General Rules and Regulations for the Old County Fair Craft and Food Show

1. The fine arts contest is open to all residents of Cass County, students attending Cass County Schools or members of the Cass County 4-H, under the age of 18.

2. A judging committee will be established by the Family and Community Health Coalition of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service of Cass County.

3. Youth will compete in an age division based on their school grade.

0-3rd grade- Clover

3-5th grade- Junior             

6th-8th grade- Intermediate

9th-12th Grade- Senior

4. All work must be original work of the artist; no craft or hobby kits will be accepted.

5. Work shown in the Fair here in previous years will not be accepted and work must not be over three years old.

6. No incomplete work will be accepted, including wet photographs or paint.  

7. All artwork must be either framed or mounted on mats with wire attached for hanging.

The label provided must be attached to the back of all entries. Incomplete or missing labels will result in disqualification. All entries will be hung for judging or otherwise displayed by the FCH 4-H Coalition. Any entry that comes apart will be removed from the exhibition. The Fair will not be responsible for those that are improperly matted, framed or prepared for hanging.

7. Entries will be accepted at the building next door to City Hall in Linden during the Wild Flower Trails between 3:00 and 5:00 PM on Thursday, April 25th before the judging will take place. No entries will be accepted after 5 pm.

8. Entries must remain in place until Sunday, after the fair. Entries will be given the opportunity to be auctioned off via silent auction.

9. Only INDIVIDUAL entries will be accepted.

10. A $5.00 entry fee will be charged for each initial entry, with additional entries costing a dollar, benefitting the Cass County Spay and Neuter Project.

11. Entries will be paid by check to the Cass 4-H Fund. Entry Fees from the contest will be donated to the Cass County Spay and Neuter Project.

12. The money generated from the silent auction will be collected by the Cass 4-H Fund and then paid to the youth exhibiting the project.

13. The 4-H FCH Coalition reserves the right to prohibit the entry of any entry they deem inappropriate for a family-oriented exhibition.

14. Ribbons will be awarded in each class and will be placed on winning entries after judging. Entries will be categorized as blue, red, or white. There will be a class winner and a category winner selected. Class winners and category winners will receive rosettes.

15. No one will be allowed in the building while judging is in progress.

16. Entry into competition indicates entrant has read, understood and agreed to abide by all rules stated.

17. Youth may enter as many categories and classes of this contest as they choose.

Fine Arts Rules

1. The entered work must be created organically. The artist may not use any type of kit, stencil, etc.
2. The artist must agree and abide by all rules and regulations or will face disqualification from the contest
3. Artist may enter as many as one works of art in each of the categories below.
4. The artwork must fit into one of the following classes.

01001 Landscape – Natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests

01002 Genre – A representation of everyday life.

01003 Portrait – An artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression are predominant.

01004 Contemporary- Art produced at the present period in time.

01005 Still Life – A work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, or shells) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on).

01006 Floral

01007 Animal and Wild Life

01008 Mixed Media Open – in visual art, refers to an artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed.

5. The artwork must be appropriately mounted for framed with a wire on the back for hanging.

6. The artwork must feature the tag below displayed on the back. Make sure that the tag has the correct information when attached.

Photography Contest Rules

1. Participants in the photography contest must abide by all general rules and regulations.
2. Photographs must be 8×10 inch photographs mounted for presentation with a wire or other method of hanging on the back.
3. The photographs must be original to the youth entering the competition.
4. Photographers may enter as many as one photographs in each of the categories.
5. The photograph must fit into one of the following classes:
   1. 02001Animals-Domestic
   2. 02002Animals-Wildlife
   3. 02003Catch-All
   4. 02004Details & Macro
   5. 02005Dominant Color
   6. 02006Elements of Design
   7. 02007Enhanced
   8. 02008Food
   9. 02009Landscape & Nature (non-animal)
   10. 02010Motion/Action
   11. 02011People
   12. 02012Plant/Flora
   13. 02013Sports
   14. 02014Theme: “Promote 4-H”

5. The photograph must have the label below attached to the back:

Home Arts- Home Decor and Crafts

1. All participants in the home arts category must comply with all the above rules and regulations.
2. All items that cannot stand on their own must be presented on a hanger for display.
3. All items must be complete of they will not be accepted.
4. Youth may enter each class once.
5. Items must belong in one of the following classes:
   1. 03001 Craft Decor
   2. 03002 Wood Work
   3. 03003 Metal Work
   4. 03004 Sporting Items
   5. 03005 Leather Work

6. The tag below must be attached to the item or hanger when the item are entered:

Home Arts- Sewing and Needle Work

1. All participants in the home arts category must comply with all the above rules and regulations.
2. All items must be entered on a hanger with the required information tag attached.
3. Youth may enter each class one time.
4. All items must be clean and complete or they will not be accepted.
5. Items must belong in one of the following classes:
   1. 04001 Sewn Clothing Items
   2. 04002 Sewn Household Items
   3. 04003 Yarn Needlework
   4. 04004 Creative Stitchery/Embroidery
   5. 04005 Trashion Fashion
6. The tag below must be attached to the hanger when the items are entered:

Food Show

1. No potentially hazardous foods will be accepted.
2. All foods must be on a display board with the required materials attached.
3. If you choose to participate in the silent auction, you must provide the buyer with a newly baked, fresh product.
4. Foods Must fit into one of the following classes:
   1. 05001 Quick Bread
   2. 05002 Yeast Bread
   3. 05003 Cake- Taste
   4. 05004 Cake- Decoration
   5. 05005 Pies
   6. 05006 Brownies/Cookies/ Bars
   7. 05007 Candies
   8. 05008 Healthy One Pot Meals
5. Foods must be accompanied by a recipe card. This card must include the following
   1. Name of Recipe
   2. Ingredients
   3. Directions
   4. Prep Time
   5. Cook Time
   6. Origin of Recipe
6. Foods must be accompanied by the following label card:

Class #: Contact Number:School:4-H Club: Silent Auction: Yes or NoMinimum Bid: Percent of proceeds to be donated to Cass County Spay and Neuter Project?

The number of goats being raised in East Texas is rising. Many people buy a few goats while they are still under the impression that goats are hardy animals that will eat almost anything. The problem occurs whenever reality hits, and new goat owners quickly realize that those hardy goats are mostly mythological creatures.

The misconception of goats eating everything comes from their exploratory nature; they identify things by taste and will mouth and lick items. They won’t eat them, however and are incredibly picky animals generally. Goats prefer to forage on the same types of plants that our native white tailed deer prefer, and will only eat grass or graze as a last resort. If you are wanting to clear brush goats can be quite helpful, but they are not suitable as lawn mowers.

The primary issue we face with goat production in East Texas is caused by our high levels of humidity. Goats were designed to live in dry, arid climates which is a far cry from the rainforest like spring, summer, and fall that we encounter in a normal year. Our winters are also often too mild to freeze long enough to be detrimental to the population of nematodes and bacteria present in the soil. The humidity and lack of cold temperatures creates a great environment for intestinal parasites that are a goat farmers greatest enemy. Goats are far more sensitive to the infestations of intestinal parasites than cattle and horses, which is a lesson that new goat owners will learn very quickly in East Texas. There are varieties of intestinal parasites who can cause death due to extreme dehydration and anemia in less than a week of not managed adequately.

Goats can experience a rapid decline in health when they have a moderate to high worm or intestinal bacteria load and monthly worming schedules can be ineffective as different types of wormers are effective against different classes of parasites. This is the primary reason why goat owners should develop a strong relationship with a veterinarian who can conduct fecal samples to identify the types of parasite that is impacting the goat. Once the culprit has been identified, the correct and effective anthelmintic can be administered to correct the problem. Goat owners also need to pay close attention to the products being used on animals that are used for meat or milk. Many products on the market are not designed for goats or haven’t been tested on goats to determine withdrawal periods and should only be administered following veterinary supervision.

The old saying “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” is certainly true when it comes of goat herd management. Goat owners in East Texas must stay a head of the potential issues that can and will arise if given the opportunity. Goats should be vaccinated with a CD&T vaccine annually in addition to receiving the regionally recommended immunizations.

Goats must be handled to maintain their health and condition. This time of year many goats will develop lice which are visible on the coat of the goats if you brush your hand against the grain of the hair. There are both topical and internal treatments to rid your goats of lice. Visit with your veterinarian to determine what best meets your needs. Goats also need to have their hooves trimmed on a monthly or bi monthly basis depending on how quickly they grow. With the humid conditions in East Texas, hoof rot and foot infections can pose a great problem to goat herds if hoof health isn’t maintained. It is recommended that goat owners handle their goats weekly to check the “Fa Macha” scale which is indicative of parasite levels in most cases and also to ensure that goats hooves are in trimmed and in good condition.

While goats are a little high maintenance, they can be profitable for producers who get herd management down. Does who are managed well can kid up to 3 times in 2 years and are ready to breed at 7 months old in most cases. Does are also more prolific than cattle, often safely having 2-4 kids per kidding. There is a growing market for goat meat in Texas due to our ever changing population. The market trend for goats shows them averaging $2.50 per pound across ages, sizes, and types. — Jessica Rymel, Cass County ANR Extension Agent

It is recommended that you get your private well tested once per year. There is a list below of locations that are within driving distance of Cass County that will test your well water. Please call our office or any of the locations below for more information–

Texasd Well Owners Network TECQ Awards Video

Advanced Analytical Laboratories- Whitehouse, Texas

903.561.8630

Ana Lab Corporation- Kilgore, Texas

903.984.0551

Analytical Environmental Labs- Tyler, Texas

903.509.8700

Analytical Water and Wastewater Services- Hallsville, Texas

903.668.4133

City of Texarkana Water and Waste Water Lab- Texarkana, Texas $20 per sample

903.798.3850

Texas Record Book Information

The above link gives you access to the editable pages and tip sheets provided by the Texas 4-H.

Recordbooks at a Glance– Includes what each age division must have in their completed recordbook

Project Areas– Which area does your project best fit within so that you can tailor your recordbook to be most successfull?

Recordbook Information Sheet– The first page in every age division’s recordbook

The Guide to Recordbooks– This is a comprehensive guide to each step of your recordbook

Recordbook Checklist– This is makes sure that you have all of the parts of your book

Drought Feeding Management- Jessica Rymel, Cass County AgriLife Extension Agent

Where pasture is still plentiful but low in quality the following suggestions are made concerning supplementation for cattle. Cost is going to be a limiting factor as hay prices rise, but producers will have to utilize all options in order to maintain the herd numbers to remain in production.

First, providing a good mineral supplement is crucial to maintaining forage intake and effective utilization. This mineral needs to be a complete supplement with a composition containing 10-20% salt, 12% calcium, 12% phosphorus, 5% magnesium, 0.9% zinc, and 0.2% copper, which has worked well in drought conditions. When adding feed to supplement diet, you want to feed your dry cows as much as 1-2 pounds each per day and lactating cows will need 2-3 pounds to maintain forage intake and efficient utilization of the forage as well as the energy coming off the cows back as weight loss. Oil meal supplements such as cottonseed meal, protein blocks, and liquid supplements are appropriate for this. If only dry, dormant forage is available for more than 100 to 200 days consecutively you need to consider supplementing with vitamin A, as cattle will be unable to get the recommended amount from their forage.

When pasture is scarce and low in quality, purchasing hay is going to be necessary as, range cubes will only be an effective solution for a little while, and will not be a cost effective solution if fed solely for a long period of time. When choosing a range cube, cubes with a large amount of natural protein and a crude fiber level of less than 10% will be preferred. When analyzing the options of replacement feeds, producers must keep in mind that most grass hay has 50-65% of the energy content of grain, so feeding one pound of grain can replace 1.5 to 2.0 pounds of hay, unless it is alfalfa. Because of this, it simply won’t make sense for producers to pay $105 per ton when the cost of grain would only be a little more, but have more energy content. Where hay is scarce, give ammoniated wheat straw a try. Ammoniation of straw with 60 pounds of anhydrous ammonia per ton of straw will increase cattle performance and make it possible to utilize wheat straw as the only roughage in the diet, something not recommended for untreated straw. Ammoniation does not make wheat straw a complete feed. A good mineral supplement will be essential and supplementation with 1-2 pounds of natural preformed protein is advisable along with the non-protein nitrogen added by ammoniation. Toxicity problems, involving calf losses and wild irrational cattle behavior, have been reported when ammoniating high quality forages such as sorghum sudan hybrids. The problem appears to be related to high available carbohydrate content and the reaction with ammonia to form toxic methylimidazoles. Imidazole formation and toxicity problems have not been observed with ammoniation of wheat straw or similar products. If you’re short of forage and wheat straw is available, give ammoniation a try. Stay alert for potential problems which might result because of drought conditions

Some types of cattle are going to naturally do better on a grain based diet. British cattle can be kept in maintenance with up to 80% of their diet being made up of grain. This ratio is not as feasible for cattle with Brahman influence. Even though cattle can subsist of limited forage, and body condition can be maintained with grains, all cattle must be kept on an adequate amount of forage to minimise digestive problems.

The absence of proper nutrition will have a weight loss impact on cattle. When such weight losses occur, milk production decreases and reproductive activity may cease. The end result is light-weight calves and unbred cows. To prevent such undesirable effects, cows either must be provided sufficient nutrients to avoid weight losses and maintain production requirements or they must be relieved totally or partially from body stresses. Unavailability of feeds or their unusually high cost often prohibits feeding lactating cows the nutrients necessary for lactation and rebreeding. Production requirements of the mature cow for which nutrients are needed include body maintenance, lactation and rebreeding. First-calf heifers and young cows must have additional nutrients for growth. To reduce stress and lessen the total feed necessary, the only production requirement that can be removed is lactation. Lactation stress may be removed from cows or heifers by weaning calves after 60 to 80 days of age, or partially removed by creep feeding and holding the calf off the cow for part of the day. In so doing, nutrient requirements are lessened and reproductive activity is more likely to commence or be maintained.

When feeding during a drought, there are several issues that can create serious health issues for your herd. The use of salt to limit feed intake may increase water intake 50 to 75% or approximately 50 gallons of additional water for each pound of salt. Water must not be limited in any way or salt toxicity may result. The over-consumption of urea-containing supplements by cattle on forage scarce ranges can result in urea toxicity. Generally, cattle performance on urea-type supplements is also poor whenever energy or forage is in short supply as the non protein nitrogen must have cellulose containing material to be effectively utilized. Hay cut under moisture stress conditions, especially sorghum type hays, may contain high levels of nitrate. If in doubt, it would be good to test for nitrate before feeding such hays, especially before feeding large amounts. Producers who cut drought corn or sorghum for hay are enouraged to check nitrate levels before feeding. Be sure to take a good representative sample when sending to the laboratory for analysis. In addition, prussic acid or cyanide poisoning can also be a problem in grazing drought stunted plants such as Johnson grass, sorghum, sorghum hybrids, and sudan grass. If forage for hay is allowed to sun cure thoroughly for three to five days, bleaching out any bright green color, prussic acid should not be a problem. Cattle grazing short pasture are more likely to consume toxic plants. High energy acid-producing feeds tend to decrease rumen pH and fiber digestion and alternate day feeding of large amounts, more than four pounds, simply magnifies the decrease in rumen pH. Further, unadapted cows should be started on grain feeding slowly or the problems of acidosis, founder and even death may result. Rumen impaction may result where cattle receive inadequate protein (less than 7 to 8% CP in total diet) and too much of a low quality high fiber forage such as drought pasture. Lack of adequate water will aggravate the impaction program.Hay harvested from vacant city lots, roadsides etc., broiler litter and other such feed may contain nails, wire, or foreign objects which can pierce the rumen wall resulting in death of the animal. When roughage supply is limited it may also be necessary to ensure complete consumption of coarse stems, moldy portions, etc. Grinding prevents selective consumption and helps to mix and thus dilute portions of the ration which by themselves are unpalatable or possibly toxic. Grinding does not in itself make the feed any more nutritious; in fact it reduces the digestibility of the feed slightly, but because animals can consume more, a larger proportion of the feed intake is available for production, and a smaller proportion is used for maintenance. When using high levels of poor-quality roughage in the diet, proper supplementation is essential to avoid impaction. Since many livestock procedures will be using unfamiliar feeds or rations during periods of feed shortage, they should keep a close watch over animal performance and adjust rations as necessary to meet production requirements.

The members of Texas A&M AgriLife will provide equal opportunities in programs and activities, education, and employment to all persons regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation or gender identity and will strive to achieve full and equal employment opportunity throughout Texas A&M AgriLife.

Cass County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Club Manager Training 2018-2019

How to Obtain a Private Applicator License