The primary purpose of 4-H is to create an environment of positive youth development and hands-on learning opportunities to help them grow into competent, caring, and contributing members of society.  Participating in dairy skill-a-thon activities like Dairy Challenge provides an excellent opportunity for youth to increase their dairy knowledge of in many facets of the dairy field using an applied and hands-on model.  

1. All participants must be in good standing and a bona-fide 4-H member in their county of participation.

2. All contestants will be considered as "individuals" (they do not have to belong to a "team" to participate).

3. For these contests, a "team" is defined as a group of either three or four individuals whose contest scores will be considered as a "team score."  Prior to the state contest, these team members may have worked together in a cooperative effort, but not necessarily.  If there are 3 or 4 individuals from a county on the same level, they must compete as a team also

4. Each county can have a maximum of 8 contestants for each level; Beginner, Junior and Senior for the contest held at the New York State Fair each year.

5. The members of a particular "team" should all be from the same county unless there is a multi-county program agreement.  If a county does not have enough team members to fill 2 full teams (up to 8 participants per level), counties in the same 4-H Dairy Educational District may combine contestants to make a full team or additional team as-long-as the maximum number of participants has not exceeded 8 for each level.

6. If a county has more than 4 individuals but less than 8 and there is not an opportunity to add members from another county within the 4-H Dairy Educational District to form a team, those youth may participate in the contest as individual participants.  Members of the team and those competing as individuals must be identified at registration.  Individual participants are not eligible for team awards but will compete for individual placings.

7.   The New York State 4-H Membership year runs from October 1 to September 30.

 Persons with an intellectual disability may participate fully in 4-H programs if their developmental age is considered to fall between 8 and 19 years of age. Age – All contestants must be 8 by January 1 of the current calendar year and not have reached their 19th birthday by or on January 1 of the current year.   To be eligible for selection as a member of a state team, contestants must have been at least 14 years of age by January 1 of the current year.

8.  Entry will be in Beginner, Junior or Senior levels or divisions.  Beginner division includes youth aged 8 to 10 years as of January 1, Junior team members must be at least 9 and less than 14 years old as of January 1 of the current year.  Senior members must be at least 14 years old as of January 1 of the current year and not reached their 19th birthday prior to or on January 1 of the current year.

9. If a youth participates at the State Fair Contest and goes on to Harrisburg for the Dairy Management contest and places as high individual at the contest in a prior year, regardless of state or county representation, that youth is ineligible to compete at our State Dairy Challenge contest held at the State Fair in subsequent years or the Junior Dairy Management Contest in Harrisburg, PA. 

10.  Current active agricultural students in private High Schools with an Agricultural curriculum may enter the contest and compete for individual awards. They may not have completed one quarter/semester of post high school education, nor placed as high individual in this contest in a prior year.

11.  There will be a pre-registration forms emailed to counties for sign-up.  Pre-registration is strongly encouraged for the contest being held at the State Fair but, with exception, registration prior to the start of the event will take place in the dairy cattle showring on contest day at designated times.  Contestants are expected to provide their own pencils/pens when needed for a contest.

12. The use of cell phones by contestants will not be permitted during any of the dairy youth educational contests.

13.  Because of scheduling at the Pennsylvania All-American, youth cannot compete in both the Junior Management Contest and the Dairy Judging Contest in Harrisburg in the same contest year.

14.  In cases where the placing of a contestant is not clear or there is a duplication of a number, the lowest possible score using the information presented will be used.

15. Calculating team scores will include the top 3 individual scores of the team members.

16. All ties will be broken by the contest coordinator using prescribed procedures.

17.  Award ribbons to each member of the top 5 teams, ribbons to show rank of team.  Ribbon to each of the top 10 individuals, ribbons to show rank.

18.  Contestants will not be allowed to take books, notes or writing paper into the contest except cards or handouts as provided by the contest coordinators.  Cell phones and other portable electronic devices are not allowed.

19. While the contest is in progress there shall be no communication among the contestants or between a contestant and anyone else, except as directed by the superintendent or his/her representative.

20. Stations will include the following but not limited to:

1. Judging – four animals to be placed on body conformation.
2. Linear Trait Evaluation – select animals which best answer questions on their linear type evaluation.
3. Farm and Food Safety – questions relating to safe practices involved with farm, livestock and machinery plus handling and production of food.
4. Feeds & Nutrient Mgt.– identify foodstuffs and/or answer questions about nutrition components and use in balanced dairy feeding program.
5. Dairy Beef – identifying cuts, proper cooking, and safe handling of dairy meats.
6. Dairy Genetics – understand genetic terms and values that appear in sire and cow genetic summary data.
7. Herd Health/Animal Care – understanding of antibiotics and their responsible use, how they relate to animal care and new Veterinary Feed Directive.
8. Reproduction - questions related to A.I. breeding and reproduction management for cows and heifers.
9. Farm Business Management and current issues (for Senior and Junior Groups only)

21.  Station topics may be changed or substituted as needed.  Stations are worth 50 points each except Farm Business Management is worth 100 points.

22.  Youth will be divided into smaller groups of same age level.  Participants will rotate through stations in the order announced by contest officials with each station being timed at 12 to 15 minutes.

23.   Counties will be billed $150 per youth with membership in specified county who represents New York State as a team member at the Junior Dairy Management contest in Harrisburg, PA.    

Dairy Challenge Rules PDF