Livestock Leaders Meeting Agenda & Minutes

CALL TO ORDER 

MINUTES 

TREASURER’S REPORT 

CORRESPONDENCE 

REPORTS 

• Agent Report
• Leaders Council
• Beef 101
• Rule Book / Breeding Project Book
• Junior Livestock Leader 

OLD BUSINESS

• Marketing Update 

NEW BUSINESS 

• Carcass Contest - vote 
  • • Ultrasound – pro/cons 
    • Physical – pro/cons 
    • Judges  
  • Cost Benefit Analysis  
• Slaughter Facility / Liability - vote 
  • Glacier Processing Coop – Columbia Falls 
  • Bear Paw Meats - Chinook 
• County Show Judges (July 10-13, 2025) 
  • Rank Resumes 
• Beef Weigh In 
• Breeding Project 101 
• Swine 101 

UPCOMING EVENTS 

• December 14: Breeding Project 101 
• January 11: Swine 101 
• January 12/19: Beef Weigh In 
• January 28: Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leader Meeting 

 UNAPPROVED

Call to Order

Present: Heather Lewis, Brook Gerard, Katrina Enmrich, Michelle Leardini, Desi Roth, Jill Rearden, Brittney Calvert, Micheala Hystead, Falicia Short, Farrah McGregor, Hailee Hart, Jenn Volkmar, Aimee Hachigian-Gould, Cody Loch, Marie Powell, Jill Skinner

The meeting was called to order at 5:34 p.m. by Brook Gerard. Brook apologise to the group if anyone felt like the agenda was not sufficient

Minutes

Brittneyy motioned to approve the meeting minutes as posted, 2nd by Falicia. M/S/C

Treasurer’s Report:

as of 09/24/24 Checking balance $17,456.66, DAD $9,278.55. Total assets of $26,735.21.

Correspondence:

None

Reports:

• Agent Report : Jenn Volkmar - New year begins next week. She received phone calls this week about youth that would like to join livestock clubs. Green Clover raffle tickets are available until 10/11. 10/7 - 10/11 will be the drawing and it is random. Achievement night is 10/27 with time TBD. National theme for 4-H week this year is “Beyond Ready”. 10/1 Jenn will be speaking on the radio about 4-H. Reminder email was sent this week looking for volunteers for the Montana Barrel Horse finals this weekend, three hour shift workers needed Saturday and Sunday.

Old Business:

• Election of Officers
  
  • President - Brook Gerard
  • Secretary - Heather Lewis
  • Michaela moves to accept nominations as stands. Brittney seconds. Aimee does not accept the nomination of the President. Motion passes. One abstention.
• Breeding Project Awards: Book judging and interviews were performed by Matt McKamey and Kendra Lane reviewed books and interviewed 4-H kids. There is $700 left in the prize budget and an additional $400 is needed to award prizes for 4 overall species grand and reserve champions, 9 individual species by age (senior, intermediate, jr) grand and reserve champion prizes. Jill moves to add $400 to the prize budget to order Breeding Project Prizes, Hailee second. M/S/C
• Breeding Project Rewrite: MSU approval process for a statewide breeding project is a multi-year process. We are welcome to use it as a trail for our county.
  
  • Breeding project Workbook Proposal: Aimee will only allow the scholarship that 7 Bar Heart sponsors to apply to the Breeding Book and Interview portion of the Breeding project contest. They do not want a pen display to be mandatory to win the overall breeding project due to biosecurity and animals that may be breeding in the pasture over the summer and cannot be removed.
  • Draft will be emailed out to Livestock Leaders interested in reviewing and comments are due back in two weeks.
• Meeting Date Change: When the Agent is gone we may need to reschedule to the 5th tuesday. Should we include August as a possible meeting month for a show debrief and
  December as optional. Brenda moves to begin Livestock Leaders meetings begging at 6pm unless other circumstances require. 2nd Jill Skinner. M/S/C
  
  • Aimee moves that Livestock leaders add a scheduled August meeting. 2nd Desi. M/S/C
• Survey/Rule Change Update:
• Jill Reardon went through the rule book to fix duplications and formatting issues. Rule change forms have been completed for any issues that were not duplication of information or formatting.

1.	Title Page 2023-2024 Cascade County 4-H Livestock Rule Book	2024 - 2025 Cascade County 4-H	Move Jill 2nd Falicia
2.	Edit Table of Contents	Jill has permission to change table of contents after all edits have been made	Move Jill 2nd Brittney
	Change the committee to current committee members	Brook Heather Jill Liz Jenn JOdy
	Move Montana 4-H Code of Conduct to beginning of the document with Montana 4-H animal code of conduct.
	Pages 1-5
	Pages 5 - XXX beginning of Cascade County 4-H Rule Book	Make bold heading
3.	Addition of Division Chair Definition Beef, Swine, Sheep, Goat, Rabbit, Poultry	A division chair is a volunteer from the livestock leader committee. Division chairs are species specific and there is one chari for each species. Their duties consist of: 1. Finding a round robin judge for species 2. Ensure kids and animals make it to weigh-in, Show ring, auction, load out, and clean up. 3. Work with the executive committee to update the class list. 4. Cleaning of pens 5. Solve problems within and up channels if appropriate. 6. Handle complaints	Katrin moves to accept the county show division chairs as written. Ginger 2nd. M/S/C
4.	Ear Tags (page 6)	Moving ear tags to the intent to enter section to provide further clarification. Separating out the tag requirements by species.	Michaela moves that beef ear tags are allowed to be in either ear. 2nd Falicia. One abstention M/S/C Jill moves to move the Rar tag (2023) section into individual bullet points. 2nd Falicia. M/S/C
6.	Record Book Interview Judging	Record Book Review	Katrina moves to change all Record Book Interview Judging to Record Book Review in the entirety of the book. 2nd Brittney. M/S/C
7.			Jill moves that page 7 Each Record book Must contain can be reorganized into bullet points with clarification of requirements. 2nd Katrina. M/S/C
	Aimee Hachigian Gould rule change involves the carcass contest and the use of USDA and State facility	To be reviewed with all other carcass contest and butcher rule changes as a whole at the October meeting.
	Large Animal Limits	Removal of carcass data statement due to it being in an above paragraph about carcass. Strike small animal definitions and move to its own heading. Additional showmanship animals moved to the showmanship section.
8.	Intent to enter and Show entry	Move to next meeting for rewording
9.	Showmanship	Combine large and small because age doesn’t change for either. Duplications were deleted and organized by species.	Jill moves to condense the large and small animal rewrite and allow rewrite into showmanship section. 2nd Brittney. M/S/C

Additional rule changes are due to Jenn Volkmar by October 15th.

New Business

• Livestock 101 - move to species specific starting with Beef November and make it mandatory for 4-H member with their parents. Make a PDF record book example for new families to review.
• The October meeting will be moved to October 29 due to the extension office being closed.

Adjournment

Brittney moved to adjourn the meeting. 2nd by Katrina M/S/C Meeting adjourned at 8:10 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Heather Lewis
Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary

APPROVED

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:07 by Brook Gerard, President

Present: Rose Malisani, Brittney Calvert, Cody Loch, Brett Keaster, Jill Mackey, Desi Roth, Sandy Harshaw-Irvin, Elizabeth Jennings, Katrina Emrich, Ginger Murphy, Michelle Leardini, Heather Lewis, Allyssa Peak, Nichole Hruska, Bryanna Richards. 

Minutes

No Minutes: we didn't get the minutes from the last meeting turned in for the meeting.

 

Treasurers Report:

Read by Liz Jennings: Loss on the sale, but we need a year-to-year comparison from Lisa if possible.  Part of the Profit and Loss info is from last year’s sales because of how the bills fall, so this is not the best picture.  We will get just the 2023 numbers from Lisa for the Oct meeting.

Correspondence

No Correspondence

Reports

Agent Report: Rose is still helping and will be available through November.  Allyssa is responsible for the Policies and Procedures and the livestock leaders make the rest happen. 

Old Business:

• Breeding Project Books- Judging will be Sept 12th and 13th by Amy Hachigian-Gould, Matt McKamey and Kris Jorgenson.  We need to feed the judges so Desi made a motion to use the card to buy food up to $100, Jill 2nd M/S/C.  There are 17 books and 16 members to interview.  WebEx interviews will be scheduled for Sept 17th and or 24th.

New Business: 

• Rules Changes- must be in by Sept 18th, Monday.  In order to vote on rules you must attend in Oct and in Nov. and be signed up as a leader in z suites and have gotten your leader training completed.
• Nomination committee is looking for a Vice President and a Treasurer for a 2 year term each. 
• Sale Review. Went through "the good, the bad and the ugly" from the show and sale from the emails and suggestions received.  We went over weigh-in, the Auction, the barn layout, new ideas, the judge, the agenda, the sales catalog, the food, the awards, the breeding projects, the small animal aspect and our general administration of the show.  We just had discussions on all the things so we can make notes and or rule changes and do things better each year.
• Rate of gain contest.  It was brought to our attention that the Rate of Gain contest had a miscalculation and Leann Murphy should have gotten first place, Tristen Short was 2nd and Keira Roth was 3rd. Liz moved that we give Leann her $50 and the other members keep what they already got awarded, Desi 2nd M/S/C
• We are looking for people to be on the budget committee for next year. 
• We are looking into a "one fee" for projects instead of intents, and show fees etc...
• We are looking into another Chamber Buyers Education event.  They loved it and want one earlier so businesses can get it in their budgets for the new year. 

Adjournment

Jill made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Brittney 2nd M/S/C

 

Respectfully submitted,

Sandy Harshaw-Irvin for Secretary

Call To Order

Present:  Heather Lewis, Brook Gerard, Katrina Enmrich, Sandy Harshaw-Irvin, Lisa Jassen, Rose Malisani, Ginger Murphy, Leann Murphy, Michelle Leardini, Liz Jennings, Brett Keaster, Cody Loch, Kinlee Loch, Michaela Hystead, Desi Roth, Jill Rearden, Reese Hasting, Austyn & Justine Marchion, Aimee Hachigan-Gould, Melanie Paul

The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. by Brook Gerard.

Minutes

Sandy motioned to approve the meeting minutes as posted, 2nd by Michelle. M/S/C

Treasurer’s Report:

as of 6/2/24 Checking balance $12,844.31, DAD $9,261.27. Total assets of $22,105.58. Swine, sheep, and goat intent to enter fees were received totaling $535. Coginito forms fees were paid For May and June, $15 per month.

Correspondence:

none

Reports:

• May Weigh In: Ginger and Leann ran the weigh in. There were a lot of kid that came, food was good, and good information provided by WRS
• Agent Report: New agent will start July 1.

Old Business:

• 60% Attendance Update: Ulm Pishkun has one member that is a senior that is short of the attendance rule. It has been recommended that she do a demonstration on June 25th at book judging to meet the requirement.

New Business

• 2024 Livestock Show and Sale
  • Facility: Brook emailed Susan the barn layout with the only change being the photos being further away from the show ring. There has been a new sound system put in and it works well.
  • Sponsorship Update: We have $5400 of the $7000 in sponsorships to date. The newest sponsors will get their ad copy to Brook ASAP.
  • Electronic buyers form: Lisa is working with Erin Morris to make sure this is ready and there will be a QR code for buyer registration.
  • ZSuites:
  • Awards: Everything is ordered and there are two payments pending. Buckles from Sheridan may arrive after the show.
  • Catalog Information: Leann is putting the catalog together. It will be ready for a proof on Thursday and to be sent to print on Monday. Rose requested that Livestock leaders proof the catalog before sending to print, she will be at 4-H camp and unavailable.
  • Record Book Judging: June 25, 5 for judges, 5:30 for kids. We need all the judges we need.
  • Division Chairs - Round Robin Judges need to be emailed to Rose. Breeding Project Judges need to be selected and emailed to Brook or Rose.
    • Show: Brook Gerard and Rose Malisani
    • Beef: Cody Loch and Lisa Jassen
    • Sheep: Heather Lewis
    • Swine: Brittany Calvert
    • Goat: Michelle Leardini
    • Rabbit: Desi Roth
    • Poultry: Marie Powell & Felicia Short
    • Breeding Projects: Jill Mackey
  • Transporters are confirmed, Beau and Travis. Baylee Herman will be the ring steward. We need a veterinarian - Brook will work on finding one.
  • Ginger will confirm the shavings delivery with North 40. We have 300 bags being donated.

New Business:

• Marketing Project Day will be rescheduled for the fall in November.
• An all 4-H Dance has been planned for Saturday after awards at the livestock pavilion at 8pm. Brook has a flyer that she will send to the extension office.
• Buyers Education: Chamber of Commerce is a little scattered right now. Brett has been in touch with Lori Wickett. She volunteered to put together a short video that can be shared with potential buyers to further promote the sale. The end goal would be to create a small documentary that highlights the entire 4-H project process. Brett and Lori are in the brainstorm stage, they have not received bids but believe it will cost $5,000-6,000. The Ag committee meetings are the first Thursday of every month. Brett is planning to go and ask for a sponsorship.
• Banners need to be purchased - cost will be $350 - $375, Brenda Byrnes will be invoiced.

Adjournment

Micheala moved to adjourn the meeting. 2^nd by Cody  M/S/C Meeting adjourned at  7:41pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Heather Lewis

Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary

APPROVED

Present

Heather Lewis, Brook Gerard, Katrina Enmrich, Cody Loch, Liz Jennings, Sandy Harshaw-Irvin, Lisa Jassen, Rose Malisani, Ginger Murphy, Leann Murphy, Desi Roth, Jill Mackey, Aimee Hachigan-Gould

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:09 p.m. by Brook Gerard.

Minutes

Jill motioned to approve the meeting minutes as posted, 2nd by Cody. M/S/C

Treasurer’s Report:

As of 5/6/24 Checking balance $12,926.53, DAD $9,255.38.

Intent to enter and leg band fees were received. Livestock Judging.com was paid for.

 

Correspondence:

none

Reports: 

• LQA - good turn out and went well.
• Breeding Project Rewrite - Brook, Jill and Brittany met and will send the changes to Rose so we can approve for changes in 2024.
• Agent report - sheep and goat intent to enter is due 5/8/24. The late intent will be open until the 15th of May. May 17th are the interviews for the 4-H Agent position. Breeding project declarations are due along with intent to enter for specific species. There were not swine breeding intents. 

Old Business:

• Weigh In - 10am - 1pm, Ginger and Leann will work the weigh-in portion. Western Ranch supply will offer lunch for all that attend and is open to all 4-H but is official daily rate of gain weigh in for Cascade County. 
• 60% Attendance Requirement - one 4-H kid will present at the June Livestock Leaders meeting. There are a couple of kids that haven’t met this requirement yet. 
• 2024 Livestock Show facility - confirm with Alena Standly her layout for the Golden Triangle and match her layout to reduce cost. We received $1200 from 4-H Foundation to cover the facility fees. 
• Sponsorship - $3700 has been received. We are $4000 short from last year but have not received sponsorships from some key sponsors that have donated in the past. The committee will be making a second round of calls. 7 Bar Heart has mailed the $100 Beef Scholarship. 
• Beef Butcher Kill Fee - In the past there was $125 kill fee for beef, this year the kill fee is $35 more than previous years. The fees for sheep, goats, and swine have increased to $70.
• Electronic Buyer Forms - Lisa and Book are working on this in Cognito forms. Stockmens bank will clerk the sale. Lisa will ask Kyle to bring hard paper cards for the buyer numbers.
• ZSuites - Rose put together the entry form and built it on the one she built last year. There are options for vet inspection, shirts, market pen, breeding pen, dairy classes, rabbit breed age, and tattoo; poultry meat pen, poultry, supreme breeding female, Breeding project display, breeding project pen, showmanship, ear tag number, brand inspection,  scrapies tag number,  Shavings will be removed from the entry form since they are donated. The shirts will be $10. Registration will be open as soon as possible and will close June 21st and late entry 28th. Catalog entry will close on May 31st. May 16th there will be an email sent to the 4-H kids with the catalog lot number and the catalog entry form link.
• Awards - The budget needs to be increased to $5,715. Desi moved to increase the prize budget to $5715, Lisa 2nd. MSC
• Buyer Education - Brett and Brenda have been working with Lorie Wicket to create a short video regarding becoming a buyer at the livestock show that can be used on social media and to email chamber members. They need some pictures to use for the buyers education video series. 
• Buyer Dinner Update - Meeting with them to finalize the menu on Thursday at 2:30. Should be under budget and will verify the need for a down payment.
• Catalog Information - Catalog form is done; Brook added a place for extra pictures to go in the online catalog created by Frontier. Due the 31st of May so we can have it out by June 15th. Five hundred catalogs have been printed in the past, 280 copies are mailed to previous buyers and 220 are available for kids to pick up at book judging. The cost this year is $1,403.25. 
• Hemptana Donation Update - They will donate at least 300 bags and the kids will be allowed to take the rest home.

Adjournment

Sandy moved to adjourn the meeting. Second by Liz.  M/S/C Meeting adjourned at 7:58pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Heather Lewis

Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary

APPROVED

Present: 

Heather Lewis, Brook Gerard, Katrina Emrich, Cody Loch, Michelle Leardini, Brittany Calvert, Liz Jennings, Sandy Harshaw-Irvin, Lisa Jassen, Rose Malisani, Ginger Murphy, Leann Murphy, Jill Mackey, Aimee Hachigian-Gould 

Call to Order

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

Minutes

Sandy motioned to approve the meeting minutes as posted, 2nd by Liz. M/S/C 

 

Treasurer’s Report:

As of 3/27 Checking balance $12,726.53, DAD $9249.87. 

Sponsorship received from the foundation of $1790, checks were ordered and Cognito Forms renewed totalling $49.89. 

 

Correspondence:

none 

 

Reports:  

• Agent Report: Katrin has resigned her position with Extension. Rose is the only agent currently. There have only been two applicants for the 4-H position. There are 311 active 4-H members and 70 volunteers. All intent to enter and breeding project declarations are posted on ZSuites events. Market and breeding swine are due on April 17. Market sheep and goat along with breeding sheep and goat are due May 8. 4-H will be moving to the Family Living Center instead of the Harvest building for the Montana State Fair. May project day is cancelled. Cascade 4-H Leaders Council will have a fundraiser, more information to come. The Great Falls Chamber of Commerce’s Ag Banquet is this weekend.  
• March Project Day featured introduction to livestock judging with Courtnee Clairmont teaching. Report is that it was good and presentation was well done. 
• 2024-2025 Breeding Project Book is in the works of being updated. The committee has not met since February but should meet sometime in April.  

 

Old Business:  

• April 13 Project Day will feature livestock quality assurance. The following people have volunteered to teach the stations: 

• • Shelter: Sandy Harshaw-Irvin 
  • Water Quality: Seth Juhl  
  • Nutrition: Keira Roth 
  • Injections: Liz Jennings 

• May 11 feeding clinic along with rate of gain weigh-in. Rose and Heather are working with Western Ranch Supply. 
• 60% Club Attendance was reported that there are a couple of clubs that have not submitted their attendance. Jody will add kids that have attended other 4-H events to the spreadsheet. Rose went to the Chesnut Valley 4-H Club to help clear up some of the questions surrounding the attendance rule. 
• 2024 Livestock Show and Sale 

• • Facility: We will receive a contract in May. Rose and Brook met with Susan. As of now, we will only have a barn rent fee. The moving of the bleacher was well received by ExpoPark and we will not be charged. They will also meet with Alena Standley to make sure our layouts are similar to minimize fees.  
  • Sponsorship: 90% people have been called. Rose sent an email updating sponsorships have been received. The sponsorship team would like to use social media to reach new potential sponsors. The committee will create a graphic for Rose to use.  
  • Shavings: 280 bags have been used historically. $7.75 per bag delivered from Western Ranch Supply. Western Feed Corral is having trouble with supply. North 40 will sponsor up to 300 bags of Hemptana at no charge. We will take the shavings fee off the intent to enter fee and there will be no charge to 4-H kids. Lisa motion to accept the sponsorship from North 40 for Hemptana bedding. Jill 2nd. M/S/C Brook will work with the North 40 marketing department to get a full-page ad in the catalog for their sponsorship. 
  • Electronic buyers forms: Cognito forms will be used to electronically register buyers. 
  • Cognito forms use for Livestock registration has been suggested. Rose would like to keep using Zsuites. Rose and Brook will continue this conversation. 
  • Junior Leaders 

• • • Selected buckles and prizes for all categories. Rose will send Heather the projects enrolled to Heather so prizes can be ordered. Brook, Rose, and Heather will meet to order buckles. Leis for grand and reserve, maybe tie dye shirts. 
    • Junior Leaders decided to not have scheduled games at the show. There may be spontaneous games. 
    • Cram clinic will not be offered this year.  

• • Buyer Education: there should have an update before the May meeting.  
  • Record book judging: June 25th starting at 5:30pm. Liz motioned to spend up to $100 on food and water for the judges. Sandy 2nd. M/S/C 

• Livestock judging team software is $300/year through www.livestockjudging.com. $300 fee gives access to everything. 4-H members enrolled in livestock judging projects should have access to a county account for practice. Jill motioned to spend $300 on an annual license for the livestock judging team to have access to Livestockjuding.com. To be voted on renewal annually and share the fee with Horse. Ginger 2nd. M/S/C 

New Business

Adjournment

Leann moved to adjourn the meeting. 2ndby Liz M/S/C Meeting adjourned at 7:51pm. 

 

Respectfully submitted, 

 

Heather Lewis 

Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary 

APPROVED

CALL TO ORDER

Present

Heather Lewis, Brook Gerard, Katrina Enmrich, Cody Loch, Michelle Leardini, Brittany Calvert, Michaela Hystad, Liz Jennings, Sandy Harshaw-Irvin, Rose Malisani, Aimee Hachigan-Gould, Jocelynn Baker, Makayla Baker, Grace Lewis, Madelyn Bailey, Molly Lewis, Kipton Lewis, Shealyn Berner, Reagan Jassen, Lisa Jassen, Marie Powell, Brenda Byrnes, Desi Roth

The meeting was called to order at 7:06 p.m. by Brook Gerard.

MINUTES

One correction to the minutes, Jacob Schott, Sandy motioned to approve the meeting minutes as posted, 2nd by Brittnany. M/S/C

TREASURER’S REPORT

Stockmans bank balance 10,986.42, DAD 9,243.98, total assets 20230.40. Sponsorship and intent to enter fees

Foundation investment committee met with Brad Thurber to move our DAD account to a higher yield account. He suggested a money market that is averaging 5%, and if it begins to drop below 5% he will renew the conversation with the committee.

CORRESPONDENCE

None

REPORTS

• Agent Report
  • Intent to enter info has been sent in an email. The intent to enter will be in Zsuites. Everyone is encouraged to enter a spare animal. There will not be any exceptions to add animals after the intent date. The job opening for a new 4-H Agent is posted. Rose and Katrin are splitting the roles of that agent for now. Rose asked every leader to share one goal per person for the livestock program.
    • Cody: to help as many kids as possible in the beef project to have animals make weight and have a successful project.
    • Brittany: to make sure sale goes well with all 80 kids.
    • Brook: as many kids as possible having a successful livestock project and create memories
    • Heather: to continue to promote the goat project
    • Rose: good working group with the leader, parents, kids that is successful and give kids the education and to be comfortable talking to adults.
    • Kipton: to have a pig that doesn’t fight with other kids
    • Mom Lewis: give confidence to kid so they can look people in the eye and speak confidently
    • Molly: teach my hog to drive.
    • Madelyn: to be able to load my hog on and off the trailer easily
    • Grace: to be confident in showing my steer and help younger kids have a good experience.
    • Makayla: hope weigh ins go smoothly and that hog will have a good finished look.
    • Joclyn: to try to have pig load on and off the trailer easily
    • Liz: to be helpful to new families and facilitate communication.
    • Sandy: to keep the show running smoothly and have everyone happy.
    • Michelle: to attract more kids to the dairy project, both goat and dairy cattle
    • Katrina: to keep learning how this group works and help new families learn about the swine project.
    • Aimee more opportunity for cloverbuds in livestock projects, getting used to having animals around, and talking to judges. Breeding projects need to have better goals that don’t surround prizes and that are based upon meat/the products produced by the animals they raise. Get back to having a meats ID team. Ulm VFD is building a community center that could be used to hold meats ID trainings.
    • Desi: more opportunities for workshops that aren’t on the weekends.
    • Marie: mentorship of young kids and families. Being supportive in each other in every part of the project and show.
    • Brenda: to continue to see kids from the early roles and switch to the role of a Jr. Leader by leading clinics or helping at the show.
    • Shae: to help younger kids and new families that don’t have the knowledge that the experienced older kids have. Helping teach kids about round robin.
• February Project Day 
  • Soap making was good. Three kids came.
  • Rabbit and poultry project day was good. There were alot of kids for rabbits. Talked about showmanship, grooming, and showing. Poultry did not have a large showing. Worked on showmanship, etiquette, and questions.
• 2024-2025 Breeding Project Book
  • A small committee met and Rose has created a draft of a new book. The committee is reviewing the revisions and will report on the decisions/changes.

OLD BUSINESS

• Project Day: March 9th, Intro to livestock Judging, 22 kids are signed up. Rose is hoping that the senior level LQA can do a scenario ( that is more unique and uses the knowledge they hours long) learned as a Junior. Online LQA makeup? Other counties have used it and it seems to work well.
  • April 13th LQA:
    • Shelter - Sandy
    • Water Quality - Brittany
    • Nutrition - Keira Roth
    • Injections - Liz if she not working
    • Heather will ask Farrah if there is a better day for Marketing
    • May 11th other ideas - feeding clinic along with weigh in? Rose and Heather

• 2024 Livestock Show and Sale
  • Agenda, Brook Gerard: Rose made one change to the agenda that Beef Carcass grading will be July 17th and steers will be picked up on July 24. Brittany moves to approve the show agenda as presented. Cody second, MSC.
  • Logo, Heather Lewis: voted on yellow design
  • Facility, Brook Gerard: Susan Shannon meeting is being worked on. Rose and Brook will meet with her and report back.
  • Buyers Meal: Voted on Paniolo (new Hawaiian cafe in Great Falls) to cater the meal. We will order a la carte off their catering menu: Chicken, Pork, Macaroni Salad, and Hawaiian rolls.
  • Butcher: Cody Loch, Michaela Hystead, and BrookGerard toured Tizer meats. Fully remodeled and making a completely different operation. 30 buffalo take up 30% of his cooler space. They did the Lewis and Clark County fair last year and there are good reports from people in Lewis and Clark county. He has an automated rail that lays the beef on the pallets straight off the rail. He only kills and chills.
  • Steer Transport: Travis Standly will transport steers to Helena.
  • Sponsorship Update: Jill has two helpers. Letters have been mailed and they have made one round of calls. Leveque, Hogulands, Cascade Farmer Mutual, Farmers Union have been received.
  • Judges: Carcass judges - Rose has arranged.
  • Shavings: Ginger is working with a couple of suppliers and a particle sponsorship.
  • Photographer: Clancy Olson is confirmed as the photographer for the cost of gas.
  • Electronic Check Out: Lisa is working to make sure electronic checkout works well and that registration goes smoothly.
  • Division Chairs
    • Show: Brook Gerard and Rose Malisani
    • Beef: Cody Loch and Lisa Jassen
    • Sheep: Heather Lewis
    • Swine: Brittany Calvert
    • Goat: Michelle Leardini
    • Rabbit: Desi Roth
    • Poultry: Marie Powell & Felicia Short
    • Breeding Projects: Jill Mackey

NEW BUSINESS

• Livestock Judging Team: Using Judging Pro and is asking if the leaders will pay for the $500 subscription for used practice. Courtney Clairmont has been working with a small group over zoom and some in person meetings. Decision to vote on specifics of subscription to be moved to next meeting.
• Buyers Education: Brenda Byrnes is working with the GF Chamber, they are interested in helping us with another education. Brenda and Brett have been talking about having this earlier and possibly in May. Brenda will present to the Chamber this week. Look at incentivizing current buyers bringing new buyers to the show, ie. a drawing for a kill fee.
• 60% Attendance Update & Concerns: The Extension office has provided a spreadsheet for each club to track attendance. The reason for the rule is that kids who attend club meetings are more successful in the project and their record books when they attend club meetings. The rule is on page 7 and reads, “All 4-H members enrolled in livestock projects must attend 60% (or club bylaw minimum) of their club meetings to be eligible to show and sell at the Cascade County 4-H Livestock Show and Sale. Absences may be marked as excused at club Organizational Leader discretion or if members are attending another 4-H event. Unexcused absences may be made up by attending a 4-H livestock education event. Attendance will be tracked using a Google Sheet created by the Extension Office. Club secretaries and/or Organizational Leaders will enter club meeting attendance into the Google Sheet. The Extension Office or a Livestock Leader will enter educational event attendance into the Google Sheet.”

This rule can be fulfilled by also attending a 4-H project day or a leaders meeting. Rose will take the responsibility as the Extension Agent to contact families that are not meeting this requirement or are at risk of not making the 60% requirement. Livestock leaders are encouraged to reach out to clubs that are struggling and encourage them to attend meetings and project days. The requirement is hard on some families that are very committed on the weekends. Weeknight meetings or project days would be appreciated to help fulfill the requirement. Livestock leaders will help give kids more opportunities to make presentations for credit for meetings. April, May, June livestock leaders will allow presentations at 5:30pm for the first 7 kids. Deadline to have 60% of meeting requirements fulfilled is June 11th.

• Waiting list: The rule change proposal to not have a wait list was tabled and did not make it to vote because we weren’t sure we had butchers for that many animals. The cap for hogs at 75, we could wait for the intent to enter to be submitted to see if we still have 80 hogs. There is kill & chill space and butcher space for 80 animals. Rose’s proposal is that we wait and see what the intent to enter numbers. Everyone needs to make sure to intent their animals so that if they are on the waiting list they still have the opportunity to show if there are other animals that die or hogs/animals that can’t make it to the show.

Upcoming Events

• May 11 Small Animal Weigh in
• Third Saturday of every month is the Small Animal Weigh-In Series at Western Feed Corral

Adjournment

Brittany moved to adjourn the meeting. 2^nd by Liz  M/S/C Meeting adjourned at  8:01pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Heather Lewis

Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary

APPROVED

Present

Heather Lewis, Brook Gerard, Ginger Murphy, Katrina Emrich, Cody Loch, Michelle Leardini, Allyssa Peak, Brittany Calvert, Michaela Hystad, Liz Jennings, Sandy Harshaw-Irvin,  Meanie Paul, Katrin Finch, Rose Malisani, Jill Mackey, Aimee Hachigian-Gould

Call to Order

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

Mintues

Michaela motioned to approve the meeting minutes as posted, 2nd by Sandy. M/S/C

Treasurer’s Report

Stockmens bank balance $10,782.65, DAD 9238.10, total asset $20,020.75, Sponsorships and intent to enter fees were received. Remaining prizes were paid for. Foundation has not met to move our funds in the DAD account, there is a meeting with Brad on February 26th. 

Correspondence

Notice from Stockmens Bank that fraud is on the rise and to beware of scammers. 7-Heart received a thank you letter from Bailee Herman for their sponsorship for her beef project. 

Reports: 

• Agent Report: Today is Allyssa’s last day. Rose will take over until the new 4-H agent is hired. Office is closed Feb 19th. 
• Beef Weigh In: Lots of people showed up with heavy calves. We moved quicker with a new system of loading and unloading. Done weighing at 3:30.
• January Project Day: Was cancelled and has been rescheduled for this weekend. 
• Jacob Shott Memorial: Letters went out about a month ago, awards went to Jaden Paul $2,000, Dakota Hystad $500, Lyle Grossman $500.
• Jr. Leaders Meeting: Came up with 4 theme ideas. I emailed the theme options out on Sunday night for all to vote. We have 4 votes for Hawaiian, 2 votes for dessert, 2 for “Blue Mountain” theme and 1 for minimalistic mountain theme. We decided on buckles for Grand Champion prizes and came up with Reserve prize ideas. Reserve ideas are backpack with leather engraved plaque, engraved water bottles, same acrylic trophies as last year with Bluetooth speakers, steel engraved plaques (like buckles) on other items. 

Old Business: 

• March 10th Project Day - Marketing with Hal and Rial McGregor
   
• April 13th - LQA, mandatory for all first-time juniors and first year seniors. 

New Business: 

2024 Livestock Show and Sale

• Agenda: Clubs liked the idea of having adult showmanship. We can have grand and reserve seniors from each species be the judge and hold adult showmanship after round robin when we are getting all prizes and such ready for awards. 
  -Addition of a club meeting/activity time slot at the end of Saturday. 
• Auctioneer: Kyle Schobe is confirmed
• Logo Ideas - Hawaiian will be the theme
• Facility - Rose and Brook are working with Alena and Susan to reduce fees with setup. We will as 4-H Foundation if they can help us pay for the facility fee. 
• Electronic Checkout for Buyers - Lisa is working with Stockmens and it should be ready for the sale. 
• Buyers Meal: Smoked bid $1800 for cowboy cocktails for 200 people. Nosh Catering would need donated meat to make a $2500 budget work. Armando’s Catering will get back to us. Add to list: Donnie @ Clark and Lewie’s, Cafe Rio taco bar.
• Butcher: Tizer Meats will take beef. He has a simple loadout for carcasses and it will take less labor than previous year. This year will be a trail before moving all of our animals to their facility. Flathead Meat Co-Op will take hogs, lambs, and goats. 
• Carcass: Rose will look for a beef carcass judge near Helena and reach out to the small animal judge for Kalispell. 
• Transportation: Beau will hall small animals. Aimee will ask Brandon and Andrew Gould. Other ideas are Chad Rearden, Calvine Rohr, Travis Standley, or Carsen Davidson
• Sponsorship: First round of letters went out. Donna Juhl and Kayla Grossman are helping Jill. They will be calling the sponsors in a week or so once the letters have time to arrive. They would like to utilize 4-H members to help make these calls. They will be asking for larger sponsorships to cover specific large expenses and the sponsors will be recognized for that. 
• Judges: Marc King for large animals, Jackie Sutton for small animals, Rose is contacting carcass judges. 
• Division Chairs: 
  
  • Show: Brook Gerard & Rose Malisani
  • Beef: Lisa & Cody
  • Sheep: Heather Lewis
  • Swine: Brittany Calvert
  • Goat: Michelle Leardini
  • Rabbit: OPEN
  • Poultry: Desi Roth
  • Breeding Project: OPEN
• Breeding Project Working Group: Rose is revising the breeding project book per the discussion at the meeting. We are creating more concise questions for the project interviews that set the kids up for success. Final changes will come next fall. 

Upcoming Events:

February 10th - Project Day
March 5th - Livestock Leaders

Adjournment

Desi moved to adjourn the meeting. 2nd by Jill. M/S/C Meeting adjourned at  8:01pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Heather Lewis
Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary

 

APPROVED

Present

Heather Lewis, Brook Gerard, Ginger Murphy, Lisa Jassen, Jill Mackey, Leah Mackey,, 
Katrina Emrich, Cody Loch, Michelle Leardini, Allyssa Peak, Brittany Calvert, Michaela Hystad, Liz 
Jennings, Sandy Harshaw-Irvin, Meghan Johnson, Meanie Paul

Call to Order

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

Minutes

Jill motioned to approve the meeting minutes as posted, 2nd by Michelle. M/S/C

Treasurer’s Report

Sponsorship and intent to enter fees have been received. Monies were spent on breeding project awards, insurance, and ear tags. Ending balance for $10,773.92 checking and DA Davidson $9,232.41. It has been recommended that we move the DA Davidson account under the same management as the other 4-H accounts with Foundation funds so that it can work better for us. Liz will have a further update after they meet this month. Lisa moved to allow the foundation 
investment committee and Brad Thurber to manage the livestock DA Davidson account with an emphasis on conservative growth. 2nd by Cody. M/S/C 

Correspondence

None

Reports: 

Agent Report

Office will be closed January 15th. 

November Project Day

Went well. There were many kids and there was lots of positive feedback. Jill built species specific PowerPoints that can be used in the future as well.

Jacob Shott Memorial:

Winner has been decided but hasn’t been decided. Five kids interviewed.

Rabbit and Poultry Workshop

Very good and interactive. Kids learned about ducks, 
chickens, and turkeys.

Jr. Leaders Meeting

14th or 21st of January depending on schedules. It will be at the extension office or online. Trying to coordinate with the 4-H Ambassador meeting.

Beef weigh in January 14th

Barbara Jo will be at Western Livestock to weigh in the steers. 
1-5pm. Lisa & Cody 1-3pm and Jill & Leah 3-5pm.

Old Business: 

Budget

Brook, Lisa, and Brenda created a budget. We need to get donations and sponsorships equal to $15,000 this year to make the budget work the best. We need people that can make sponsorship calls and take the lead on the sponsorship committee. We are trying to work 
with the Golden Triangle Jackpot with the setup so that we can reduce the setup fees. This year we are trying to align the inflows and what costs they cover in our budget. Items that are over $500 will have a category going forward so that we can better understand our inflows & outflows. Jill moved to approve the budget as presented and add that if an expense if over $500 it gets its own line item in the budget. 2nd by Lisa. M/S/C

Project Days:

• January 13th - Dairy Goat Soap Making
• February 10th - Desi & Marie
• March 10th - Break Even Point & Marketing - Brenda Byrnes & Hal & Rial McGregor
• April 13th - LQA 

New Business: 

2024 Livestock Show and Sale

• Proposed Agenda Review: Change weigh in times to allow for only haltered animals at the 
  end of the night. Potluck meal after weigh-in and family 4-H fun event/game, livestock judging etc. Bring agenda recommendations or revisions to February meeting. 
• Jr. Leaders Logo Ideas: will be presented at February Meeting
• Electronic Checkout for Buyers: Stockman bank will manage and work with Lisa to implement.
• Cognito Forms Entry Forms: The advantage will be the Livestock Leaders can run the 
  reports and class lists. We will put a form together and do a test run. It will also ensure we charge correctly for all the fees after the issues we had with ZSuite. 
• Buyers Education: No response from the Chamber Commerce on the proposed November 
  buyer’s education. We need someone to take the lead on this and try to set it up for a future date. 
• Butchers: Cody and Brook have been working with butchers to find one butcher to take all 
  the beef and leave all the small animals at Vandevanter. There isn’t one butcher that can 
  take all the beef at this point. Cody is still working on it. Butchers will get Brook cut and wrap prices in March. 
• Transportation: Depends on butchers and where animals are going.
• Judges: 
• Livestock: Marc King
• Rabbit/Poultry: Martin Townsend? 
• Carcass: Depends on location of butchers
• Division Chairs:
• Show: Brook Gerard & Allyssa Peak
• Beef: 
• Sheep: Heather Lewis
• Swine: Brittany Calvert
• Goat: Michelle Leardini
• Rabbit:
• Poultry:
• Breeding Project: 

Upcoming Events:

• January 3 Beef Intent to Enter due
• January 9 Leaders Council
• January 10 Late Beef Intent to Enter
• January 13 Goat Milk Soap Project Day
• January 14 Beef Weigh in

Adjournment

Katrina moved to adjourn the meeting. 2nd by Ginger M/S/C Meeting adjourned at 8:20pm.

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

APPROVED

Present: 

Heather Lewis, Brook Gerard, Ginger Murphy, Lisa Jassen, Michela,  Jill Mackey, Leah Mackey, Sandy Harshaw, Katrina Enmrich, Cody Loch, Michelle Leardini, Marie Powell, Addison Powell, Desi Roth, Rose Malisani, Allyssa Peak, Brittany Calvert, Brenda Byrnes, Michaela Hystad, Liz Jennings, Brett Keaster.

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. by Brook Gerard.

Minutes

Sandy  moved to approve the minutes as read with one change to number 10. tto stated we allow overweight animals to participate in rate of gain but under weight animals do not participate in reate of gain. . 2^nd by Cody M/S/C

Treasurer’s Report:

Checking and savings combined balance $9,436 and DA Davidson balance is $9,220. No income and ear tags were purchased for $262. Income and expense report for the 2023 show and sale are also attached. Net profit for the 2023 show & sale is $2,370.

Correspondence:

none

Reports:

Agent Report:

YouthEnrollment by project -  Beef Breeding 14, Beef 43, Dairy Cattle 2, Dairy Goat 9, Meat Goat Breeding 4, Meat Goat 13, Poultry Breeding 2, Poulty 11, Poultry Market 5, Rabbit Breeding 1, Rabbit 9, Sheep Breeding 6, Sheep 18, Swine Breeding, Swine Market 83. Extension Office is closed friday Nov 10th for Veterans Day and Nov 23rd for Thanksgiving.

Project Fair:

There was good participation at both acheivement night and the project fair. Leah talked to multiple families about projects. Marie liked having project fair and acheivement night together. Having more hands on for the new families to learn would be helpful..

Western Feed Corral Animal Fair:

Very fun and a lot of people came through the barn. Wasn’t a 4-H event but we supported it with animals and it was appreciated.

Old Business:

1. BYLAWS: ADDING - Rule/plicy change suggestions are discussed in Septemenr. The October meeting is used to collaboratively make rule cahnges with the option to vote. motion by brittney, second desi m/s/c
2. Breeading project ear tags - motion by Lisa, second Cody m/s/c
3. No animal will be replaced after the last intent to enter daye for that species reguardless of circumstances. - motion Lisa, second Jill m/s/c
4. Club meeting attendance requirement - motion Desi, second Brittany - one opposition Passed by ⅔ majority
5. Weigh-in procedures & vetrinary health inspection - motion Sandy, second Michelle m/s/c
6. Light weight animlas will be placed in a feeder class instead of carcass - motion Jill, second Cody - one opposition ⅔ majority passes
7. Rate of gain, underweight animals are not eligable - motion Lisa, second Sandy m/s/c
8. Breeding project awards are based upon species - motion Brittany, Jill second m/s/c
9. Rabbit and poulty can show 5 animlas per species-  motion Marie, second Katrina m/s/c
10. Poultry broiler date change to May 15 - motion Marie, second Desi m/s/c
11. Leg bands may be purchased on your own - motion Marie, second Brittany m/s/c

New Business:

2024 Livestock Show and Sale are the 11th-13th of July.

Butcher - Vandvanters (Flathead Co-op)in Columbia Falls is confirmed & Cody is working on overflow

Online Sale -

Hauling - Beau Sommerfield is confirmed

Auctioneer - Kyle Schob - Lisa will check-in since Cody hasn’t received a response

                Carcass Help - Brook called temp agencies in Columbia Falls to get quotes for 5-6 men to help for several hours. July 18th small animals, and 25th large animals loading in Columbia Falls. We will have to budget for this. Will have more details in January.

                Jr. Leaders - 13 years and older. Meetings will be November, January, March, May, and July.

Project Days:

2nd Saturday from November to May

November: Livestock Project Financials - Brenda & Jill: Brenda will cover what needs to be in the records and Jill will cover budgeting.

December: MeatRabbit,  Meat chickens 10:30-12

January: Dairy goat soap making

February: Rabbit & Poultry Showmanship 10:30-12

March: Marketing with McGregors - have leaders available to help demonstrate

April: LQA 9-12

May: Dairy? Small animal fitting & showmanship

June: ?

Other Events

January: Beef weigh in - January 14th 1pm-5pm Western Livestock

May: Goat, Sheep, Swine weigh in- May 11th 1-4pm Western Ranch

Clinic Planning Ideas:

1. Showmanship and fitting - Mari Morriss suggested for clinician
2. Feeding
3. Breeding
4. Bring more ideas & details to January meeting

 

January meeting will be on the 2nd.

Adjournment

Jill  moved to adjourn the meeting. 2^nd by Cody  M/S/C Meeting adjourned at  8:27pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Heather Lewis

Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders Secretary