I am super excited about the number of California 4-H youth who are serving in AMAZING ways across the state and representing the state of California in national events! Here’s what I discovered or experienced:

The 4-H Livestock Judging State Qualifier was held on March 8, 2025, during the UC Davis Field Day. A total of 54 youth competed with the Senior division, more than doubling in size from the 2024 state qualifier. Youth came from the following counties: Fresno, Merced, Placer, San Mateo, Calaveras, Yolo, Alameda, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Glenn, Butte, and Tehama. Nine teams competed in the Senior division for the chance to represent CA 4-H at a national 4-H competition. The 2025 CA 4-H State Champion Livestock Judging Team is from Fresno County 4-H!! This team will participate in the National 4-H Livestock Judging Competition in Louisville, KY in November of this year. Congratulations to all!

The 4-H Dairy Judging State Qualifier was held on March 15, 2025, during the Modesto Junior College Field Day. We are delighted to partner with Modesto Junior College and collaborate with dairy science professor and dairy judging coach, Ms. Nicole Morris. Participating 4-H Youth came from the following counties: San Diego, Merced, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus. A total of 24 youth competed with 3 senior division youth qualifying to represent CA 4-H at a national 4-H dairy judging competition scheduled for October of this year. Congratulations to all!

Dr. Erica Pettey, State 4-H Office CES for Animal and Equine Science serves as the State 4-H Office liaison for several of these competitions, ensuring that the contests align with 4-H policy and state qualifier contest rules, providing marketing of the contests and confirming eligibility of youth participating. She also serves as the point of contact for youth who qualify for a national 4-H competition in related disciplines and coordinates all aspects of their participation at the national level. 

Meanwhile, a group of California 4-H Youth representing Calaveras, Madera, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, and Tulare counties participated in the 2025 Ignite by 4-H Conference in Washington, D.C in March. A different delegation of youth representing Contra Costa, Santa Barbara, Madera, Butte, Santa Clara, Alameda, San Mateo, and San Diego counties participated in the 2025 National 4-H Conference in April. Congratulations to all!

Special thanks to Ms. Caitlin Koch, our Yolo County 4-H Program Coordinator for inviting me to attend the Yolo County Farm Connection Day, where 4-H members, in collaboration with the Yolo County Farm Bureau, welcomed local youth on school-sponsored field trips to experience “4-H in action” and learn about agriculture. Other key partners included the Yolo County Spring Show Committee, especially Ms. Nicole Jansen, 4-H volunteer and Spring Show Committee Chair; Yolo County Heritage Foundation; the Yolo County Fairgrounds, including Ms. Jen Beermann, 4-H volunteer and Teacher in Charge. Our gratitude is extended to the Yolo County Board of Education for recognizing this event as a field trip so our 4-H’ers could participate. With nearly 1,500 youth in attendance, the event was a phenomenal success! I was even able to pet rabbits (my favorite!!), a guinea pig, and a lovely horse!

4-H Shout Outs for May 2025!!

I firmly and enthusiastically believe in recognizing people for setting positive goals and doing the work to achieve those goals to the best of their abilities. With this in mind, the 4-H Shout Outs below are issued to highlight people and groups in our 4-H statewide community who took an exciting step forward recently to lead a program, demonstrate a skill, and/or impact a community. We celebrate each of you!!

Dr. Yu Meng, Youth, Family and Community Academic Advisor, accepted an appointment as an Associate Editor (AE) for 4-H publications filed through UC ANR Publications.

Dr. Anne Megaro, Director of UCANR Government and Community Relations, and Ms. Sheron Violini, Associate Director of Government and Community Relations are outstanding collaborators. We appreciate them for their leadership and technical assistance with all things related to public policy, government and community engagement.

There are also several donors/sponsors we would like to recognize this month for providing financial support for 4-H programming:

Tractor Supply Company

Orange County Farm Bureau

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.

Medtronic

BioMarin

Keysight Technologies

Rotary International

Travis Credit Union

This isn’t a complete list of every person or group who deserves a 4-H Shout Out by any means, so stay tuned for more 4-H Shout Outs in the coming weeks and months. A Shout Out to you is coming soon!

In Community and with Steadfast, Unmovable Hope…

Help us update your 4-H member's grade information!

The next time you log into ZSuite, please confirm your youth member’s grade information entered in your 2024-25 enrollment. 

Why is this necessary?

Due to the ongoing development of the ZSuite enrollment system, some families started the enrollment process before the grade section was part of enrollment. Logging back in to update your 4-H member's information helps us with complete data for general federal reporting purposes. Thank you for your help with this!

Please refer to the Updating Grade Information helpsheet for step-by-step instructions.

Enrollment System Help

We have recently updated the Enrollment page on the Resource Center to include videos and helpsheets for families and volunteers. There are also helpsheets for unit leaders who need to run reports.

Enrollment System Assistance

If you or your family needs any assistance using the ZSuite enrollment system, you are strongly encouraged to reach out to your local 4-H county office. Doing so also provides us an opportunity to gather feedback that will be used to improve overall system performance. Your county’s staff are trained in our 4-H policies and are best equipped to provide any support needed.

Sponsors Needed for the California 4-H Horse Classic

Become a sponsor to support the California 4-H State Horse Classic! This event includes the state horse educational contests (a qualifier for the Western National Roundup in Denver, CO) and a horse show competition. This is a highlight of the 4-H program year for youth in the horse program and for counties with a common interest in strengthening the 4-H horse program. Help support their participation by being a sponsor!

Sponsorship Levels

• Horse Show Class Sponsor: 1 Class for $25 or 5 Classes for $100
• High Point Award Sponsor: $100
• Horse Show Division Sponsor: $200
• Educational Contest Sponsor: $300

To become a sponsor, please download the Sponsorship form and mail it with your check payable to “The California 4-H Foundation”. The completed form and payment should be mailed to: California 4-H State Office, Attn: CA 4-H Horse Classic, 2801 Second Street; Davis, CA 95618. 

California 4-H Horse Classic - Sponsorship Form