by CrownRandall | Feb 4, 2025 | Agriculture
VERSAILLES – On February 22nd from 8 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., the Versailles FFA will be hosting the 8th annual Omelet Breakfast to recognize the local agriculturalists and promote the agriculture industry. There will be a free omelet breakfast for all in attendance. This breakfast is free but will be required to RSVP to ensure proper breakfast by February 18th.
The breakfast will also include: a farm toy show, agriculture displays to promote the industry, and farm displays created by the local youth. This event will be open for all of the public to enjoy.
The Versailles FFA chapter would like to personally invite and encourage you to enter the farm toy display contest. Again, this contest is completely cost-free and open to all youth in Darke County. Awards and monetary prizes will be awarded for each division sponsored by the Darke County Farm Bureau. All participants will receive a small prize; however, first place in each division will receive $25.00, second place $15.00, and third place $10.00.
All displays along with a tag with your name and age must be delivered to the Versailles FFA advisors, Mrs. Dena Wuebker/Miss Taylor Bergman, at Versailles Schools near the Greenhouse door (door 4) from 7:30 am to 6:00 pm pm on Thursday, February 20th. All displays will be judged prior to the breakfast and the Farm Displays will be displayed on the stage of the cafetorium all attendees will be enabled to view the displays. Farm displays can be torn down and loaded out between 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Feb 22nd.
Rules and Regulations: Division I- (Youth age 5 and under)-Maximum of 28” x 28” of space provided per display and Minimum of two (2) different aspects of agriculture or agricultural-related items. Division II- (Youth ages 6-10) Maximum of 28” x 28” of space provided per display and Minimum of three (3) different aspects of agriculture or agricultural-related items. Division III- (Youth ages 11-14)-Maximum of 30” x 30” of space provided per display and Minimum of four (4) different aspects of agriculture or agricultural-related items. Division IV- (Youth ages 15-18)-Maximum of 32” x 32” of space provided per display and Minimum of five (5) different aspects of agriculture or agricultural-related items. Displays will be judged based on the following Originality- 25 points, Contents-25 points, Neatness (Display and labeling-25 points and Overall Appearance-25 points.
Again all displays are due Thursday, Feb. 20th by 6:00 p.m. They should be dropped off by the Ag/ greenhouse door (280 Marker Rd. – door 4 – near the performing arts entrance) from 7:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. If this date, does not work to drop off the display, please contact Mrs. Wuebker to determine an earlier date, all displays need to be dropped off by 6:00 p.m. on Feb 20th.
If you have any questions feel free to contact Mrs.Dena Wuebker at [email protected] or (937) 423-2369 or Taylor Bergman at [email protected] at 937-621-9136.
by CrownRandall | Feb 2, 2025 | Agriculture
EATON – On Tuesday, January 28th the Versailles FFA participated in the Subdistrict Public Speaking Contest at Eaton High School.
The Versailles FFA had seven members participating in this public speaking contest. Freshman Monica Evers placed 2nd overall in the Creed Speaking contest.
Members are asked to recite the FFA creed and answer questions regarding the creed.
Sophomore Rhylan Broerman placed 1st overall and sophomore Greta Broering placed 4th overall in the Beginning Prepared Division where they recited a prepared speech five to seven minutes from memory and answered questions about the speech.
Senior Colin Batten placed 1st and sophomore Lucy Schmitmeyer placed 3rd in the Extemporaneous Division.
The Extemporaneous competition consists of the contestants choosing a topic when they arrive, and getting exactly 30 minutes to prepare a speech that is four to six minutes long.
The speech was delivered and questions were asked.
Junior Paige Gehret placed 1st and sophomore Adam Rauh placed 4th overall in the district in the Advanced Prepared competition. In this division, Colin prepared a six to eight-minute speech and answered questions about the topic. Colin, Rhylan, Paige and Monica will now move on to compete at the District 5 FFA Contest.
Congratulations and Good Luck at the District 5 FFA Job Interview Contest!
by CrownRandall | Jan 31, 2025 | Agriculture
UNION CITY – On Monday, January 13, the Jackson Friendship 4-H Club held a meeting at the Mississnawa Valley concession area at 7:00 PM. The meeting was called to order by Cadence Burk. Cadence also led the pledges. The roll call question was, “What will you try and do better this year ?’’
The old business was to pass out any remaining fair premium money, give out pins and certificates, and report on a kid and mom who we were helping in North Carolina.
The new business was to sign up for committees, and club dues which were moved by Anna Barga and seconded by Nick Barga and decided that it was going to be $3. Also, the new business was should we, as a club, pick up trash at Eldora Speedway this year? Cooper Nieport moved not to and that was seconded by Ava Nieport. We also voted on whether we should put up the chairs in the grandstand at the Darke County Fair as a community service project this year. Cole Lavy moved yes, and that was seconded by Anna Barga. The enrollment deadline is April 1, and the online website is open. We passed out the member info sheet and allowed 5 minutes to complete and turn it in.
We voted on whether we should have a club project this year. Ava Nieport moved no, and that was seconded by Ashtyn Gower. The members were told to pick up their project books in the extension office.
Then we had the adviser reports. Megan Gower said that there will be no buyer breakfast this year.
Our next meeting will be February 10 at 7:00 p.m. in the Mississnawa Valley Concession area. The motion to adjourn was by Cooper Nieport and was seconded by Cole Lavy. The meeting was adjourned at 7:33 PM.
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by CrownRandall | Jan 31, 2025 | Agriculture
VERSAILLES – Congratulations to Versailles FFA Officers for all three receiving gold-rated office books at the District 5 FFA Evaluation held on Jan 27th.
Gold-rated officers for Versailles FFA included: Secretary Paige Gehret, Treasurer Luke Kaiser and Reporter Maggie McGlinch. All three of these officers completed very detailed officer books to meet the rubrics set forth by Ohio FFA.
The Secretary books created by Paige Gehret contained all the minute agendas, committee and officer reports, thank you notes and chapter correspondence. The Reporter book created by Maggie McGlinch contained all the articles sent to local newspapers, pictures and copies of the Facebook and website pages.
Luke Kaiser’s Treasurer Book contained all the chapter’s receipts, income, FFA membership and fruit sales information.
Congratulations to Paige, Luke, and Maggie and thank you for all your hard work in preparing these books for evaluation.
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by CrownRandall | Jan 31, 2025 | Agriculture
I hope this Newsletter finds you well. It hasn’t been quite as cold this past week, but you can still certainly feel winter in the air. Darke County continues to have sufficient moisture at this time (https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?fips_39037). Continue to be safe in these winter conditions.
For those needing to renew their pesticide or fertilizer licenses, there will be one more training session in Darke County to recertify. The training date will be February 20th, beginning with fertilizer training at 4:30 p.m. and pesticide training at 6:00 p.m. The event will take place in the meeting room at Darke DD, 5844 Jaysville-St Johns Rd, Greenville, OH 45331. Please note that these recertification trainings will be taking place in neighboring counties as well, if you are unable to attend in Darke County. If you need to register for one of these sessions, or if you have any questions, please reach out to me.
HPAI in Western Ohio and Indiana remains an important matter. The number of HPAI cases can be tracked using the ODA website at the following link: https://agri.ohio.gov/divisions/animal-health/hpai/01-poultry. Continue tracking the number of cases and follow biosecurity principles to best prevent the spread of HPAI and other diseases. Biosecurity practices are important for both commercial and backyard poultry raisers to do what we can to minimize the spread of HPAI. The recording for the recent HPAI webinar can be found at the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/FSbbJWROqvLE845lyQYCVa-2bpIVbfpxi8xWn_g77oceOn2k5-7DGZtdoFUNCmrm.PNKcUUWIpdmvA9Ua. The passcode to join is V!8BYZ=H
I will be at Worch Library on February 13th at 6:00 p.m. to discuss Making Pesticide and Fertilizer Decisions. Here, we will discuss the considerations that go into applying pesticides and fertilizers to your fields and gardens. I hope to see you there!
The next Darke County Ag Breakfast will be February 21st at 7:30 a.m., held at Jack’s Cabin in Greenville.
Let me know if you are interested in a copy of the eFields Report, or if you have any interest in working with OSU Extension on future research projects.
This week’s Newsletter topics include:
· Calf Vaccination Strategy
· Cattle Price Update
· Restoring Tired Pastures
· Scours Vaccine Options
· Successful Recordkeeping on the Farm
I hope you enjoy this week’s Newsletter, and as always, never hesitate to reach out to me and let me know how I can best serve you and all of Darke County.
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