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Event Features First Sheep and Goat Video Contest/Film Festival

For Immediate Release: February 18, 2015
Contact: Lynne Richmond
(609) 633-2954
lynne.richmond@ag.state.nj.us 

(TRENTON) -- An educational symposium for adults and children will be held 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 28 at Rutgers University’s Cook Campus, former NJ Agriculture Museum Building, 100 College Farm Rd., New Brunswick. A wide variety of valuable and interesting agricultural topics will be discussed and there will be many opportunities for hands-on experience.

The day will feature sessions on equine show grooming and showmanship, dairy and swine breeding, animal health, poultry housing and rules, nutrition, and a 4-H Avian Bowl practice.  The annual Dairy Clip-off and Equine Nutrition Jeopardy will take place. 

New this year is the Sheep and Goat Video Contest/Film Festival.  The film festival will take place at the Round House as the final session of the sheep and goat track of the symposium.  To participate, students must be registered for the symposium and must be in grades 4-13.  Entries must educate the audience on some aspect of sheep and goats; be 3 minutes or less in length; be the original work of the youth; be created from January-March 2015; and include the names of all youth responsible for the creation of the video in the credits.  Videos must be submitted by the end of the day on March 15.

To enter, e-mail Marianne King, mking@mercercounty.org for a link to use to upload your video, entry form and media release form.  For more information, see http://nj4h.rutgers.edu/goats or contact Chad Ripberger at ripberger@rce.rutgers.edu or 609-989-6833.  The makers of the top three videos will receive awards at the film festival at the symposium. 

The New Jersey Junior Breeders Livestock Symposium is sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA), New Jersey Junior Breeder Program, Rutgers Cooperative Extension and the Department of 4-H Youth Development.  It also is sponsored in part by Farm Credit/Northeast AgEnhancement and Hart Agency - Farm Family Insurance.

The New Jersey Junior Breeders' Fund, a low-interest loan program, offers agricultural education/FFA students and 4-H members the opportunity to advance the breeding of purebred livestock and the production quality of livestock. Loan applicants must be New Jersey residents, have adequate facilities for livestock and be either 4-H members or FFA/agricultural education students.

For the agenda, visit www.nj.gov/agriculture/news/events/2015livestocksymposium.pdf.