Notes from the
Associate Vice President

We always have good things going on in Extension, so I thought I’d share back some of the data that you report. We appreciate getting the success stories in addition to the numbers related to participation and events. And, of course, having documented impacts are great. I’ll start with a few things from 4-H and later newsletters will provide insights from FCS and Ag and Rural Development.

For 2018-19, total 4-H Club Membership exceeded 15,000. This includes members of organized 4-H community clubs (13,667), in-school clubs (1,274), after school clubs (45) and military 4-H clubs (21). More than 19,000 youth participated in 4-H special-interest, short-term programs. More than 400 youth participated in 4-H overnight camping programs and 1,100 in day camping programs. Youth participants excluding duplications totaled 111,616. We reach lots of kids from kindergarten through 4th grade and then the numbers start to drop off. Which raises some retention questions….

Last year, I looked at youth population by county and noted 10 counties had 1,000 or fewer youth aged 5-19, and about half of the counties had fewer than 5,000 (be sure everyone participates in the Census as those will be the reference numbers for the next 10 years). Fourteen counties had 10,000 to 55,000 youth; Tulsa County had 129,000 and Oklahoma County had 154,000. Our enrollment numbers ranged from 39 to 581 (actual numbers as of today are 23 to 453) youth in a county, with the percent of youth enrolled in 4-H ranging from less than 1% in urban counties to 15% in a few rural counties. As a challenge, I’ll note that some of my southern region counterparts discuss 20-25% enrollment as an expectation, but I believe they have more in-school opportunities. Using the contact information, it appeared that we were reaching 1.6% to more than 100% of youth in different counties (presumably 100+% is achieved when on average every youth is engaged more than once).

Based on interest expressed at enrollment, projects with more than 5,000 enrollment included foods and nutrition (12,000), beef (6,600), followed by goats, swine, and health and fitness. In the next tier with above 3,000 enrollment, it is horse/donkey/mule, poultry, sheep, expressive arts, civic engagement/citizenship, leadership, personal development, ATV safety and safety (home, farm, school, personal). Shooting sports - archery, dairy, gardening (fruits/vegetables) and design and construction – apparel and sewing are at the 2,500 individual interest level. When it comes to reported contacts related to school enrichment, CNEP (EFNEP and SNAP-ED) was tops at approximately 26,000 followed by chick embryo science at 22,000.

The Innovative Youth Leadership Summit trained youth to teach Ag Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and computer science projects, training 54 teen leaders who led 97 workshops. Sixteen shooting sports events were held in 2019-20. In summer 2019, five OSU student were trained to teach 4-H STEM lessons. They took workshops to youth in 40 counties, reaching 2,733 youth in less than 4 months and used eight curriculum kits featuring water and wind power, coding, medical technology, biotechnology, structural engineering and photography. Oklahoma 4-H reports 25 service projects, with 2,279 youth and adult participants in activities ranging from serving as “guest chefs” at the Ronald McDonald House in Oklahoma City to providing backpacks to youth needing them. Our participants in the National 4-H Healthy Living Summit, Photography Summit and Ag Innovators Experience will be bringing new expertise to share cross the state. A new initiative is a 4-H Culinary Camp coming up soon. We have a lot to offer youth in the state!
We continue to have 4-H members recognized at the national level (most recently, two were distinguished finalists in the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards for outstanding acts of volunteerism) and in their communities with signs popping up around the state. Hope you enjoyed some new insights into Oklahoma 4-H!

Damona

Current Events

Insect EXPO Canceled: The Insect EXPO scheduled to take place today in Oklahoma City has been canceled. For more information, contact Andrine Shufran at 405-743-9311 or andrine@okstate.edu.

Entomology In-services Changes: The Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology in-service, Invasive Species, has been moved to online presentation only. Origianlly slated March 30 and April 3, this in-servis now will be presented only March 30. Registration is due by March 23. Currently, the in-service Honey Bees and the Production of Honey for Small Producers scheduled April 30 at the Gordon Cooper Technology Center in Shawnee, will move forward as planned.

Beef Cattle In-service Scheduled: The Beef Cattle Nutrition: Growing and Finish Cattle in-service is slated April 29-30 in Stillwater. Supplementation and feeding guideline principles will be covered for growing and finishing cattle. The primary focus will be on stocker and backgrounding enterprises. Participants will become familiar with new ration evaluation software, OSU Cowculator and hands-on case-study exercises. Fundamental principles that drive software calculations will be discussed and demonstrated in order to give participants an understanding of factors influencing nutrient balance and projected animal performance. This event will take place in Stillwater. For more information, contact David Lalman at david.lalman@okstate.edu.

Ranch Tour Slated in May: You are invited to come learn from Oklahoma’s master cattlemen and tour some of the most progressive ranches in the state during the Oklahoma State Ranch Tour – Northeast Oklahoma State University. Slated May 27-28, participants will experience a variety of ranching systems and applications of the best management practices in these operations. Registration is $50. For more information, contact David Lalman david.lalman@okstate.edu.

Announcements

County Websites Next Steps: After initial launch and cleanup of the Extension website, we are moving forward with the next phase of the Extension web project. The objectives of this phase will be to build out the county websites to the point the old sites are no longer needed. In addition, there will be training of county personnel to update and maintain their sites. The DASNR Digital Team will build out additional pages for each of the county sites, and will be in contact with the respective counties in the coming weeks. County personnel will not need to build out new pages in most cases, the bulk of the work will be done by the Digital Team. The old county sites will be turned off by May 15. Questions? Please contact David Warren at 405-744-1368 or Laura Wray at 405-744-1363.

Workshops Needed for 4-H Volunteer Conference: The Oklahoma 4-H Parent/Volunteer Conference, slated June 27 in Stillwater, is in need of educational workshops. The state volunteer board is still actively seeking workshop presenters who can help achieve the conference objective of strengthening the local club or project group experience for youth, families, parent and volunteers. Volunteers, Extension educators and specialist are needed to instruct 1- and 2-hour workshops. For more information, contact Karla Knoepfli at karla.knoepfli@okstate.edu.
National 4-H Photo Contest: Manna Pro is hosting a contest to build a 4-H picture mosaic online. This is a chance for 4-H members, supporters and friends to upload pictures to Manna Pro’s site. As an incentive for photo uploads, Manna Pro is providing $6,000, $3,000 and $1,000 prizes to the three states that upload the most photos weighted by state population. Help Oklahoma 4-H win! Submit your photos here. For more information, contact Kristin Young at 405-744-8886.

Rock. Eagle Slated Sept. 24-27: Volunteers and Extension educators from across the nation will gather at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center in Eatonton, GA for the 4-H Volunteer Conference of Southern States September 24-27. The planning team is currently accepting proposals for workshops. Proposals accepted, come with a $30 registration discount. Check out the conference portal for site information, tentative agenda, conference overview and to join the conference Facebook Page.

Camp TURF Gearing up for Exciting Summer Experience: Camp TURF is a free, two-week residential summer academy at OSU that focuses on career exploration in the horticulture and landscape architecture fields. Up to 25 upcoming ninth and tenth graders will be selected for the academy, which runs from May 31 to June 12, 2020. All Oklahoma students currently finishing eighth or ninth grade are eligible to apply. Applications will be accepted beginning March 15, with the selection process beginning April 1. Applications are available here. For more information, please contact Shelley Mitchell at shelley.mitchell@okstate.edu or 405-744-5755.

New/Updated Publications on PODS: There are a number of new and updated publications available on the Print on Demand System at http://osufacts.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/HomePage.

New publications:

CR-205 Oklahoma Farm and Ranch Custom Rates, 2019-202
EPP-7189 The Pecan Nut Casebearer
T-2145 Family Caregiving Tips: Cooking for Your Loved One
CR-6240 Commercial Peach-Nectarine Insect and Disease Control

Revised publications:

None at this time

Condolences to: Mindy McNeil, Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Oklahoma County, on the death of her grandmother. Nancy McNeil passed away March 2. Funeral services took place at The Bridge Church in Mustang, Oklahoma, March 6.

Awards

Publications Win Awards: The Water Efficient Landscapes for Oklahoma, E-1051, and Oklahoma Proven Plant Selections for Oklahoma, each were awarded the Extension Communication Blue Ribbon Award at the 2020 Southern Region of the American Society for Horticultural Sciences Conference that took place recently in Louisville, Kentucky. Congratulations to all of the authors and editors on these publications, including David Hillock, Kevin Moore, Mike Schnelle, Justin Q. Moss, Lou Anella, Shelley Mitchell, Casey Hentges, Courtney Keck, Julia Laughlin, Joshua Campbell, Dennis Martin and Jamie Ashmore.

Personnel Actions

Appointments

Brad Raven, Local Government Specialist, Agricultural Economics, effective 2-3-20
Jim Rhodes, Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Safety, effective 3-31-20

Title Changes/Transfers

None to report

Separations/Retirements

Heath Sanders, Area Extension Agronomy Specialist, West, effective 3-13-20

Vacancy Announcements

Extension Educator, Agriculture/4-H Youth Development, Cherokee County
Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences/Special Projects (Rural Opioid Technical Assistance) Choctaw County
Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences/4-H Youth Development, Delaware County
Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Johnston/Marshall Counties
Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences/Special Projects (Rural Opioid Technical Assistance) Latimer/Pushmataha Counties
Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences/Special Projects (Rural Opioid Technical Assistance) Leflore/Haskell Counties
Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences/Special Projects (Rural Opioid Technical Assistance, McCurtain County
Extension Educator, CDC/High Obesity Program, Muskogee County
Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Wagoner County

Internal Applicants Only

Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Canadian County
Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Noble County

Coming Events

March 24: Oklahoma Agriculture Mediation Program (Zoom)
March 24: Dicamba Training (Stilwell)
March 24: Kay County Dicamba Training (Kay County)
March 24: Oklahoma Agriculture Mediation Program (Zoom)
March 24: Poultry Waste Management Update Training (Idabel)
March 25: Initial 9-Hour Poultry Waste Management Training (Valliant)
March 26: Eastern Oklahoma Beef Cattle Summit (McAlester)
March 30: Department of Entomology In-service – Invasive Species (Online)
March 31: Northeast District OHCE Meeting (Miami)
April 3: Department of Entomology In-service – Invasive Species (Online)
April 3-4: 2020 4-H Zoo Snooze (Oklahoma City)
April 4: Innovate: Youth Leadership Summit (Stillwater)
April 11: Entomology and Plant Pathology Open House (Stillwater)
April 18: West District, North Region, Contest Day (TBD)
April 24-25: 4-H Culinary Camp (Stillwater)
April 28: Elevating Extension Through Evaluation (El Reno)
April 20-30: Beef Cattle Nutrition: Growing and Finishing Cattle In-service (Stillwater)
April 30: Honey Bees and the Production of Honey for Small Producers In-service (Shawnee)
May 7: Navigating Digital Media (El Reno)
May 9: West District, North Region, Spring Trap shoot (Enid)
May 13: Wheat Field Day (Ponca City)
May 12: State 4-H Record Book Judging (Virtual)
May 14: Citizenship Washington Focus Orientation (Zoom)
May 19: Citizenship Washington Focus Orientation (Zoom)
May 27: West District, South Region, 4-H Culinary Creations Contest (Cordell)
May 27-28: Oklahoma State Ranch Tour (Northeast Oklahoma)
May 29: West District, North Region, Food Showdown and Cupcake Wars (Woodward)

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