Call for Coops: 2018 Coop Tour

           One hobby that continues to grow in interest is the raising backyard chickens. This stems from families having the desire to grow their own food and from youth bringing home chicks from their classroom’s Egg to Chick project. Either way we are excited that we are in the middle of a chicken frenzy around here!

            The Wise Chicks Coop Tour has held an annual tour for 8 years now and I am very excited to be involved with organizing the tour. We are currently looking for families that have a coop up and running, and would like to participate in the tour. In previous years, we have seen funky and fun coops to efficient small scale coops. The best part about the tour is that each coop and the chicks that reside there are different!

            This year the coop tour will be held on May 5th and we are looking for coops all over Wise County.

            If you have a coop you would like to share with the general public please get in touch with the Extension office at 940-627-3341

Color Run this Saturday.

Fall 2015 4-H Newsletter

Wise County 4-H takes home many awards at the State 4-H Roundup

 “We Came, We Learned Things and We CONQUERED!”

DECATUR, TX— As the summer season has begun to unfold, students are finding themselves in summer camps and programs all across the state of Texas. This is especially true of students in the Wise County 4-H program. Offering camp experiences in some form nearly every week, 4-H students are kept busy learning leaderships skills in public speaking, parliamentary procedure, nutrition and many other program areas offered by the 4-H program in Wise County.

In June, the 4-H program sent thirty-six students to the Texas 4-H State Roundup in College Station, TX. Of those students, twenty-two qualified to compete in completions such as livestock judging, consumer decision making and food challenge to name a few. Also, Wise County 4-H students received scholarships of various amounts totaling $76,000.

Caitlin Pruett, Morgan Barnes, Remington Swensson and Mikayla Martinets were all awarded $18,000 scholarships sponsored by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Logan Moore received a $1,500 scholarship that was sponsored by the Association of 4-H Extension Agents and another $1,500 scholarship from the McLean Estate. Also receiving a scholarship, Clayton Egle was awarded $1,000 sponsored by San Antonio Livestock Exposition School Tours. Congratulations to our scholarship winners!

Our 4-H’ers that competed in various competitions also did very well. Competing in the Dairy division of the Food Show, Lauryn Luttrull was awarded 3^rd Place Individual.

 At the Invitational Meats Judging competition, team members Sheridan Shallene, Logan Moore, Michaela Martin and Kooper Martin were awarded 1^st place.

 In the Physics division of the Science, Engineering and Technology competition, Shelby Vanover won 2^nd place for his presentation.

The Consumer Decision Making team, Logan Moore, Caitlin Pruett, Morgan Barnes and Lyndi Luttrull won 3^rd place overall, and individually, Moran Barnes was 9^th place high point individual out of 117 competitors!

 The Main Dish - Food Challenge team, Jordan Hayes, Veronica Walton and Cristian Giddens won 3^rd Place overall.

In photography, Micaela Guess received Best in Show for her entry in the Dominant Color Category.

There were many other competitions that 4-H members competed in at Roundup. Competing in the Invitational Ag Product ID Contest was Morgan Barnes, Makayla Fitzgerald, Brittney Bland, Veronica Walton, and Kyah Shannon. Veronica Walton also competed in the invitational Archery contest.

The photography contests included entries from Brittney Bland, Christy Gerlach, Micaela Guess, Kelsi McKelvin, Shelby Vanover and Brady Vanover.

The 4-H Fashion Show had entries from Lyndi Luttrull, Fallon Sachse and Lauryn Luttrull.

Michael Williams, Brittany Bland, Michael Hicks, Kyle Barnett and Kyah Shannon competed in the Mohair competition.

The Livestock Judging Team was made up of Seth Byers, Thaine Laaser, Sheridan Shallene and Carson Read. Byers, Laaser and Read also competed in the Swine Skill-a-thon.

In the Invitational Livestock competition, there were seven Wise County Competitors: Michael Hicks, Kyah Shannon, Clint Demmit, Michael Williams, Kaylyn Shallene, Cassady Craddock, and Bryson Morrow.

Lastly, Sheridan Shallene, Michaela Martin, Kooper Martin and Logan Moore competed in the invitational Meats Judging Competition.

Congratulations to all of the scholarship and award winners, as well as, all the participants at Roundup! We are proud of all of our 4-H’ers!

For information on 4-H, contact the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension office in Wise County at (940) 627-3341. The Wise County 4-H program includes students from chapters in the Texas towns of Alvord, Bridgeport, Boyd, Chico, Decatur, Paradise, Slidell and Greenwood.

Wise County 4-H Members Dominate at State 4-H Horse Show

Shelby Haggart HHaggof Bridgeport 4-H and Seth Byers of Decatur 4-H dominated the 3 year old stock horse futurity, taking home Grand Champion and Reserve Champion honors respectively.  The 3 Year Old Futurity is made up of three different classes; Reining, Stock Horse Pleasure and Trail.  The overall winners are cumulative score from the three different classes.

Shelby received Grand Champion 3 Year Old Stock Horse honors by placing 1^st in Reining, 1^st in Pleasure and 1^st in Trail, making it a clean sweep.  In the regular Stock Horse Show division she made the finals in Working Cow Horse, Trail, Reining, Stock Horse Pleasure and Stock Horse Horsemanship.  Making the finals in all events is quite an accomplishment.  Shelby will be attending NCTC in Gainesville to ride stock horse at the collegiate level.

Seth Byers received Reserve Champion by placing 2^nd in Stock Horse Pleasure, 3^rd in Reining and 4^th in Trail.  He also had a very good week with his yearling futurity gelding placing 4^th in Halter and 3^rd in Lounge Line.  In the regular show Seth placed 7^th in Halter in 4 yr. Old Mares & Under, he was 5^th in Western Riding and 7^th in Stock Horse Horsemanship.

In the English Riding Show, Monika Qualls placed 9th in Equitation Over Fences and Working Hunter, 8th in Open Jumping and 7th in Hunter Hack.

Emma Karle, also a Wise County 4-H member participated in the Western Pleasure Class in the Qualifying Show.    

State 4-H Roundup Results

Wise County is very proud of the success of our 4-H members at Texas 4-H Roundup which was held in College Station last week.  The county was well represented with twenty-eight 4-H’ers that competed in several different events.  

The week started off with great results when four Wise County 4-H’ers received $72,000 in scholarships through the Texas 4-H Foundation.  Olivia Bettesworth, Paradise 4-H, Lacey Erwin, Bridgeport 4-H, Monika Qualls, Paradise 4-H and Anne Marie Wells, Slidell/Greenwood 4-H were each awarded an $18,000.00 scholarship sponsored by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

In the Recipe Rally competition, Morgan Barnes, Slidell 4-H, and Caitlin Pruett, Slidell 4-H, earned 2^nd place. In the Fashion Storyboard Contest Anna Marie Wells took 1^st place in the Wearable category while Fallon Sachse, Decatur 4-H, got 1^st place in the Jewelry category as well as 5^th place in Construction – Semi-formal to Formal. Also in Fashion Storyboard Mikayla Martinets, Bridgeport 4-H, received 6^th place in Pet Clothing and Lyndi Luttrull, Decatur 4-H, got 6^th in the Buying-Business/Interview Attire. 

In the Nutrition Quiz Bowl competition the team of Michaela Cross, Decatur 4-H; Logan Moore, Boyd 4-H; Jennifer Shaffer, Alvord 4-H; and Anna Marie Wells took 2^nd place. While in Photography Judging the Senior team of Christian Cross, Alvord 4-H; Micaela Guess, Decatur 4-H; Kelsi McKelvain, Alvord 4-H; and Monika Qualls received 5^th place. The Intermediate team in Photography Judging of Chasey Malone, Slidell 4-H; Bailey Meyer, Slidell 4-H; Samantha Rambsel, Slidell 4-H; and Brady Vanover, Slidell 4-H, earned 2^nd place. 

In the Consumer Decision Making competition the team of Christian Cross, Jennifer Shaffer, Logan Moore, and Morgan Barnes took 10^th place. In the Mohair Judging and Evaluation competition the team of Lacey Erwin, Makayla Fitzgerald, Slidell 4-H; Sheridan Shallene, Bridgeport 4-H; Monika Qualls, Michael Hicks, Decatur 4-H; Alex Samano, Decatur 4-H; and Keaton Vawter, Bridgeport 4-H, received 10^th place. In the Livestock Judging Invitational Intermediate division Carson Read, Decatur 4-H, took 3^rd High Individual in Sheep and Goat, and 12^th High Overall. 

In the Healthy Lifestyles Invitational competition Lauryn Luttrull, Decatur 4-H, and her assigned team received 4^th place. In the Educational Presentations competition Caitlin Pruett received 5^th place in the Family and Consumer Sciences category, Makayla Fitzgerald received 5^th place in the Safety and Injury Prevention category. Morgan Barnes took 5^th place in the Health category. Fallon Sachse took 6^th place in the Clothing and Textiles competition.

In the State Photography competition Christian Cross received a Blue Ribbon and was named Best of Show in the Food Category; Micaela Guess received a Blue Ribbon in Animals-Wildlife, Details and Macro, and Dominant Color and a Red Ribbon in Animals-Domestic; Kelsi McKelvain received a Blue Ribbon in Elements of Design, Marine/Aquatic, Night Photography, and a Red Ribbon in the People category; Monika Qualls received a Blue Ribbon in Plant/Flora, as well as Storyboard; Fallon Sachse received a Blue Ribbon in Digital Darkroom; and Jennifer Shaffer received a Blue Ribbon in Nature and Landscape, a Red ribbon in Catch-All, and a White Ribbon in Theme. 

In the Food Show competition Logan Moore received 5^th, Lyndi Luttrull received 7^th, and Christian Cross received 10^th. Wise County took the Healthy Lifestyles Sweepstakes. 

In the Food Challenge competition participants included Caitlin Pruett, Shelby Vanover, Lyndi Luttrull, and Fallon Sachse. Seth Byers, Decatur 4-H, participated in the Public Speaking competition. In the Ag Product ID competition participants were Seth Byers, Thaine Laaser, Decatur 4-H; Keaton Vawter, Michael Hicks, Sheridan Shallene, Alex Samano, Carson Read, and Lauryn Luttrull. In Livestock Judging, participants included Michaela Cross, Thaine Laaser, and Seth Byers. In the Livestock Judging Invitational the Senior participants were Olivia Bettesworth, Keaton Vawter, Michael Hicks, Sheridan Shallene and Alex Samano.

Congratulations to all of these 4-H’ers!

Scholarship 101 program

Attention current high school students and parents! Are you heading to college or a trade school? Not sure when you should take the SAT/ACT? How can you get your tuition paid for with minimal out of pocket expenses?

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension office is hosting a Scholarships 101 meeting at the Weatherford College Campus – Wise County on March 20^th at 6pm. We will cover scholarships, FASFA, SAT/ACT testing, plus how to make your application rise to the top of the pile!      

            Join us for refreshments, door prizes and a question and answer session at the end. The Scholarship 101 program is FREE!  To register for the Scholarships 101, call the Texas A&M AgriLife Wise County Extension office at 940-627-3341.