Western National 4-H Roundup
Announcer: Farm and Family is a production of the Mississippi State University Extension Service.
Amy Myers: Today, we're talking about the Western National 4-H Roundup. Hello, I'm Amy Myers and welcome to Farm and Family. Today, we're speaking with Dr. Dean Jousan, Mississippi State University Extension 4-H Livestock Specialist. Dean, when does the Western National 4-H Roundup occur and what is this event all about?
Dean Jousan: Mississippi will have youth compete at the Western National Roundup. How were they selected and which individuals or teams compete there?
Dean Jousan: During the course of the 2018 calendar year, we've held a variety of contests. During club congress, we qualify a champion meats judging team and a livestock quiz bowl team and then some other non-livestock related contests and individuals qualify and that's through consumer decisions, judging, and prepared public speaking. Also in the month of May, we have our livestock judging contest and that winning senior team gets to go. Then during June at our state 4-H horse show, we qualify up to six different types of teams to go compete at the Western National Roundup. If you're interested in this contest and maybe going on this trip, now is the time to go ahead and start planning how to get involved.
Amy Myers: What other opportunities do youth have to interact with other competitors while at Roundup?
Dean Jousan: Typically, there are probably 30 plus states represented at this event with probably close to 1,000 people, so there's tons of youth from all over from different backgrounds who participate at the Roundup. Our youth are encouraged to bring pins and they do a pin swap, which is very popular and a good opportunity for youth to meet others from around the country. There's also opportunities to attend motivational speakers, workshops, and things like that to put some leadership skills into practice and then hopefully they do well and prepare for their contests and then they typically have a day that the youth can go out to the stock show to see the type of livestock that are being exhibited and go through the different types of vendors who are at that show.
Amy Myers: While our Mississippi 4-H'ers are in Denver, do they have an opportunity to do some fun activities?
Dean Jousan: For sure. They have lots of activities for youth to be involved with. They have different dances and social mixers. They've got movies that youth can go see as groups. There's lots of activities for youth to really meet others and hopefully they'll be some snow on ground, so a lot of Mississippians really aren't used to seeing snow, so it's not uncommon for our youth to be out throwing some snowballs at each other and having a good time.
Amy Myers: It sounds like this trip is a lot of fun, but I imagine it can be costly. Tell me about the sponsors you've secured for youth competing in Denver.
Dean Jousan: Yeah. This is a fairly expensive trip, so it's very important that we acknowledge a lot of our sponsors that help to offset some of these expenses. In no particular order, some of our sponsors include the Mississippi Beef Council, the Mississippi Pork Producers Association, Sale of Champions, the Mississippi Commission of Agriculture, Mr. Andy Gibson, the Mississippi Paint Horse Club, the Mississippi 4-H Horse Clubs, Mr. and Mrs. Hobson Waits, and sometimes we get money from other 4-H livestock show funds. We really thank these sponsors and these youth really still have to go out and raise some more money. Even the local sponsors that help make this trip possible for our youth, really appreciate that.
Amy Myers: How would current Mississippi 4-H'ers learn more about how they can qualify as an individual or team member to compete at national contests?
Dean Jousan: You can go to extension.msstate.edu, then you can go to the link for 4-H, then 4-H Livestock Program and youth livestock. There, you can learn all about the different activities and contests and shows where you can be involved through the 4-H Livestock and Horse Programs.
Amy Myers: Today, we've been speaking with Dean Jousan, Mississippi State University Extension 4-H Livestock Specialist. I'm Amy Myers and this has been Farm and Family. Have a great day.
Announcer: Farm and Family is a production of the Mississippi State University Extension Service.