YQCA – Required Certification – RSVP Now!

~ portercounty4h

RSVPs Required – Sign-up Now: Following are the dates that have been set for local in-person certification classes. Reserve your seat on our RSVP site at http://bit.ly/YQCA2021RSVP. All sessions will be held at the Porter County Expo Center (main building) from 6:00-7:30 p.m. Masks worn properly to cover mouth and nose will be required. (An additional date may be added if/when the below-listed sessions reach capacity.)

Due to 300+ Porter County 4-Hers needing certification, limited capacity, and COVID safety protocols, ONLY Porter County 4-H members can be accommodated in the facility. We must ask that parents and other family members wait outside the class site.

Who has to be certified in YQCA? To exhibit beef cattle, dairy cattle, swine, sheep, meat goats, dairy goats, poultry, and/or rabbits, 4-H members must be certified through the national educational Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA) program.

How does a 4-Her become certified?

  • Attend a local in-person class at no charge, thanks to the Porter County 4-H Council sponsoring the YQCA’s $3 per attendee registration fee.
  • OR complete the online course at http://yqca.learngrow.io at a cost to you of $12 for the one-year certification.
  • OR youth ages 12, 15, and 19 can complete an online test-out option (http://yqca.learngrow.io), good for a 3 or 4 year certification. (Available for youth in their first year of intermediate, senior, and young adult; certification will last through the end of a 4-Her’s age level; intermediate and young adult test-out course is a cost to you of $36 for a three-year certification, senior test-out course will cost $48 for a four-year certification.)

YQCA Objectives: YQCA is an important educational opportunity for 4-H livestock members. Making this an exhibition rule is how Indiana 4-H is ensuring that 4-H members learn about quality assurance (though actually, the program has nothing to do with animal exhibition). Indiana 4-H is requiring this program so youth learn best management practices with their animals. The YQCA program will: 

  • Ensure that youth livestock exhibitors are better prepared to be ambassadors for animal agriculture.
  • Ensure that animals from youth livestock programs are treated with the utmost care.
  • Ensure that 4-H members are contributing to a safe, wholesome food supply for consumers.
  • Enhance the future of the livestock industry so that today’s youth producers can become more informed producers, consumers, and/or employees of the agriculture and food industry.

More information about YQCA is available at http://yqca.org.