The upcoming 176th Wayne County Fair brings a lot of excitement to our community and Junior Fair exhibitors and their families.
It also means a busy time in our office as we prepare the LINK newsletter, which contains all pertinent information for our Junior Fair livestock exhibitors and their families. The newsletter will be sent in August and it’s important all livestock exhibitors and their families read and understand the rules regarding the exhibition of their animals and projects at the fair.
Fair entries were to be entered into the FairEntry system by Friday, Aug. 1.
An exciting change this year is Junior Fair is implementing two sale rings at Wednesday’s livestock auction at the fair. Given the impressive number of animal entries, this allows us to run the rings simultaneously to cut down on auction time. Thursday’s auction will only have one sale ring.
Drug Use Notification form is a must
Livestock exhibitors need to be aware of the Drug Use Notification Form (DUNF). This form is required by the Ohio Department of Agriculture for market animals, lactating dairy cows, lactating dairy goats and feeder calves. Exhibitors who must fill out a DUNF are those with market animals (beef, dairy cattle, goat, hog, lamb, rabbits and poultry), lactating animals (dairy and goat) and feeder calves.
Exhibitors will receive a confirmation email with the details of their DUNF after it is submitted. If any information on the DUNF changes between the time the form was submitted and fair check-in, the exhibitor must complete a new DUNF. Market poultry and rabbit exhibitors will complete their DUNF forms at fair check-in. This is a legal binding document to be taken very seriously.
Exhibitors are encouraged to take their time completing the form. The link to access the DUNF will be posted in the email newsletter 4-H News and Notes, our Wayne County 4-H Facebook page and at wayne.osu.edu at the beginning of September.
Invite buyers, subscribe to 4-H News & Notes
Exhibitors are highly encouraged to invite buyers to the sale to bid on their animal project. Beginning this year, junior fair exhibitors have the chance to receive online add-ons for their projects. For help with buyer letters/invitations, please refer to our website under the Wayne County Junior Fair section, where you will find examples and other important information.
If you have not already, please subscribe to our weekly 4-H News & Notes emails on our website to stay up to date with 4-H happenings and important information.
As always, we are here to help so call us, come see us, or email us. More information about 4-H and OSU Extension can be found at www.wayne.osu.edu.
Hannah Getz is an Ohio State University Extension 4-H Educator and may be reached at 330-264-8722 or getz.107@osu.edu
This article was previously published in The Daily Record.