Livestock Leaders Meeting Agenda & Minutes

CALL TO ORDER 

MINUTES 

TREASURER’S REPORT 

CORRESPONDENCE 

REPORTS 

• May 13 Range Walk
• May 13 Goat, Sheep, and Swine Weigh In

OLD BUSINESS

2023 Cascade County 4-H Livestock Show and Sale

• Committees Reports
  • Sale
  • Catalog
  • Sponsorship
  • Junior Livestock Leaders
  • Food
  • Awards

• Livestock Pavilion Layout
  • Crow’s Nest
  • Auctioneer
• Round Robin Judges
  • Need judges for the following:
    • Goat (Michelle)
    • Sheep (Heather)
    • Rabbit (Kyle/Desi)
    • Dairy Goat (Michelle)
• Record Book Review on June 20
  • Need judges
• Buyers Education
  • Chamber is hosting on June 22 at Celtic Cowboy
• Carcass hauling help in Great Falls
  • Clubs need to ask for volunteers

NEW BUSINESS 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS 

June 20: Livestock Quality Assurance Due

June 20: Livestock Project Book review. Must attend to either show or sell at the 4-H Livestock Show and Sale

July 6-8: Cascade County 4-H Livestock Show and Sale

UNAPPROVED

CALL TO ORDER 

Present:

Rose Malisani, Heather Lewis, Desi Roth, Brook Gerard, Ginger Murphy, Brittney Calvert, Jill Mackey, Sandy Harshaw, Katrina Emrich, Liz Jennings, and Alyssa Peak

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Brook Gerard

MINUTES 

Jill moved to approve the minutes as read. 2nd by Sandy M/S/C

Treasurer’s Report:

Income from 4-H Foundation for Sponsorships, Swine Intent to Enters. Postage Expense for mailing Post Cards.

Correspondence:

No correspondence but we will be sending a Thank You card to Courtney Clairmont for putting together a 4-H livestock judging team.

Reports:

• Range walk has been rescheduled for May 13th due to the snow.
• Agent Report: Rose will hand over the reins to Allyssa Peak as the 4-H Horse and Livestock Agent in the fall.

Old Business:

• Swine, sheep, and goat weigh-in on May 13th. Heather and Michelle from 9:00-11:00 am and Heather and Ginger from 11:00 am-1:00 pm. Rose will email Heather the weigh in sheets.
• Committee Reports:
  • Auction - Sam Frasier does not need to be in the crow’s nest for the auction, he needs a table and a ring man to signal the auctioneer.
  • Kyle Shobe and Sam Fraiser do not have contracts, they will only send an invoice. Brook will find out if they can put something in writing, so we know what services we are receiving.
  • Catalog – Cognito forms subscription has been purchased to use for collecting the catalog information. Sale order has been set and the link to submit catalog information will be sent after intents are turned in. Should be going out in the mail June 15th.
  • Sponsors ad copy and payments are due.
  • Brett Keaster has been working with the Great Falls Chamber is going to do a buyers education instead of the sponsorship they have done in the past. Brett is confirming the dates and will get back to us with those dates. The goal of this is to help businesses. Use current business buyers to share their programs for buying livestock animals and how they use if for their employees.
  • Jr. Leaders will have a meeting in May to plan games, make posters and come up with ideas on advertising. Maybe decorating buyers’ meal table.
  • Food – Smoked quote is for 200 people only pulled pork, 2 sides, and buns. $2,168. Desi moved to pay the 20% down payment ($434) to reserve Smoked for the buyers’ dinner. Katie Chartier will arrange for servers.
  • Brook will verify with water donations with Alena Stanley.
  • Desi will ask Pepsi for a donation of soda.
  • Pavilion Layout – Discussed layout attached to minutes. Moving the buyers’ meal to the opposite side of the barn from registration so that buyers walk through the animals to get to the food and to get back to the bleachers. Pen numbers will be
    verified once entries are done and breeding pen count will be on entry form as well. Weigh in times will be at will but we will remind everyone to use good etiquette and be aware all animals aren’t friendly.
  • Committee for June Meeting – contracts for Auctioneer, carcass drop-off in Great Falls, Cody will use his skid steer to unload carcasses June 13th and 20th.
  • Show Personnel – Round Robin Judges need to be selected, Photographer is confirmed, Edmonston’s will hold over steers and will get us a price.

New Business:

• Proposed “get together” to have a debrief in July on the entire show, hauling, etc. What went well, what wasn’t so good and how can we do better.

Liz moved to adjourn the meeting. 2nd by Desi. M/S/C Meeting adjourned at 8:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Heather Lewis
Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary

APPROVED

CALL TO ORDER 

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Brook Gerard

PRESENT

Rose Malisani, Heather Lewis, Desi Roth, Brook Gerard, Ginger Murphy, Brittney Calvert, Michelle Leardini, Brett Keaster, Jill Mackey, Sandy Harshaw, Katrina Emrich, Katie Chartier, Melanie Paul, Cody Loch

MINUTES 

Michelle moved to approve the minutes as read. 2nd by Brittney M/S/C

TREASURER’S REPORT 

Balance sheet reads $10,007.50 in Stockmen Checking and $9,180.81 in DA Davidson Account. Income from foundation for sponsorships and wrote a check for the postage for the save the date postcards.

CORRESPONDENCE 

None

REPORTS 

• Goat Clinic - disbudding baby goats and tattooing of show goats.
• Beef workshops: Courtney Clairmont is helping, and 5-6 kids have shown up for each one.
• Rabbit workshop: Shea did a great job. Kids brought their rabbits and they learned to handle them better and rabbits got tattooed.
• April Project Day: Cooked lamb and made 3-4 different recipes. All were very good.

OLD BUSINESS

Vice President Election: Jill Mackey has been nominated. Unanimous vote passes.

Market Sheep, Goat, and Swine Weigh-In: May 13th at Western Ranch Supply. Two shifts 9am-11am: Heather & Michelle, 11am-1pm: Ginger & Jim Lewis? Or Ginger's Husband?

2023 Cascade County 4-H Livestock Show and Sale

• Sale: There are questions for Sam Frasier about the needs of the equipment so that we can decide where the ring, crowsnest etc. can be located.
• Catalog: Cognito forms will be used for submission and Brook will send the link to Rose to distribute for catalog submissions. Brittney moved to spend $30 on Cognito forms, 2nd by Cody. M/S/C
• Sponsorships: All sponsors need to be done by the first week of May, current total donations are $4775.
• Jr. Leaders Prize Meeting: Met on March 19th at the Amigo. Discussed prize ideas for the 2023 Livestock Show. Grand Champion - Belt Buckles from Molly's Custom Silver. Reserve Champion ideas - embroidered jacket, engraved water bottle, smaller peewee buckle, basket of species specific. They decided on engraved light up acrylic signs and engraved water bottles for reserve prizes.
• Food: Bombargers Catering, Smoked, Karlson Q, Harvest Craft, Driftwood Bar: Smoked is the only one available at $12.88/plate. Expo Park will provide concessions. Jim will call Smoked to ask what we can do for $10 for 200 people, one meat and we can buy buns if needed. Rose will ask Ambassadors if they serve.

Final Agenda was reviewed and approved.
ZSuite Entry: All Livestock Show entries will be through ZSuites to make it easier for the Extension office and families.

Committee reports

• Marketing: Digital marketing kit is available for everyone to use. Postcards went out.
• Livestock Pavilion: Tabled until next meeting.
• Show Personnel: Mariah Whetter is available for backdrop pictures, approximately $250. Brittney moved for up to $250 be spent to book Mariah Whetters to take backdrop pictures for the show. 2nd by Ginger. M/S/C
• Ring Steward: Suggestions Asa Jassen and Ruby Jennings
• Veterinarian: Cale Bjornstad, DVM
• Sound: Bruce Bull
• Steer Holdover: Travis & Liz Edmonston
• Round Robin Judges: Need to be found by Division Chairs
• Breeding judge recommendations: Janna LeMond VandenBos, Chris with FSA, Aimee

NEW BUSINESS 

None

Brittney moved to adjourn the meeting. Katrina 2nd. M/S/C Meeting adjourned at 8:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Heather Lewis
Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary

APPROVED

Present

Rose Malisani, Heather Lewis, Desi Roth, Sandy Harshaw, Brook Gerard, Ginger Murphy, Leann Murphy, Lisa Jassen, Brittney Calvert, Michelle Leardini, Brett Keaster, Jill Mackey, Marie Powell, Cody Loch, Melanie Paul

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Brook Gerard

 

Sandy moved to approve the minutes as read. 2nd by Michelle M/S/C

Treasurer’s Report:

$9,555.50 in checking $9,174.97 in DA Davidson account. Deposits for sponsorships and beef intent to enter fees.

 

Correspondence:

None

Reports:

• LQA: Day was successful but there are still many kids that need to complete, and Rose will send a reminder email. Next year we should consider allowing seniors to attend any livestock project day instead of LQA.
• Award/Prize Committee: Met about guidelines to give the Jr Leaders for the prize selection for the county show. Leaders will look for further sponsorships for the breeding books, breeding, pens, displays etc. Jr. Leaders will meet on March 19th. $5,200 is the budget for market, showmanship, carcass, round robin, and supreme breeding female. Rose will send an email invite.
• Lamb Cuts w/ L&M Lockers: L&M lockers brought a lamb that was already cut into primal cuts and retail cuts. They talked about the cuts of the lamb and demonstrated wrapping the retail cuts and further cutting of the primal cuts. They donated the butcher fee and Katrine will demonstrate cooking at the April 1st project day from 10am-noon.

Presidency: Brenda has stepped down as president due to health reasons. She missed three meetings and bylaws require the president spot to be filled. Brook is willing to move from the vice president spot and fill the vacant presidency. Lisa moved that Brook Gerard become the current president. 2nd by Desi. M/S/C

 

Nominations will be accepted for vice president that April meeting.

Old Business:

• Committees
  • Sale: Cody, Brett, Lisa - recommend hiring Kyle Shobe from Lewistown Livestock auction and Frontier Live Sale, Sam Frazier, will run the live and online sale. He will provide live and online sale options and work with Kyle Shove and his fee $1500. Kyle’s fees are between $1,000-$1,500. Previous years auction fees have cost around $2,000. The committee is recommending that we drop the Facebook live feed and put the $1,100 fee toward the auction, giving the audition a $3,000 budget. We would use Stockman Bank to run the clerking of the sale at no charge. Desi made a motion to approve this recommendation, Ginger 2nd. M/S/C
  • Catalog/Sponsorship: Cody, Brook - They will meet 3/8/23 to discuss sponsorships and catalog. They will have a price for the catalog at the April meeting. It will be printed June 1st. Last year's sponsorships were $8,900 total to date $3,450.
  • Junior Livestock Leaders: Will meet March 19th 2pm at the Amigo lounge. Rose will send an email to all Cascade County youth eligible. They will meet to
• Marketing: Rose will send postcards to previous years buyers (105), cost of postage is $50.40 for 105 postcards. Sandy moved that livestock leaders purchase postage up to $80 for mailing postcards. Cody 2nd. M/S/C 
  • Logo with updates: Remove the “th” in the 7&8 and make it 7-8. Otherwise 
  • Heather will compile a zip file of marketing elements to be sent to enrolled livestock kids to use in creating their own marketing materials.
• Food and Buyers Dinner: There were complaints last year about the meal being outside in the sun. We could move it to the Harvest Building to allow for more room and could potentially have displays as well. Brook called Susan at Expo Park and is waiting for a call back about the availability of the Harvest Building. Potentially looking for a business that will sponsor the buyer’s dinner. Another idea would be to have tables set up in the southwest corner of the barn near the weigh-in area. Brook has also inquired with Susan if they will run concessions at the county show again. Bring barn set up ideas to the April meeting.
  • Buyers Meal: Heather will call Chandee Bambarger about catering options. Suggestions: Carlson Q, Smoked, Harvest Craft, Deb Hammon, Craig Moore.
• Z-suites for Show Entry: Easy to do but there is a fee to pay with cards online (approximately $1). Using Z-Suites would automate the process. Cognito forms would still be used to submit photos for the catalog. June 2nd will be the due date for both forms and alternate animals can be included.
• Can we hire a photographer to take background photos for the buyer thank-you photos? We can print the template at the Extension office on an 8X10 paper and find a photographer to take landscape background photos at the show. Put a photographer request on Facebook.

NEW BUSINESS 

• Small animal weigh-in May 13th. Rose emailed Larry Kelly about using Western Ranch.

 

Sandy moved to adjourn the meeting. Ginger 2nd. M/S/C Meeting adjourned at 8:14 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Heather Lewis

Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary

 

APPROVED

Present:

Rose Malisani, Heather Lewis, Desi Roth, Cody Loch, Sandy Harshaw, Michelle Leardini, Brook Gerard, Ginger Murphy, Lisa Jassen, Brett Keaster, Jeanne McKamey, Regan Jassen, Addison Powell, Marie Powell, Gabrielle Corscadden, Liz Jennings, Katrina Emerich, Brittney Calvert, Aimee Hachigan-Gould, Angie Hastings, Reece Hastings

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m. by Brook Gerard

Corrections:

Aimee Hachigan-Gould was added as an attendee to the last meeting, and the January 7th project day was for poultry and not rabbit. Michelle moved to accept the minute corrections. Aimee 2nd. M/S/C

Treasurer’s Report:

Liz presented the treasurer's report.

Correspondence:

None

Reports:

• Poultry Project Day: Learned about parasites and diseases.
• Feed and Selection: Was packed with kids and knowledge.
• Dairy: All the dairy kids met and talked about the basics of the project and record keeping.
• Beef Weigh In: A lot of participation, flow was steady and smooth. The majority of the intended steers weighed in.
• AI: Talked about AI, genes, etc. Very good knowledge and in-depth topics.
• 2022 Awards: One buckle was missing from the entire order and it was missed by the buckle company. It should be here very. One buckle for Thatcher Marquis that was delivered is somehow missing, we need to decide if we are going to replace it. Aimee moved to replace Thatcher's buckle. Brett 2nd. Passed

Old Business:

• Addition of project day on Sunday April 23rd, Range Walk and Talk project day. Marji Patz who works for NRCS. Location TBD.
• Market Beef Additional Butcher: Big Sky Processing is willing to take all our extra beef beyond the 30 contracted with Columbia Falls. Lisa moved to cover the $25 difference per beef for the difference in slaughter costs, $160 would be paid by Livestock Leaders. Liz 2nd. Passed. This will require an additional trucking fee and an additional carcass judge. Big Sky Processing can take the entire livestock show animals in 2024. This will be a good test to see if we want to switch processors as Ron Vandevanter looks to retire.
• Central Montana Beef Carcass Judge: Carcass grades of animals are based upon a grid system, ruler measurements, and are fact based. The standards do not vary and different judges will judge to the same standard.
• Division Chairs:
  ○ Show: Brenda Byrnes and Rose Malisani
  ○ Beef: Lisa Jassen & Cody Loch
  ○ Sheep: Heather Lewis
  ○ Swine: Brittney Calvert & Sandy Harshaw
  ○ Goat: Michelle Leardini
  ○ Rabbit: Kyle Baker
  ○ Poultry: Desi Roth
  ○ Breeding Projects: Rose Malisani & Heather Lewis
• Committees
  • Sale: Lisa Jasson, Brett Keaster, Cody Loch: will bring proposals to March meeting.
  • Catalog and Sponsorship: Brook Gerard & Kandee Yeager: will bring more info and prices to March meeting.
  • Carcass Contest: Rose Malisani has judges arranged.
  • Carcass Hauling: Brook has Columbia Falls covered. Cody will ensure there are people to load at Big Sky.
  • Food: Brenda is working with the Chamber Ag committee.
  • Jr. Leaders: Heather will be the chair and send intro letter to Jr. Leaders for Rose to send to enrolled jr. leaders. Current prize proposal is that jr. leaders will pick Grand and Reserve prizes for all 5 divisions and they will be awarded at the County Show.
  • Awards: Lisa, Rose, Brook, and Marie will set award parameters/budget for jr. leaders to select awards.
• Agenda
  • Proposed changes: Changing supreme breeding to after showmanship and before round robin on the agenda and families Brook talked to are in support of the change.
• Marketing:
  • Save the date magnet proposal: IPS has closed so we don’t have them to stuff envelopes and shipping rates have increased $300/40 newsletters. Looking at sending magnets to previous buyers. 200 magnets will be approximately $400. Brittany made a motion to send a postcard save the date instead of the magnets and the extension office can print and mail. Cody 2nd. Passes
  • Heather will load all branding materials into the google drive. Shirts will be a mid to light blue. Shirt design will be edited per the feedback. All materials will be ready at the March meeting.

Last Minute Additions:

• LQA: Need more volunteers to teach this Saturday. Heather will teach injections. There are several kids that can’t attend due to sports. Rose is rewriting the test for the kids that cannot attend. Rabbit and Poultry need a teacher.
• Project book judging on one night instead of two? Proposed date of June 20th.
• KMON report from Aimee: there weren’t any kids in agronomy or meats id, but 5 kids from Cascade County competed in livestock judging. It was unorganized compared to previous years.

New Business:

Lisa moved to adjourn the meeting. Sandy 2nd. M/S/C Meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Heather Lewis
Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary

APPROVED

Present:

Katrina Emrich, Sandy Harshaw, Rose Malisani, Ginger Murphy, Michelle Leardini, Cody Loch, Elizabeth Jennings, Aimee Hachigan-Gould, and Lisa Jassen

Call To Order

Called to order at 7:10 p.m. by Vice President Brook Gerard

Minutes:

Katrina moved to approve the minutes as submitted and seconded by Elizabeth Jennings.

Treasurer Report:

Elizabeth Jennings gave a treasurer’s report. Information was included in packet. Current checking balance is $9,282.45 and the DAD Investment account is $9,166.19.

Correspondence:

Thank You card sent by Jenna Sasek.

Reports:

Schott memorial report by Rose Malisani. Five 4-H members interviewed and the Schott family decided to award money to each 4-H member. Rose completed expenditure form to Cascade 4-H Foundation.
Cody Loch reported on FSA project day presented by Chris Nicholson. Cody said it was awesome and very informative workshop. There were 3 kids in attendance and 2 kids signed up for FSA loans. They have a very strong outreach program.

Old Business:

Awards discussion:

4-H members are still missing banners, phone cases, and monies. Rose has list of what is missing. She will email to Brook and Brenda to cross reference with master list.

Discussion about having awards available to present at the show. Many in room feel that awards should be present and given at the event. Rule book for this year already is approved with letting junior leaders pick the prizes and have 3 choices for Grand and 3 choices for Reserve. Question was posed on timing. Brook presented that awards would be chosen by April by the Junior Leaders but that they still get 3 choices. Aimee presented some history of how awards were done in the past. Brook presented that Google Sheets shared document will be utilized so that committee and officers can be current and informed on status of awards, orders, and winners. As of this current 4-H year the awards process is approved and documented. If there is desire to adjust system, it can be presented as a rule change it can be presented in September.

Beef weigh-in

Beef weigh-in will be January 15 at Western Livestock Auction. It was voted and approved in November to give a $100 thank you gift card to Western Livestock Auction employee. Event starts at 1:00 pm.

Project days

Poultry workshop on January 7 and Desiree Roth will teach.

Cody Loch will reach out to Jeff Flesch to see if he can teach artificial insemination, embryo transfer, and breeding at the February 4 project day from 9:00 to 10:30 am.

Livestock Quality Assurance (LQA) is planned for February 11 from 9:00 am to noon. Discussion of having a marketing presentation for the first 20 minutes of the LQA project day. Lisa will ask Dan Miller about presenting on how to approach a buyer. Rose asked for volunteers to teach at LQA. Sandy, Elizabeth, Cody, and Michelle will teach. Rose will get one more volunteer for Nutrition and reach out to Desiree.

Carcass breakdown, primal cuts, and retail cuts will be topics for the March 4 project day. Rose will reach out to Randy Bogden to see if he can teach. Heather is providing the lamb. Rose will reach out to Heather.

April 1 project day will be on preparing lamb from the March 4 project day. Rose will reach out to Katrin Finch to see if she would like to teach.

Michelle is planning cheese making for the May 6 project day.

Dairy Project:

Michelle requested for all dairy goats to be penned in a zone together at the livestock show. Michelle would like to have a meet and greet for enrolled dairy goat members. Pizza luncheon on January 14 after the market animal selection workshop. Lisa moved that livestock leaders purchase pizza. Elizabeth seconded the motion. Motion carries and was approved by unanimous vote.

Beef Clinic:

Cody Loch has offered to work one-on-one with kids that are having trouble with training. He will go to their home or offer assistance to help with training. He will also look at dates to offer some work training sessions for beef kids to practice showmanship and learn about showing. Plan is to start in May and go until June.
New Business

Google Sheets:

Brook presented Google Sheets to the leaders. She showed the document on the screen and explained the various tabs and intent of shared communication. The document will include lists of members, projects, structure of meetings, planning for workshops and project days, contacts, awards, personnel, financial information, and more.

Show Agenda -

Brook and Rose presented the draft agenda and discussed the timing of the event and class order. There was discussion about the timing of sections and order of classes was discussed at length. Concern was raised about breeding classes being on Saturday as some animals wouldn’t get an opportunity to show on Friday and about combining or splitting or combining dairy and meat goats within the breeding contest. Folks were invited to take draft agenda home and return with comments to the next meeting.

Livestock Show and Sale Logo:

Logo was presented with 1 option for the banners and 2 options for the shirts. Looking to get logo approved to be able to get catalog and banners ordered. Group discussed returning logo options for more artwork. Add a clover to both designs. Remove the July 7-8 wording from T-Shirt design. Look at different artwork for the animal image. Suggest banners are closer to 12x18” in size. For the T-Shirts the groups liked all blue animals instead of the gradient color. Brook will let Heather know about changes and it will be brought back to the February meeting.

Save the date magnets:

Rose will get a couple price quotes and magnets will be revisited in February.

Judges:

Brook asked for suggestions for the coming year. Martin Townsend was suggested for to return for rabbit and poultry. Marc King was suggested for main animal judge. Cody Loch will reach out to Marc. Rose confirmed carcass judges.

WebEx Invites:

Brook asked that Rose have WebEx invite to Livestock Leaders meeting be available to all livestock families to encourage participation in planning. It was agreed that we would try it out for a couple of months to see response.

Budget:

Lisa presented the current budget for the 2022-2023 operating year.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m. Sandy moved and Cody 2nd. m/s/c

APPROVED

Alternative Download of November 1, 2022 Minutes

Present:

Brook Gerard, Cody Loch, Rose Malisani, Sandy Harshaw, Ginger Murphy, Jill Mackey, Michelle Leardini

Webex attendees:

Liz Jennings, Angie Hastings, Aimee Hachigan-Gould, Heather Lewis

Call to Order

Called to Order by Brook at 7:00 p.m.

Minutes

Minutes reviewed.

Motion by Sandy, Second by Cody. Passed.

Treasurers Report

$26,436.70 in checking. Ended up with Net Income of $8,496.18 for last 4-H year. Special notation to please properly request expenses through the office. Checks cannot be written without proper procedures. Several members received Awards Checks and there wasn’t an expense report or meeting minutes detailing such available. Bookkeeper will have Livestock budget worksheets for the officers to work on prior to January meeting.

Correspondence

None

OLD BUSINESS

Rules for the following were reviewed and voted on from the October meeting.

Rule Changes: Noted in the proposed 2022-2023 Rule Book

Show Committee Rule Addition: If there are any changes to be made to the schedule of the show while at the show the show committee will be called together to make changes to the show. This is for emergent situations. Motion by Michelle, Second by Sandy. Carried.

Update to the interview judging that all species including breeding projects need to have their projects up to date as of the county show interview judging to be allowed to show at the county show. Motion by Jill, secondy by Cody. Carried.

Marketing Your Project paragraph removed, it is clarified in the new paragraph. Motion by Sandy, second by Aimee. Carried.

Adding clarification that rabbits and poultry need to be inspected by the division chair prior to placing them in cages at the show. Motioned by Jill, second by Cody. Carried.

Breeding Project: Adding Dairy to breeding project. Re-writing breeding project description to designate options within the breeding project and to clearly define expectations. Motioned by Sandy, second by Jill. Carried.

Round Robin rule clarification and adding the format of the competition to the rule book. Adding a 2 minutes per animal to show and then switching animals for 2 minutes before switching species. Motioned by Michelle, second by Liz. Carried.

Clarification on load out procedures, that 4-H members need to make arrangements with another 4-H member and inform the division chair via documented means by the close of the show. $50 fee will be withheld from their sale check. Motioned by Sandy, second by Michelle. Carried.

Meat Pens: Simplifying the rule book to eliminate double wording by removing from Animal Limits and adding a section on pages 11/12 under Individual Species Rules, MeatPens to clarify the meat pen descriptions and separate them from the show rabbits and poultry that are shown and taken home. Motioned by Jill, second by Aimee. Carried.

Awards: Grand and reserve champions will choose from three award choices at each level. Buckle or equivalent prize at the show. Prizes will be offered at the show. Motioned by Sandy, second by Cody. Carried.

Other changes that were made for clearer understanding/editing from October meeting.

• Change title page from “Show and Sale” to “Rule Book.”
• Addition of new Extension office emails to the Rule Book.
• Add title for “Marketing Visit Required” to point out the need to market their project. Add that it needs to be included in My 4-H year under Promotional Presentations.
• Change the title of “Notebook” to “Record Book”
• Move grievance procedure to page one under general information. Grievance committee should consist of the show committee.
• Rabbit meat pens definition updated with clarification on breeds that are allowed to be sold. Poultry meat pen definition updated for clarification of expectations.

NEW BUSINESS

Discussion on project day ideas. Ideas and who discussed: project finance options (FSA/Dept of Ag), halter breaking/show training, livestock judging (Courtney Clairmont), carcass judging (Randy, Darren-Cliff Crawford) [series], meat ID [series], AI (Dana O.), breeding selection, SOM/SOE/GOM etc breakdowns, poultry hatching, brands (possibly w/ horse), tattoo, freeze brands, embryo transfer (Jack Gange, Tucker Morris, Chase Murray), dairy goat milking/cheese (Michelle), show prep clinic (late may/early june).

Tentative Project day schedule:

• November: Poultry
• December: Finance project (Brook to check with Janet Smith) and Jacob Schott Memorial Interviews
• January 14: Beef, sheep, goat, hog selection & nutrition
• January 15: Beef weigh-in at 1 at Western Livestock
• February: AI, Breeding Selection, Embryo Transfer (Cody)
• March: Carcass/Primal breakdown (Heather donate, Rose)
• April: Meat cooking the odd stuff using March meat. (Heather and Rose)
• May: Dairy goat milking and cheese making (Michelle)

Discussion to get Gift Certificate for $100 for helper at Western Livestock for beef weigh-in. Motioned by Jill, second by Liz. Carried.

Discussed January project day prizes. Rose to obtain up to $150 in prizes. Motioned by Jill, second by Cody. Carried.

Livestock Leaders will put on Livestock Quality Assurance workshop on February 11 at the Extension Office.

Small animal weigh-in tentatively May 13 at Western Ranch Supply. (Heather to check with Western Ranch Supply)

Brenda is meeting Thursday with the Chamber Ag Committee. They would like to put on a buyer education seminar with the intent to get other/new businesses to support 4-H. Discuss how to buy and why along with tax breaks, etc. We may need to print invites. Jill will personally approach businesses. This is tentatively planned for December 8 at Celtic Cowboy. Details to come if we need leader support or help.

Rose moved to adjourn, second by Sandy. Adjourned at 8:12pm.

Respectfully submitted by Ginger Murphy, Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leader

APPROVED

Present: 

Rose Malisani, Brenda Byrnes, Heather Lewis, Desi Roth, Cody Loche, Sandy Harshaw, Michelle Leardini, Ashley Byington, Brook Gerard., Aimee Hachigan-Gould, Jill Mackey, Ginger Murphy, Lisa Jassen, Brett Keaster 

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 5:34p.m. by Brenda Byrnes 

Minutes

Jill moved to accept the minutes as read. Ashley 2nd. M/S/C 

Treasurer’s Report:

Special summary for income in expenses in preparation of the budget detailing income and expenses for the year as well as items not accounted for yet.   

Correspondence:

Thank you for the great show from Tammy. Thank you from Luke Jassen.  

Reports:

None 

Old Business:  

Prize order status:

Poultry cage is at the extension office. Buckles will be delivered to the Extension office. Embroidered prizes will be delivered to Rose Friday or Monday along with labels.  

Officer Election:

Heather and Brenda were nominated for Secretary and President respectively. Jill nominated Brenda to president. No other nominations, Brenda is unanimously voted as President. Jill nominated Heather to secretary. No other nominations, Heather is unanimously voted as Secretary.  

 

New Business:  

Rule Changes:

Noted in the proposed 2022-2023 Rule Book. We are looking to remove the guideline from the rule book and provide an additional guideline book.  

1. Change title page from “Show and Sale” to “Rule Book” 
2. Addition of new Extension office emails to the Rule Book
3. Show Committee Rule Addition: If there are any changes to be made to the schedule of the show while at the show the show committee will be called together to make changes to the show. This is for emergent situations. 
4. Meat Pens: Simplifying the rule book to eliminate double wording by removing from Animal Limits and adding a section on pages 11/12 under Individual Species Rules, Meat Pens to clarify the meat pen descriptions and separate them from the show rabbits and poultry that are shown and taken home.  
5. Update to the interview judging that all species including breeding projects need to have their projects up to date as of the county show interview judging to be allowed to show at the county show. 
6. Add title for “Marketing Visit Required” to point out the need  to market their project. Add that it needs to be included in My 4-H year under Promotional Presentations. 
7. Change the title of “Notebook” to “Record Book” 
8. Adding clarification that rabbits and poultry need to be inspected by the division chair prior to placing them in cages at the show.  
9. Marketing Your Project paragraph removed, it is clarified in the above paragraph. 
10. Breeding Project: Adding Dairy to breeding project. Re-writing breeding project description to designate options within the breeding project and to clearly define expectations.  
11. Round Robin rule clarification and adding the format of the competition to the rule book. Adding a 2 minutes per animal to show and then switching animals for 2 minutes before switching species. 
12. Move grievance procedure to page one under general information. Grievance committee should consist of the show committee. 
13. Clarification on load out procedures, that 4-H members need to make arrangements with another 4-H member and inform the division chair via documented means by the close of the show.. $50 fee will be withheld from their sale check. 
14. Awards: Grand and reserve champions will choose from three award choices at each level. Buckle or equivalent prize at the show.  Prizes will be offered at the show.   
15. Rabbit meat pens definition updated with clarification on breeds that are allowed to be sold. Poultry meat pen definition updated for clarification of expectations.  

 

Schotts are doing interviews for their memorial scholarship upto $1,500 for the purchase of a steer. Interviews will be December 3rd.  

Rose moved to adjourn the meeting. Michelle 2nd.. M/S/C Meeting adjourned at  9:58pm. 

 

Respectfully submitted, 

 

Heather Lewis 

Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary 

APPROVED

Present: 

Rose Malisani, Brenda Byrnes, Heather Lewis, Ginger Murphy, Leann Murphy, Desi Roth, Cody Loch, Marie Powell, Addison Powell, Lisa Jassen, Sandy Harshaw, and Liz Jennings  

Call To Order:

The meeting was called to order at 5:37p.m. by Rose Malisani 

Minutes:

Ginger moved to accept the minutes as read. Desi 2nd. M/S/C 

Treasurer’s Report:

Balance sheet shows 38,767.20 in checking, 9,156.48 in DA Davidson. There is $18,025 in the Livestock Leaders account for Jacob Schott’s steer. Wade and Marisol Schott met with Rose Malisani and Allyssa Peak. The Schotts would like to add $100 to the beef pen display and provide up to $1,500 a year for a 4-H member to purchase a steer for the market beef project. The 4-H member would interview with an Extension agent and the Schotts and a 4-H member will be awarded the monies. The $18,025 will be transferred to the Cascade 4-H Foundation. The Cascade 4-H Foundation will pay the steer breeder directly after the 4-H member informs the Foundation who they will purchase the steer from and the invoice. Interviews will start November or December 2022 at a project day. The Livestock sales report is included with all the checks written from the sale. 

Correspondence:

None 

Reports:  

 

Old Business:  

Jill Mackey has asked Julie Pribyl and Merrill McKamey to be the breeding project judges. Jill needs one more judge for animal health. Elizabeth Jennings volunteered to be the third judge at the meeting. Rose will send email to the 4-H members in the breeding project about dates and times to conduct interviews. 

County Prizes:

Montana Monograms and Bunkhouse are completing the apparel portion of the prizes. Brenda Byrnes is ordering buckles. Heather will print all the labels for the prizes and deliver them to Rose. Achievement night is October 11, 2022.  

New Business: 

Rules, Policy, and Award Criteria Change Proposals are due by September 19th and amendments/changes will occur in October.  

Nomination Committee:

President and Secretary are up for renewal and the current President and Secretary have not termed out. Brenda and Heather will serve 2nd terms.  

Review of 2021-2022 

Project days:

Desi had several poultry project days throughout the year. The livestock selection and feeding was separate this year, we should consider doing it how we did it 7-8 years ago and have one big group for animal selections and then separate out into animal nutrition for two 45 minute sessions. Lisa suggested we go to a master 4-H event calendar so that we have less overlap with the other projects. Rose is going to reserve a slot on the calendar for Horse and Livestock for project days. Brook will go to Leaders Council and speak on having events more clearly shared between all 4-H events. Livestock “field trip” have been very popular in the past year and we should continue to do them. Rose is willing to help plan and bring in new speakers. We need to used Extension Agents to help teach some of the project days because they have valuable knowledge. 

Clinics:

Were more helpful and more hands-on than previous years. We need to do more clinics where kids bring their animal and get hands on experience. Add more species-specific clinics lead by leaders or junior leaders that are working with the clinician. Liz said Farm Bureau has grants available for up to $10,000 that could help us get some higher level educational presentations.  

Committees:

Brenda developed a committee recap form to record details from each committee they were on. These will be used to determine if the committees should continue to be used and what their duties should be. The recap form should be emailed to Rose so that we can make a decision at the October meeting if the committee was effective. Lisa would like to extend the committees to people that cannot attend Tuesday night meetings. Rose would like better communication between the committees and the Extension office. Reviewing the sale catalog and knowing what is going on in committed who meet outside the normal Livestock Leader meetings is important. Lisa suggested Google sheets to use for organizing. She uses it for the Montana 4-H Working Ranch Horse Finals and it is very effective. We need to explore using it to share all information related to the show and the committees. Rose will use the Working Ranch Horse as a template to set up Livestock Leaders.  

Show and Sale:  

• Weigh-in was nice and easy this year. What is the history of the vet check? Is it needed? It is at a minimum deterrent for bringing sick animals. Should we require a different type of vet check for breeding projects? Desi said as a small animal chair she looks closely at the animals for disease. Having weigh in earlier (3:30 p.m.) and the vet there at the beginning of weigh-in.  
• Suggestion to move the games to the first night (Thursday) to have more participation.  
• Putting the shavings out in pens works well and makes the night to go faster. 
• Food Truck was charged a fee for being at the fairgrounds. We didn’t know about this fee previously. Fairgrounds had concessions and they were ok but we need to find a better way to feed our families. Food issues need to be addressed with the Cascade County Commissioners.  
• Barn set-up needs to be decided in early June so that there aren’t last minute changes. We used the set-up that was being used by the State Fair to save money.  

• Sound system can be tapped into based upon where the crow’s nest. Sunshine is the only way to tap into the current speakers in the pavilion.  
• Meeting with the judge before market classes; how do we ensure communication is effective and help make the entire show communication better? So that confusion is avoided.  
• Lisa suggested we put out a “show book guide” that explains all the aspects of the show: pen decorations, meaning of purple ribbons, meaning of the classes, class expectations, what you need to bring, pen cleaning, buyers gifts, etc. Rose can create a draft for review in November. Brook would like to see if we can pull some of the etiquette info from the rule book. 
• Need better use of ring steward and purple ribbons.  
• Auctioneer: 2nd auctioneer was not as great as the 1st, prices were less. 2nd auctioneer was added without adding the committee. Jerry offers the right price and service for us, and he paid for the 2nd auctioneer and didn’t charge us for him. Animals who didn’t make weight need to be announced for buyers they are aware of the scratch in the sale. Need to have the catalog insert with weights and ribbon placing.  

• Brenda recommends we drop the Business After Hours portion and find another way to get buyers in the barn. Look for ways to encourage buyers to wander the barn. Think of other options besides dinner; maybe, pies and refreshments, something that needs to encourage them to talk to kids at their pens. Junior leaders needed better guidance during the show and sale.  

 

Liz moved to adjourn the meeting. Desi 2nd. M/S/C Meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. 

 

Respectfully submitted, 

Heather Lewis
Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary