4-H members participate in Quality Care of Animals Certification
January 29, 2020
Members of the 4-H program will be required to complete the Youth for the Quality Care of Animal Certification to exhibit animals entering the food production system.
YQCA is an insurance program that covers life skills and animal welfare safety for young people raising market animals or reproducing animals for junior livestock exhibition, said Daniel Jennings, 4-H youth development extension educator.
The YQCA is the new industry-standard certification that focuses on three core principles: food safety, animal well-being and character development.
The training will take place on Jan. 26 in Jacksonville, Illinois, and March 29 in Winchester, Illinois.
“You can either do a face-to-face meeting with a trainer who will go through slides and activities and information for about an hour,” Jennings said. “Or they can do it anytime via online in a computer. There’s an online course and they can log in and take it that way.”
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These trainings give 4-H members an educational piece along with their livestock projects they participate in as well, he said.
“It covers life skills, it covers animal welfare, how to properly take care of animals. It also covers food safety,” Jennings said. “When an animal gets sick, what do we do?”
Participants go through different material each year. It acts as an educational piece for the meat industry as well as the livestock industry.
