Attention all New and Old 4-H Livestock Exhibitors

St. Martin 4-H Trying to identify New Livestock Exhibitors

The LSU AgCenter has instituted a new procedure for validating market and commercial animals for the 2009 Livestock Shows. It is very important to identify new and old 4-H and FFA exhibitors to make them aware of this process. St. Martin Parish 4-H members who participated in the livestock shows last year will be notified of these changes by mail. However, 4-H members who will be exhibiting livestock animals for the first time this year should contact the 4-H Office at (337) 332-2181 immediately so they can be placed on a mailing list and receive this information. In order to participate in the 2009 4-H and FFA livestock shows, exhibitors must be must be 9 years of age before January 1, 2009 and must not have passed their 20^th birthday on January 1, 2009.

The 2009 LSU AgCenter State Livestock Show Validation Procedure is as follows:

Steers, Beef Commercial Heifers, Market lambs, Commercial Ewes, Market Goats, and Commercial Does will be validated and classified at regional locations on September 23-27, 2008. Exhibitors may attend any of the listed sites to be validated. The possession date for the listed groups will be September 27, 2008. The proposed validation sites and dates will be as follows:

Tuesday Sept 23^th Delhi - Northeast District Livestock Show Facility 4PM - 8PM

Wednesday Sept 24^th New Iberia-Sugar Arena 4PM - 8PM

Thursday Sept 25^th Baton Rouge- Livestock Show Office Facility 4PM - 8PM

Friday Sept 26^th Lake Charles-Burton Coliseum 10AM - 4PM

Saturday Sept 27^th Alexandria-Dean Lee Show Facility 8AM - 12PM

Saturday Sept 27^th Natchitoches-Rodeo Arena 3PM - 5PM

All animals must be tagged and DNA samples collected.

Any animals previously validated for The State Fair of Louisiana that intends to be exhibited at the 09 LSU State Show will be required to attend an LSU Ag Center Validation site to be validated for the 2009 LSU AgCenter State Livestock Show.

All animal entries declaring a breed classification must be classified at the validation site attended.

The responsibility of tagging animals and collecting DNA/hair samples will be that of the exhibitor and/or parent. Agents/Ag Teachers must be present and can assist.

Animals must be validated in either the exhibitors name or in family name (Family consists of parents, legal guardians, brothers, and sisters.); if validated in family name when official entry forms are turned in at the parish level, the animal validated must be entered in the name of the exhibitor which will show the animal at the District and State Livestock Show.

September 27^th will be the final validation; no animals except Market Swine will be validated for the 2009 LSU AgCenter State Show after completion of September 27, 2008 validation.

All classifications at all sites will be conducted by the same three classifiers as selected by the LSU AgCenter.

Market Hogs of St. Martin Parish exhibitors will be validated at the St. Martin Parish Livestock Show Barn, located on the Breaux Bridge High School campus, on December 5, 2008 from 4:00-8:00pm and December 6, 2008 from 8:00am to 12:00 noon.

• All validations must be conducted in the presence and observed by agents/ag teachers.

Each parish will designate a central location or central locations where market hogs will be assembled and validated.

All market hogs must be brought to a designated location in the parish where hog will be entered.

Only validated market hogs will be eligible to be exhibited at LSU AgCenter district and state shows.

Hogs must be validated in the name of the exhibitor that the hog will be entered.

The responsibility of tagging animals and collecting DNA/hair samples will be that of the exhibitor and/or parent. Agents/Ag Teachers must be present and can assist.

Market hogs will not be officially classified at these locations; however agents/ag teachers will assist exhibitors in determining correct classification for entries.

Agents will request tags and validation kits for market hogs from District Show Managers no later than November 1, 2008.

December 6, 2008 will be the absolute last opportunity to conduct parish market hogs validations for the 2009 LSU AgCenter State Livestock Show.

Hardship Statement

District and/or State Show manager must be notified within approximately 48 hours of the end of validation if an unforeseen emergency or act of God has prohibited exhibitor from attending validation. After contacting District and/or State Show Manager hardship forms must be immediately filed with supporting material and stating hardship. The deadline for making notifications and filing hardship are September 29, 2008 4:30PM for Beef, Sheep, and Goat species and December 8, 2008 4:30PM for Market Hogs. These hardships will be evaluated on a case by case basis by parish agent, district show manager, and state show manager. Only cases where it is determined to have been unavoidable will the exhibitor be allowed to validate. This decision will be final and not subject to appeal. (any approved hardships requiring classification will be classified as crosses.)

If you have any questions about the new process for validating market and commercial animals for the 2009 Livestock Shows, please contact Hope Guidry, St. Martin Parish 4-H Agent, at (337) 332-2181 or hguidry@agcenter.lsu.edu .