New Livestock Quality Assurance Course Ready for Action

Nebraska Extension is excited to announce that the new National Livestock Quality Assurance Course called Youth for the Quality Care of Animals or (YQCA) is now available to both 4-H and FFA youth.

Anyone who had not registered for the Nebraska LQA online course prior to April 1, 2017 should now navigate to the NEW online YQCA course at yqca.learngrow.io. 4-H youth will use your FAMILY 4HOnline login and password information to access the courses for the ACTIVE youth in your family. FFA members will go to the same website, but their access into the course is through a different link. All 4-Hers need to use the 4-H tab and not the FFA tab even if they are members of both organizations.

All registration questions with YQCA should be directed to help@yqca.org. The YQCA site is user friendly and should make it easy for 4-H families to complete their Quality Assurance training for this year.

4-Hers who have started their Quality Assurance training in the “now retired” Nebraska Livestock Quality Assurance course will still be able to complete their modules and print off their certificates of completion to take to the Extension Office.

The new YQCA course does have an enrollment fee of $12 per youth which is payable online when you enroll. HOWEVER… Thanks to a generous donation from the Dodge County Cattlemen, they are sponsoring coupons to Dodge County 4-H members to cover the enrollment fee in 2017. Coupon codes are a one-time-use code so each 4-H member will need to have their own coupon code. Coupons codes may be obtained by contacting Amber at the Dodge County Extension office at 402-727-2775.

Completion of Livestock Quality Assurance is a requirement of all 4-H and FFA youth who plan to exhibit beef, sheep, swine, dairy, dairy goats, meat goats, rabbits and poultry. Completion enables youth to exhibit livestock at county, district and state shows as well as AKSARBEN and other national shows. One additional benefit to the new YQCA course is that it includes a Young Adult piece for those who are between the ages of 19-21 and are still exhibiting in FFA.

Youth planning to exhibit during the 2017 summer show season do need to have their quality assurance completed by June 15th.

*There is currently a glitch in the new YQCA (Youth for the Quality Care of Animals) system that is not allowing Extension offices to save the YQCA completion certificates. Until further notice, ALL 4-H'ERS MUST PRINT THEIR CERTIFICATES & HAND THEM INTO THE EXTENSION OFFICE FOR VERIFICATION