Welcome to Bastrop County 4-H!
Welcome ! How to Join 4-H Projects 4-H Resources
4-H Calendar, Blog, & Emails Upcoming Opportunities & Contests
4-H is a community of young people across America who are learning leadership, citizenship and life skills. Any youth may become a member of 4-H when he or she has reached 9 years of age, or 8 years of age and has entered the third grade. Younger youth (K-2) can participate in a program called Clover Kids that allows them to experience 4-H through non-competitive, small project activities. They can register as a Clover Kid as long as they are in K-2nd grade. Their experience may vary from club to club based on what the club offers. We depend on our adult volunteers from the community to help facilitate most projects.
We are glad that you have chosen to be part of the largest non-formal youth education organization in the United States! Over 7 million youth participate in 4-H each year to become self-motivated, productive, and contributing citizens.
4-H is designed to be a family affair so 4-H parents are encouraged to get involved in the 4-H experience. Ways that 4-H parents can contribute range from serving as a project leader to providing transportation to activities, or even supplying refreshments for meetings or special events. 4-H parents are also needed to help supervise 4-H activities.
Bastrop County has an outstanding group of dedicated adult volunteer leaders as well as a superb group of motivated 4-H members. We welcome your family into our Bastrop County 4-H family! Please look through the information on this page to learn more about our program and feel free to contact the Bastrop County Extension Office (CEO) for more information about the county 4-H Program!
Best wishes for a fulfilling year in 4-H! We look forward to seeing you at events throughout the year.
– Your Bastrop County Extension & 4-H Family
Physical Address:
Bastrop County Extension Office |
Mailing Address:
Bastrop County 4-H |
Office Phone: 512-581-7186
Office Hours:
- Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- Evenings & Weekends dependent on programming
County Extension Agents:
- 4-H & Youth Development: Mellanie Mickelson
- Ag & Natural Resources: Ashley Radde
- Family & Community Health (FCH): Hillary Long
- Look at the current 4-H Clubs in the County and where they meet to determine what is feasible for your family
- Reach out to the Club Manager with questions and verify that meeting time & location have not changed (Examples: does your club have a Clover Kid program, what project areas are youth in this club actively participating in?)
- Attend 1 to 2 meetings to decide if the club is a good social fit for your family and you enjoy the programs and activities
- Once you have found the club that fits your family, register them in the Texas 4-H CONNECT system at https://tx.4honline.com:
- Create a family profile first
- Add each member of your family (youth and adult) in that profile
- Cost of membership is usually $25 to $30 for youth and $10 for adults
- Choose your projects and attend 4-H meetings, events, & activities!
- Welcome To 4-H Handout
- Family Profile Guide
- Enrollment Volunteer Quick Sheets – Renew | New
- Enrollment Youth Quick Sheets – Renew | New
- Event Registration Instructions
- Credit Card Management
- Password Management
- Registration Guide
- Club Managers- Logging In and Viewing Members
4-H is amazing and is not just about cows and plows, but we have those, too! Literally anything can be a 4-H project as long as it has the 4 main components of a project: 6 learning experiences, community service, leadership, & exhibition. Check out the handout below for more examples of what those could look like!
Rest assured that we support your interests and independent projects that might not fit into the categories below to make sure that your experience is exciting and makes a difference for you.
One-Page Project Overviews:
- Consumer Education Project
- Fashion & Interior Design Project
- Food & Nutrition Project
- Health & Personal Safety Project
Click Here to go to the Texas 4-H Project Page for more Information
- Select a project you like – check out a list of 4-H projects either in the menu above or at https://texas4-h.tamu.edu/projects/
- Consider the money and time it will take. Can parents/guardians help?
- Consider the space and equipment that you have at home.
- A 4-H project should be fun, serve a purpose, and be worth the effort.
- Select only the number of projects you can complete – try not to go crazy! Start out with 2 to 3 projects and see how you feel!
- Seek out people with similar 4-H project interests and see what the Project Leaders & County Extension Agents are doing in these project areas!
To help with planning a livestock project, we have a few resources – be sure to check out the Livestock Project One-Pager and the Livestock Shows & Validation Page. All youth wishing to show animal projects must also pass the Quality Counts Test as a Junior (3rd-5th grader), Intermediate (6th-8th grader), and Senior (9th-12th grader). If you have any questions at any time, or you are feeling overwhelmed and are having trouble finding a starting point, please contact the Bastrop County Extension Office at 512-581-7186.
Download the Livestock Project One-Pager
Go to the Livestock Shows & Validation Page
Please Note: Some special deadlines need to be kept in mind for new families wishing to exhibit livestock projects:
Texas has a State Validation program that assists with establishing and verifying the ownership period for livestock animals. This process requires exhibitors to order validation materials (RFID ear tag and DNA hair collection envelopes, in addition to nose-printing materials for lambs & steers) in order to prepare for the physical validation where the ear tag is administered, a hair sample is collected, and nose prints are taken for the species that require it. The timeline for these steps are listed below:
MONTH: | ACTIVITY: |
April: | Ordering time for Steer & Heifer Validation materials Ordering time for State Fair Lamb & Goat Validation materials Ordering time for State Fair Swine Validation materials |
June: | Physical validation of Steers & Heifers; starting ownership period Physical validation of State Fair Lambs & Goats; starting ownership period Physical validation of State Fair Swine; starting ownership period |
August: | Ordering time for Major Show Lamb & Goat Validation materials |
September: | Ordering time for Major Show Swine Validation materials Ordering time for Fall Heifer Validation materials |
October: | Physical validation of Heifers; starting ownership period Physical validation of Lambs & Goats; starting ownership period |
November: | Physical validation of Pigs; starting ownership period |
February: | Physical validation of Rabbits participating in the Bastrop Area Livestock Show |
March: | Physical Validation of Rabbits participating in the Smithville Livestock Show |
Some of our projects have gone virtual or have virtual resources – check out the links below!
- District 10 4-H Virtual Projects:
- Texas Youth Livestock & Agriculture – Livestock Project Support
**UPDATED 2021 Contest rules are in bold below:
- Judging Contest General Rules and Guidelines
- Ag Product: Guide | Project Pages
- Agricultural Technology & Farm Safety: Educational Presentations | Scoresheet
- Animal Science: Educational Presentations | Scoresheet | Project Pages
- Archery: 2020 Information | Project Page
- Beef: Educational Presentations | Scoresheet | Project Page
- Consumer Decision Making: Categories | Project Page
- Dairy Judging: 2020 Information | Project Page
- Discover Science Method: Information | Project Page
- Duds to Dazzle: Packet | Project Page
- Entomology ID: Guidelines | Project Page
- Family Community Health Quiz Bowl: Information | Project Page
- Fashion Show: Packet | Project Page
- Food Challenge: Guidelines | Project Page
- Food Show: Guidelines | Project Page
- Health & Wellness: Educational Presentations | Scoresheet | Project Page
- Healthy Lifestyles Invitational: Information | Project Page
- Hippology: Information | Project Page
- Horse: Educational Presentations | Scoresheet | Project Page
- Horse Judging: Project Page
- Horse Quiz Bowl: Information | Project Page
- Leaders-4-Life: Packet | Scoresheet | Project Page
- Livestock Judging Contest and Invitational: FAQS | Project Pages
- Livestock Quiz Bowl Information | Project Page
- Livestock Skill-A-Thon: Information | Project Pages
- Meat Judging Invitational: Project Page
- Meat Judging: Guidelines | Project Page
- Mohair Judging: Information | Project Page
- Open: Educational Presentations | Scoresheet | Project Page
- Open-Ag Natural Resources: Educational Presentations | Scoresheet | Project Page
- Open-Family Consumer Sciences: Educational Presentations | Scoresheet | Project Page
- Photography Judging Contest: Information | Resource Guide | Project Page
- Poultry Judging: Follow FFA CDE Rules | Project Page
- Promote 4-H: Educational Presentations | Scoresheet | Project Page
- Public Speaking: Scoresheet | Project Page
- Range & Pasture Grass ID: 2019 Information | Project Page
- Range Evaluation: Project Page
- Rifle-Indoors: 2020 Rules | Project Page
- Robotics Challenge: Guidelines | Project Page
- Safety/Injury: Educational Presentations | Scoresheet | Project Page
- Share-The-Fun: Letter | Project Page
- Soil Judging: Guidelines | Scorecard | Project Page
- Vet Science Skillathon: Guidelines | Project Page
- Wildlife Challenge: Information | Project Page
- Wool Judging: Information | Project Page
Contests bolded above have been updated for 2021
Other Contest Opportunities
-
- 2021 Entomology Collection: Information| Project Page
- 2021 Storyboard: Packet| Project Page
- 2021 HLSR Livestock Quiz Bowl: Information| Project Page
- 4-H Connect Enrollment System
- Bastrop County 4-H Links:
- District 10 4-H Links:
- Fall Major Shows:
- State Fair of Texas (Dallas)
- Heart of Texas Fair & Rodeo (Waco)
- Spring Major Shows:
- County/Local Shows:
- Bastrop Area Livestock Show (BALS) (Bastrop)
- Elgin Livestock Show (ELSA) (Elgin)
- Smithville Livestock Show (Smithville)
- Travis County Youth Show (Austin – restrictions apply)
Click Here to go to the full Calendar
2021 Refashion Retreat (Brownwood, TX)
January 29 - January 31Dairy Judging Contest
February 62021 District 7 Shooting Sports Coach Training (Brownwood, TX)
March 13 - March 142020-2021 Bastrop & Travis County Photography Contest Information – ENTRIES DUE MAY 2, 2021
May 2
Click Here to go to the Blog Page
- Multi-County Consumer Education Project - RSVP by 01/18/21
- Multi-County Consumer Education Project - RSVP by 01/18/21
- 01/15/2021 4-H Livestock Email Blast - Major Show Updates, Bastrop & Smithville Reminders, & Weigh Days
- Multi-County Consumer Education Project - RSVP by 01/18/21
- 01/08/21 4-H Email Blast: General Updates & Information
- 2020-2021 Bastrop & Travis County Photography Contest Information - ENTRIES DUE MAY 2, 2021
- Texas 4-H Dog Validation - DUE JANUARY 10, 2021
- Happy New Year!
- 12/31/2020 4-H Email Blast: General Updates & Information
- Happy Holidays 2020!
- 2020-2021 District 10 4-H Community Service Project
- Big Youth Workshop - 01/05/21
- Dairy Judging Contest - Save the Date - 02/06/21
- 2020-2021 District 10 Photography Contest Information
- 12/11/2020 4-H Email Blast: General Updates & Information (Resent 12/14/20)
- 2020-2021 4-H Year:
- 01/15/2021 4-H Livestock Email Blast – Major Show Updates, Bastrop & Smithville Reminders, & Weigh Days
- 01/08/21 4-H Email Blast: General Updates & Information
- 12/31/2020 4-H Email Blast: General Updates & Information
- 12/11/2020 4-H Email Blast: General Updates & Information (Resent 12/14/20)
- 11/06/20 4-H Livestock Email Blast
- 10/30/20 4-H Livestock Email Blast
- 10/23/20 4-H Livestock Email Blast
- 10/23/20 4-H Email Blast: General Reminders, Club Officer Training, & Roundup Contest Information
- 10/17/20 4-H Email Blast: General Reminders, Club Officer Training, & Roundup Contest Information
- 10/16/20 4-H Livestock Email Blast
- 10/01/2020 Livestock Email Blast
- 09/25/20 4-H Email Blast: General Updates, Community Service, & Validation Tag Order Reminders
- 09/22/20 Shooting Sports Update – Lee County 4-H Partnership Opportunities
- 09/02/20 Livestock Email Blast
- 08/28/2020 Email Blast: 4-H Enrollment and Council/Club Meeting Updates
- 08/25/2020 Bastrop County Internet Research Survey – Please fill out now!
- 08/14/20 Email Blast: Enrollment Reminders and 4-H Updates
- 08/11/20 Email Blast: Major Validation Information & Livestock Show Updates
- Email Blast 08/07/20 – State Fair & HOT Livestock Show Entries (Due 08/19/20)
- 08/03/2020 2020-2021 4-H Enrollment Reminders
- 07/28/2020 2020 Professional YoU! Virtual Camp Series
- 07/22/20 Email Blast: Major Validation Information & Livestock Show Updates
- 06/29/2020 2020-2021 Quality Counts Reminders for Livestock Exhibitors
- Starts September 1, 2020 – remember to re-enroll in September to receive email blasts directly in your email!
2021 Refashion Retreat (Brownwood, TX)
January 29 - January 31Dairy Judging Contest
February 62021 District 7 Shooting Sports Coach Training (Brownwood, TX)
March 13 - March 142020-2021 Bastrop & Travis County Photography Contest Information – ENTRIES DUE MAY 2, 2021
May 2