Announcements

Poultry Biosecurity Update & Reminders

| Announcements |

An update on biosecurity for your poultry flocks as we move into the migration season.

Here are some simple steps to decrease the chance of your birds contracting any disease from other birds as the migration season arrives. These are basic biosecurity practices to help your flock to stay healthy.

  1. Try to minimize contact of wild birds have with your flock. Wild birds can be carriers of disease that affect poultry and can be transmitted to your birds through droppings and shared water sources. Keeping migrating waterfowl from mingling with your birds is important. 
  2. Be cautious about introducing new birds into your flock. The best policy is to quarantine any new birds including chicks, ducklings, goslings, and turkey poults (all baby birds) for a minimum of two weeks. Keep all equipment separate and if possible, change or disinfect shoes/clothing before entering the different areas where your birds live. 
  3. Always disinfect any shared or used equipment before using it with your birds. 
  4. Be cautious about visiting other people’s flocks and again, change or disinfect shoes and clothing if needed before working with your birds. 
  5. Isolate any sick birds and take extra precautions such as feeding, cleaning, and working with these birds last at chore time. 
  6. Call a vet at the CSU Avian Hotline (970-297-4008) if you have an outbreak of illness or sudden deaths not due to predators.
  7. Consider having sudden deaths tested by the CSU Avian team. 

These measures will help to keep your flock healthy. 

Avian Influenza has been reported in Europe and Asia but at this time there are NO cases in North America. USDA officials are monitoring the situation and testing birds for the virus. The upcoming migration season is when cases can spread when an infected bird migrates through a flyway. Check the USDA website for updates on Avian Influenza (HPAI) and for other resources to maintain a healthy flock!

Thank you.
Marilyn Lasich
Poultry Key Leader

Virtual 4-H Open House / Thursday, January 14

| Announcements

Another 4-H Open House for Larimer County will be held virtually on Thursday, January 14 from 5:30–6:30 p.m.

Join us for:

  • videos by 4-H members highlighting project areas,
  • an interactive STEM activity,
  • local, state, and national opportunities, and
  • enrollment information.

Visit this link to register for the event:

https://larimer.extension.colostate.edu/classes-and-workshops/4-h/

Please share this information with anyone you know who is interested in learning more about 4-H.

December COVID-19 Update

| Announcements

Sent on behalf of Katie Daywalker:

As COVID cases increase in Larimer County and across the country, I wanted to share an update on what that means for Larimer County 4-H. Please take the time to read this important information.

Larimer County has been placed at Level 4 (Red) on Colorado’s Dial framework, which standardizes different levels of “openness” at the county level. The dial is a tool for counties to use to make life during the pandemic more sustainable, allowing us to balance, to the greatest extent possible, controlling the virus with our social and economic needs. You can read more about how this impacts Larimer County in detail here. 

Public indoor gatherings are currently prohibited except for certain very limited exceptions detailed on the County page linked above. 

Due to this, all indoor 4-H in-person events that were previously approved are now temporarily revoked. We will notify the leaders who received approvals if/when this status changes based on updated county guidelines. Outdoor event waivers will still be considered, with appropriate restrictions in place. If you are interested in holding an outdoor event, I encourage you to contact me to discuss submitting a waiver.

Generally, I want to remind everyone that no 4-H affiliated in-person activities are permitted unless you have received explicit approval from our office. For more information, please review the Larimer County 4-H In-Person Programming Policy for our policy regarding in-person gatherings while we remain impacted by COVID.

We are recommending that clubs continue to meet virtually, where feasible. If you have not held any virtual meetings, we encourage you to start. We are here to support you. Please reach out to us for assistance or to schedule a Zoom meeting through our 4-H Zoom account. We will be happy to help you become comfortable with Zoom and set up your meetings.

We are working with all of our volunteers involved in county-wide leadership roles to develop educational plans for 2021, including virtual programming to support 4-H youth in their continued learning and development.

We are looking forward, as much as you all are, to the time when we can return to our usual in-person programming, which we hope to see incrementally in 2021. In the meantime, our focus is on protecting the health and wellbeing of the community while striving to continue offering quality youth educational opportunities.

Thank you for your interest in and commitment to the Larimer County 4-H program. Our team is here to support you. Please reach out any time with questions or concerns.

Construction Supply House Auction

| Announcements

Cindy’s business, Construction Supply House, is having an auction of surplus items on Wednesday, December 9 at 10:00 a.m. at 255 42nd Street, Unit B, Loveland.

The auction will include New Inventory, New Power Tools, Contractor Equipment and Accessories, Welding Supplies, Safety Items, New Construction Supplies, Septic System Accessories, ADS Culvert Pipe and waterlines, Pallet Racking, plus much more!

Please pass on the information to anyone you know who might be interested.

https://www.rollerauction.com/online-auctions/surplus-assets-to-the-continuing-operations-of-construction-supply-house-colorado-online-auction-12-09-20

SCHEELS Giving Campaign 2020

| Announcements, Fundraising

Nominations are open!

SCHEELS – Johnstown will be donating $50,000 total to local non-profits within our community! (5 – $5,000 donations and 10 – $2,500 donations.)

Go to http://scheels.com/johnstowngiving and choose “Larimer County 4-H Youth Foundation“ under the Youth Support Organization category. Only ONE FORM PER PERSON counts, so we need as many people as possible to help us. Spread the word and share the link with other 4-H friends, family, and community members. Nominations close on Sunday, December 6. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, December 8.

HCH Member Family Loses Home in Cameron Peak Fire

| Announcements, Members

I am very sad that one of our member families has lost their home in the Cameron Peak Fire. They live on Otter Road above Masonville where there was a spot fire. Fortunately, they are all safe and their animals are safe. I found out yesterday and spoke to them.

Right now they are not sure what they need. They are staying in a hotel with the aid of the Red Cross. They hope to get to the property today. We are a great club and I told them that whatever they needed, 4-H would be there for them. If your family would like to send a card, I think that would be so appreciated. And if you are able a gift card for a meal, groceries, or animal supplies I know that would be appreciated as well. This is the Ramirez Family and Aria was a first-year member and she showed market and breeding goats. Kim (mom) promised to let me know what their needs are as soon as they get things figured out. The kids have clothes and winter coats and boots.

The Ramirez Family
PO Box 271152
Fort Collins, CO 80527-1152

Kim’s email: rapidevaporation@gmail.com

Livestock Key Leader Applications

| Announcements |

Applications are now being accepted for Key Leader and Assistant Key Leader positions in all Livestock project areas.

Due to duties around the County Fair being split between Extension and The Ranch, we are better defining the two distinct roles of “Key Leaders” (a 4-H, year-round educational role) and “County Fair Superintendents” (manage the competition at the County Fair only). In the past, these have often been combined. However now that they are separated, there will be two distinct application processes for Livestock only, so we know who is interested in one or both roles as we move forward with this segregation of duties. No changes will be made to other project areas at this time. Larimer County Extension will select Key Leaders and The Ranch will solicit for and select County Fair Superintendents.

All current Key Leaders in the Livestock project areas must re-apply this year. Current Key Leaders in other project areas do not need to re-apply at this time. The Ranch will be posting applications to become a County Fair Superintendent in the coming weeks. We will alert you when that happens.

If you are interested in helping to organize and run educational project activities throughout the year, you may want to be a Key Leader in that project area. Key Leaders will work with their chosen area to help organize and/or lead educational activities, schedule workshops and clinics, run check-ins, oversee set up and clean up, give direction, and answer questions.

Assistant Leaders will support the Key Leader in that area, helping with all aspects of the workshops and/or contest activities.

Please consider these fun opportunities to support the Larimer County 4-H Livestock program. The Job Description and Application are available for download.

Contact Katie Daywalker at kdaywalker@larimer.org or Diane Kern with questions.

The deadline to apply is October 30, 2020.

A Few Words about Perseverance from Club President Josh Ryan

| Announcements, Members

Perseverance. It is something we all need to get through life. Perseverance is what keeps us going even when the times get rough and tough. It is easy to quit anything, but we all know how the adage goes: quitters never win, and winners never quit. It sounds easy just to quit at something and be on with our life but if all we do is quit, does it really teach us anything or make life easier? No, it does not. All quitting does is teach us how NOT to deal with the problems and issues we face in our lives on a day-to-day basis. Quitting teaches us that we do not actually have to own up to the tough parts of our lives, we can just get out of it. Quitting does not make life easier, if anything, it makes life harder. This is a year where it is easy just to quit and take the easy way out of a hard year.

The 4-H Extension was understandably lenient on the completion of some record books this year, but does that mean that we shouldn’t do it because we don’t have to? No, it doesn’t. Not doing them is the easy thing to do but not the right thing. We were all taught the saying, do what is right even when no one is looking. Doing the record book is exactly that. It may seem distant in the future for some to even worry about, but this same saying is what will get you promotions and recognition in one’s future jobs. What may not be a big deal now is a big deal in the future. 4-H teaches these values to do what is right at a young age.

Most people who participated in 4-H did not fully understand how much these values and skills benefited them in their future lives. It would be a true shame to miss out on these opportunities just because it is easy just to quit in the moment. “5 things no one tells you about 4-H” was recently posted on our club website and everything it says is true. It tells you that 4-H is a time commitment and will test your perseverance, and it will make you choose what you want to do. In the 4-H program, you do your best to make the best better. Making the best better does not involve quitting or traveling the easy road. You work at this to do your absolute best in what you can do. The only thing that you can truly control is your own decisions. Do not make quitting one of those decisions.

If you do not like your current project, branch out and try another. 4-H offers a huge variety of interest areas to youth across the nation, and if 4-H does not offer it properly, they have what is called a Self-Determined project. With this you can do just about anything that could come to mind as a project. A very common mistake is that 4-H is not just agriculture and animal projects anymore, we have scientific projects, baking projects, shooting sports projects, mechanical projects, home economics projects, livestock projects, and a variety of knowledge-testing projects. These are just the tip of the iceberg. It is guaranteed that you can find some project that you will enjoy in the 4-H program.

We will face challenges every day of our lives and how we handle those challenges is what matters. This year could very well be described as the perfect storm, but along with the calm before the storm, there is the calm after the storm. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. We can use this time at home to dive deeper into our interests and maybe find new things we would like to try. 4-H is what you make of it. It could be the root of the most fun you will ever have if you want it to be. If you say the only reason that you participate in 4-H is because your parents make you or anything along that road, rethink what you want to do in 4-H. A good friend once told me, even if you don’t enjoy it, find joy in it. Find your joy in 4-H, for those who do not enjoy it keep working hard at it even when the times get tough. Do not let this perfect storm be the end of your 4-H experience. Keep your head high and keep working hard to make the best better.

Virtual 4-H Open House / Monday, October 5

| Announcements

The 4-H Open House for Larimer County will be held virtually on Monday, October 5 from 5:30–6:30 p.m.

Join us for:

  • videos by 4-H members highlighting project areas,
  • an interactive STEM activity,
  • local, state, and national opportunities, and
  • enrollment information.

Visit this Zoom link to register: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIvc–qqjkoGdyzgSYPH_iEjP4HCbNexMz6

Please share this information with anyone you know who is interested in learning more about 4-H.

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