Dairy
4-H Quebec Dairy Project
Every spring, many 4-H members in Quebec head to their own barn or a friend or neighbour’s barn to select a dairy calf that they will work with throughout the spring, summer, and into the fall. Hands-on learning begins with selecting and training the calf (which can be anywhere from a few months to a year and a half old by the end of summer) so that it can be led by a halter, through regular training and consistent commitment.
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Club Activities and Services
Many clubs with dairy farming members organize evaluation meetings throughout the year to teach their members the criteria to consider when evaluating a cow. Clubs can also organize educational workshops on conditioning or presentation, featuring guest speakers who will explain how to raise, feed, and prepare your calf for a show, or teach proper presentation techniques to help 4-H members prepare for their next Success Day or local fairs.
Community Service
Members also perform community service as part of their projects. In some clubs, members help maintain local fairgrounds by picking up trash and repainting buildings. Others contribute to the global community by donating funds raised by members to nonprofit organizations or community groups. Members of the Shawville 4-H Club helped their community by planting trees and donating funds raised at pancake breakfasts to the Relay for Life charity.
For example, Ormstown 4-H donated the proceeds from its 2010 pancake dinner to Heifer International to provide a cow to a family in the developing world. At the provincial level, Quebec 4-H organized a fundraising challenge in 2011 called “Free the Children” to encourage clubs to raise funds for their “Adopt-a-Village” program, which involved purchasing farm animals for the community.
Innovative Agricultural Tour
Members interested in learning more about agricultural operations—or dairy farming in particular—can participate in this annual provincial weekend event, hosted each March by a different Quebec 4-H club. Each year, the tour includes at least one visit to a dairy farm, often two.
These agricultural operations demonstrate some form of innovation, whether technological, genetic, or marketing-related.
Achievement Day
This special day marks the culmination of a member’s 4-H project. It offers all club members the opportunity to showcase their animals or other projects to fellow members, parents, and the public. For dairy members, this day includes classes on conformation and presentation, and sometimes a judging class or a competition.
Fairs and Exhibitions
Throughout the summer and into early fall, most dairy members will attend at least a few fairs or exhibitions in their region. Some members travel farther to attend a fair. Similar to Achievement Day, but generally on a larger scale and over several days, members prepare and feed their animals and take classes on conformation and presentation. Members aim to improve or maintain their rankings throughout the show season.
Quebec 4-H Provincial Rally
Each year, the Quebec 4-H Provincial Rally is organized by a different 4-H club in its local community. Members who own dairy calves participate in conformation and presentation competitions and have the opportunity to represent their club in the team dairy equipment competition. Members practice the equipment procedures again on the day of the competition, as only participating members are allowed to shear and prepare the animals for the competition.
Tout-Québec Rural Youth
At the end of each year, members can enter this competition, which evaluates 4-H and AJRQ members based on their heifers’ performance throughout the season and recognizes the top-performing members.
TD Canadian 4-H Dairy Classic
Many 4-H members dream of taking their calf to the TD Canadian 4-H Dairy Classic, held annually in early November at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto. Through hard work and dedication throughout the summer, they can earn the right to be one of the eight participants selected from their region based on their rankings during the show season. More than 350 4-H members from across Canada participate in the Classic, making it the largest 4-H dairy competition in the country. Members must be between the ages of 12 and 21 to register for the Classic and must participate in a minimum number of 4-H and open competitions to qualify.
Members are selected to represent their region based on the conformation of their heifer or their own presentation skills.
Preparatory Schools
Club 4-H Québec, in collaboration with various schools, offers its members specialized training courses designed for those passionate about raising Holstein cows for competition. Participants learn techniques such as heifer selection, washing, shearing, competition-specific feeding, and presentation. The program aims to strengthen young breeders’ practical and theoretical skills to prepare them for high-level competitions.
Holstein Quebec Prep School
The Holstein Québec Training School offers three days of theoretical and practical workshops on show presentation, grooming and clipping, nutritional needs during shows, and presentation techniques.
European School for Young Breeders
The E.Y.B.S. is organizing an international competition designed to train young people interested in the Holstein breed (preparing show animals and learning about the breed). Three days of training during which young breeders learn the steps involved in preparing animals for competitions (washing, bedding preparation, feeding, shearing, judging, presentation, and theoretical courses such as marketing and professional photography), followed by two days of competition during which the young people put what they have learned into practice and compete against one another.
Find a 4-H club
There are several 4-H clubs in Quebec for young people aged 6 to 25, offering them the opportunity to develop their leadership skills, public speaking abilities, and community involvement.
