Section 5: Responsibilities of the Animal Identification and Nomination Process

The responsibilities outlined here are applicable for the 4-H Livestock Shows at the State Fair.

Family Responsibilities

  1. Exhibitors will be required to enroll in 4-H by the June 15 statewide enrollment deadline.
  2. Exhibitors will review their species fairbooks.
  3. Exhibitors showing market and/or breeding beef, feeder calves, market and/or breeding swine, market and/or breeding sheep or market and/or breeding goats at State Fair must have a signed and sealed official DNA envelope with hair samples for DNA verification. Every animal nomination (this includes all breeding animals and feeder calves) will require a DNA submission. DNA must be turned into their county office and have completed the online nomination with payment in Show Stock Manager by June 15. Any animal carrying an 840 EID tag will require the exhibitor to obtain a Premises ID. Contact the local Extension Office for details. (It is recommended that you make a copy or a photo image of the completed envelope you turn into your county.)
  4. Exhibitors will be required to complete Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA) certificate by August 10.
  5. Exhibitors will confirm that the ear tattoo and/or identification tag matches the animal nomination submitted by June 15 for confirmation of legibility and/or accuracy.
  6. Exhibitors will notify the County Extension Staff of any retags that may occur up to time of check-in at the State Fair. 
  7. Exhibitors will select which animal nominations they have chosen to show at State Fair on the State Fair entry website by August 10. All nominated and validated animals will be automatically listed as a choice option for entry registration.
  8. Exhibitors will be required to bring the breed registration association paperwork to check-in at State Fair for animals wanting to show in a breed class. The registration papers must show the exhibitor’s name or a co-owner who is an immediate member of the exhibitor’s family and is listed with the online nomination in Show Stock Manager. Family farm or ranch names will not be accepted. Immediate family is defined as members of a household including parents, brothers, sisters, and youth in the care of the head of the household.

County Staff Responsibilities

  1. Submit an 840 EID tag order for beef and swine animal projects.
  2. Schedule and publish weigh-in and/or tagging dates if offered in your county.
  3. Request, distribute and collect DNA collectors for families. 840 EID tags should not be distributed without the premise ID being recorded in 4H Online. It is optional but recommended to record on the DNA envelope.
  4. Inform families of the Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA) training options available to them (in person and online). 
  5. Collect all beef, swine, lamb, and goat DNA envelopes by June 15. Families will submit payment online in Show Stock Manager.  Copy all market DNA envelopes for your county records and mail all completed DNA envelopes to the Aksarben Stock Show office by June 20.
  6. Remind families to confirm that the ear tattoo and/or identification tag matches the animal nomination submitted by June 15 for confirmation of legibility and/or accuracy.
  7. Collect Premises ID numbers from exhibitors and input those into 4H Online. 
  8. Review and validate all online livestock nominations in Show Stock Manager for each exhibitor by July 1. 
  9. Input nomination edits in to Show Stock Manager for your families. Edits will be corrected by Show Coordinator. For retags, directly notify Brandy Schulze bschulze@unl.edu and/or input the change in Show Stock Manager. 
  10. Inform families that all nominations have been validated and are available for entry at the Nebraska State Fair entry website https://www.statefair.org/ when the system is open.

State 4-H Office Responsibilities

  1. The State 4-H office will be available to answer any questions and communicate with counties about any concerns they may have about an exhibitor’s animal nomination process. 
  2. State 4-H will keep record of re-tags. Re-tags (beef, swine, sheep, and goats) will require an email (no phone calls) from county staff, which will be added to the file when it is received in the department. Emails should be sent to Brandy Schulze (bschulze@unl.edu), 114 Ag Hall, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 68583-0700.
  3. State 4-H Office will update all County Extension Staff corrections in the Show Stock Manager database. 
  4. State 4-H will upload all online nominations to the State Fair entry database (ShoWorks).
  5. State 4-H will announce to County Extension Staff that State Fair livestock nominations are now available in the State Fair entry database (ShoWorks) for State Fair entry registrations.
  6. Show lists for each species/class will be distributed to all State Fair Livestock Superintendents. 

4-H Animal Exhibitor Handbook