the beginning of the workshop. Steers/Heifers do not need to be halter broke to weigh. But will stand in trailer for remainder of workshop if unable to be tied.  Please RSVP if you are bringing an animal to weigh so we can coordinate program timing to Samantha Ferrat (406) 949-0869 or John Ferrat (406) 949-7911.

 

Dairy Goat

There will be dairy goat workshops on the first Saturdays of the months at 5:30pm. These will be held at the Extension Office through the winter and then locations will be determined. Topics will include choosing goats, feeding rations, culling, showing, testing, bottle babies, deficiencies and problems. Meat goat members are welcome as well. Any member wanting to do a demonstration at one of the meetings is welcome to do so. If you have any questions, please contact Danyel Henke at 406.980.0995

 

Rabbit

The first project meeting for Rabbit will be on Sunday November 5th at 2:00pm at the Extension Office (416 Broadway, Townsend) If you have any questions, please contact Danielle Douglas at 406.465.3318.

 

Dog Project Information

We do not currently have a dog leader in our county. However, Lewis and Clark sent us information on their Lewis and Clark County 4-H Dog project informational meeting on November 4, 2023 at the Bill Hamilton Building.

*FIRST YEAR DOG PROJECT MEMBERS WILL MEET AT 9:00 A.M. SECOND YEAR DOG PROJECT MEMBERS AND BEYOND WILL MEET AT 10:30 A.M.  

This is an introduction to the Dog project and the Different Levels of Obedience, Rally, Showmanship, and Agility within the project.

Please bring with you:

            A Copy of your dog’s current vaccinations.

            Dog Project Fees:

                        $40.00 for Obedience/Showmanship

                        $40.00 for Agility

        

This is an informational meeting only PLEASE DO NOT BRING YOUR DOGS.

This is an option for Broadwater County 4-H members. If you think you are interested in traveling for dog workshops, attend this informational meeting to get your questions answered. They just shared this information with us, but this is all we know as of now!

 

4-H Non-Animal Project Activities

 

Sewing

The next sewing workshop will be Saturday, November 11th at 9:30 am at the Extension Office (416 Broadway, Townsend). Sewing workshops are planned for the second Saturday of the month from November-April (no workshop in December). If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Sarah Holland at 406.266.3473

 

Baking and Cooking

There are four workshops scheduled for this year. These will be held at 6:30 pm on Thursday evenings on November 16th and 30th and December 7th and 14th at the Trailhead Church (20 Trailhead View Dr, Townsend). If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Beatty at 406.490.1362.

 
Hunting/Wildlife

There will be workshops on the first Saturdays of the months at 3:00pm at the Extension Office. Topics will be cold weather hunting, hunter orange, mapping your hunt, ballistics and many more. If you have any questions, please contact Brandon Henke at 406.980.0992

 

Archery

Archery session will run November 28th through March 5th. Workshops will be held on Tuesdays from 6:00-8:00 pm in the 4-H Building at the Fairgrounds (189 US Hwy 12E, Townsend).  If you have any questions, please contact Jason Noyes at 406.949.4851.

 

Statewide 4-H Opportunities


Shooting Sports Leaders Training Opportunities

There are shooting sports leaders trainings planned for this fall and winter.  Any adult interested in becoming a Shooting Sports Leader must complete training in that particular discipline in addition to becoming a certified volunteer. The training includes four online training modules and an in-person training portion.  The 4-H Council has traditionally helped with some of the financial costs of the training. New instructions are needed in all disciplines. Trainings will be held on the following dates:

·         December 1-2– Kalispell, MT.  Disciplines offered; Rifle, Pistol, Archery, Shotgun, Muzzleloader, Hunting, and Coordinator.

·         December 8-9– Miles City, MT. Disciplines offered; Rifle, Pistol, Archery, Shotgun, Muzzleloader, Hunting, and Coordinator.

·         December 15-16– Belgrade, MT. This is an Advanced Training for Rifle, Pistol, and Archery.  

·         Basic and Advanced Trainings for Western Heritage, Muzzleloader, and Hunting Skills will be held later in the Spring of 2024.

 

Leadership Academy Monthly Workshops

Join the Montana 4-H Leadership Academy workshop on Sunday afternoons in 2023-2024 4-H year. The leadership academy is a network of Montana 4-H members interested in exploring and developing their own leadership skills while serving their county 4-H program in new ways. Each month the officer team members will present a different workshop topic that they have found to be important as they have grown their own leadership abilities through a virtual platform.

The workshops are on Sunday afternoons from 3:00 to 4:00pm. The dates are: November 12, December 10, January 14, February 11 and March 10.  Registration is done online.. Click on the blue ‘register now’ button. Once registered, the zoom links will be shared monthly. 

 

Montana 4-H International Outbound Programs 2024

Montana 4-H International Programs serve to enhance world understanding and global citizens through immersing oneself in another culture!

7 international outbound programs are available to Montana teens for the 2024 program year. Travel dates are the following:

·         Japan 8-week: June 12-August 9, 2024

·         Argentina: June 20-July 15, 2024

·         Costa Rica: June 20-July 19, 2024

·         Norway: June 20-July 20, 2024

·         Japan 4-week: July 10-August 9, 2024

·         South Korea: July 16-August 15, 2024

·         Taiwan: July 16-August 15, 2024

Apply online by December 1, 2023.  Contact Christine Sommers-Austin for program eligibility and fees at mailto:[email protected] or (406) 994-3504.