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Youth Programs Committee Report
April 6, 2005

The Youth Programs Committee met on Wednesday April 6, 2005 from 8:00 A.M. to 11:45 A.M. CST, during the NIAA 2005 Annual Meeting in St. Paul Minnesota, with 12 people present.  Dr. Jeff Goodwin served as the Chair and Dr. Jan Busboom served as the Vice-Chair.

The committee session focused on various issues affecting youth livestock projects. 

Dr. Jan Busboom, Update on lamb tail docking issue.

Brad Rugg & Juanita Reed-Boniface, Livestock quality assurance & ethics for youth producers: the Minnesota model: This effort is unique because:

• It coordinates the concepts of ethics education with quality assurance

• It has developed two levels or curriculum that are more age appropriate than other materials being used in some states

• It requires 7 hours of mandatory training per year for any youth who exhibit at the MN State Fair

Dr. Jeff Goodwin, Overview of the 2004 National Market Hog Symposium.

Old Business: No old business

New Business:

• Resolution # 73 “Proper Tail Docking of Lambs” was amended as shown on the accompanying document.

• Resolution # 74 “Unethical and Illegal Activity Associated with Livestock Expositions” continues to be supported by this committee.

• The consensus of the group was that the youth programs committee takes action to develop pages on the NIAA website to support youth quality assurance and ethics training and educational materials.  The idea is for NIAA to become the go to place for educators to turn to locate and access quality assurance and ethics educational materials.  The group plans to assess the feasibility of establishing this clearinghouse for these educational materials and plan to construct the site in the next 6 months and start publicizing the site in September of 2005.  Jan Busboom will chair this effort and an IT person at the Colorado State 4-H Office will be enlisted by Jeff Goodwin to support the effort.  

General discussion: Juanita Reed-Boniface explained to the audience that the 10,000 youth who are reached with high quality assurance & ethics educational programs in Minnesota each year can be traced back to the LCI sponsored National Youth Livestock Ethics Symposia which were held in 1995 and 1996 and subsequent support on these issues from NIAA.  She expresses her gratitude for the support of LCI and in turn NIAA when no other national level animal agriculture organization would lend such support for this type of needed educational effort. 

Committee Session adjourned at 11:45 A.M.