Life, Liberty and Livestock

Heather Ainsley
ECB Publishing, Inc.

For those who already have a keen eye out for 4-H programs to participate in, you may be excited to learn of a new club start-up called Life, Liberty and Livestock being offered by the UF/IFAS Extension Office in Jefferson County! This club focuses on agricultural projects (projects involving plants and livestock animals) in the hopes of teaching club members more about America's Agricultural industry as a whole. Members of this club will be involved in many different 4H programs and events in order to establish a well-rounded 4H experience.
This club is open to any Jefferson County resident between the ages of eight and 18.
The cost of club participation and registration in 4H for the year is $20. If the member would like to participate in a specific livestock or plant project, the price of the individual project is not included in the annual fee and will vary depending on what the project is.
Summer is a more laid back time of the year for 4H programs, as many clubs take a break to allow members to attend summer camps or family vacations. The new 4H year will begin on Aug. 1, and will last until August of 2023. While there is no deadline to join this upcoming year, some projects take time to be ready for showing, so the sooner participants get involved, the better. For the 2022-2023 year, the Life, Liberty and Livestock club will participate in a wide-variety of activities, including plant and livestock education, plant and livestock projects involving showing and record book keeping, Chick Chain, North Florida Fair (NFF), West Florida Livestock Show (WFLS), Ag Judging at NFF and WFLS, and many other livestock shows and fairs that the member may choose to participate in.Anyone who is interested in joining the club can contact Caroline Hoffner or Emily Nolen at the Extension Office at (850) 342-0187.
The next meeting will be held on Aug. 4, at the extension office from 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. Additionally there is a meeting held every first Thursday of the month, excepting summer months.
Contacts and their roles for this program are as follows:
Caroline and Alec Hoffner - Club Leaders
(Adult leaders for the club)
John Lilly - CED/ 4-H Agent Jefferson County
Emily Nolen - FAMU Extension Program Assistant - Extension Office Aid for the Club
Gabby Graft (Youth) - Club President
Gretchen Brown (Youth) - Club Vice- President
Sophie Ogden (Youth) -
Secretary/Treasurer: Finn Feinburg