YQCA
YQCA Main Site - Youth Quality Care of Animals
Complete your 2025 YQCA Certification during Winter Break!
Certification is required yearly for all 4-H youth participating in Beef, Dairy Cattle, Goat, Poultry, Rabbit, Sheep, and Swine. (Horse, Cat, Dog, and Household Pet exhibitors are not required to complete YQCA Training.)
Age divisions for YQCA certification are based on 4-H member age as of January 1, 2025.
Exhibitors are required to complete training by June 15. Those who do not complete the training will not be eligible to exhibit livestock at the Dixon County Fair or the Nebraska State Fair. No exceptions.
Provide certificate copies (print or digital) to the Extension Office
- YQCA Login
- Web-Based Training Help Document
- Instructor-Led Training Help Document
- Test-Out Help Document - Available for youth ages 12, 15, and 19, for only youth in the first year of Age Level.
- Saving and Printing YQCA Certificates
- Hearing Disability Accommodations
Animal Resources
General Livestock
- 4-H/FFA Market Beef Weigh-In, Saturday, February 8, 10:00 AM-Noon, Haskell Farm.
- 4-H Livestock Superintendent Advisory Meeting, Monday, February 24, 7:00 PM, at Haskell Ag Lab.
- Nebraska 4-H Livestock Information Series
- State Fair Livestock Identification, Nomination, and Entry Website
- 2025 State Fair Livestock Nomination Identification Requirements
- ShowStock Manager Login
- Show Stock Manager - Step by Step Instructions for Nominating Livestock
- Ak-Sar-Ben - Instructions for Nominating Livestock
- State Fair Live Animal Exhibitor Resources
- Nebraska Department of Agriculture Animal Diseases
State Livestock Program
- Farrowed & Owned Swine Cohort
- Fed Steer Challenge
- Great Plains Livestock Judging Circuit
- Livestock Achievement Program
- Livestock Information Series
- Online Livestock Judging Video Series
- Premier Animal Science Event
- Winners Unlimited UNL Livestock Judging Camp
Premise ID Requirements
Beef
- Breeding Validation Worksheet
- 4-H Bucket Calf Project Guide
- Nebraska EID Tagging Guide
- Cattle Hair Sample Collection Instructions
- Breeding Beef Tattoo Video - UNL Beef
- 4H357 4-H Guide for Evaluating Livestock Showmanship Contests: Beef, Sheep, Swine
Horse
- Equine Webinar Series, Horsemanship Study Courses, Horsemanship Advancement Levels, 4-H Horse Stampede, District Horse Shows, State Horse Expo, and State 4-H Rodeo
- Fonner Park - State 4-H Horse Show
- State 4-H Horse Expo
- Light Horse Project Record Book
- Equine Webinar Series
Sheep - Goat - Swine
- Sheep/Goat Hair Sample Collection Instructions
- Swine Hair Sample Collection Instructions
- Scrapie Information for Sheep & Goats - In 2001 the USDA initiated a program to eradicate scrapie from the nation's sheep flocks and goat herds. The NE State Fair requires that all sheep and goats be identified with a scrapie tag and these are the guidelines that Dixon County follows.
- To request these official sheep and goat tags, a flock or premises ID or both, call 1-866-USDA-Tag (866-873-2824).
- 1-866-USDA-TAG has a new telephone tree (implemented in February 2021) that will gather information from the caller to direct them to the correct VS or State office to answer their questions about sheep and goat identification. When prompted, callers will either key in or say the numbers on their telephone keypad corresponding to the two-letter postal abbreviation of the State or territory where the flock or herd about which they are calling is located.
Poultry - Rabbit
- Exhibiting 4-H Poultry
- Instructions for Tattooing Rabbits
- Example Rabbit Showmanship Speech
- 4-H Rabbit Showmanship Questions
- Rabbit Companion Science
Companion Animal
Animal Affidavit Forms
Deadline is June 15, with exception to Horse ID's. All County and State Horse IDs are due May 5.
pdf files require the free Adobe Reader. If you have trouble viewing the files, you may need to update to the current version.
- Market Beef
- Breeding Beef
- Cow/Calf Pair
- Bucket Calf
- Return Bucket Calf
- Feeder Calf
- Dairy Beef
- Horse Identification - due May 5, no exceptions
- Two & Three Year Old Western Pleasure - due May 5, no exceptions
- Market Swine
- Breeding Swine
- Market Lamb
- Breeding Sheep
- Market Goat
- Dairy Goat
- Breeding Goat
- Pygmy Goat / Companion Goat
- Rabbit