BROKEN BOW – More than 120 4-H and FFA youth in Custer County participated in Animal Quality Assurance Youth Training on Wednesday, May 30 in Broken Bow. The event was hosted by Adams Land and Cattle and the Nebraska Extension in Custer County. Additional event sponsors were Merck Animal Health and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Employees from Adams and the Extension taught the participants about correct production practices including proper animal handling, ensuring water quality, following appropriate feed mixing and diet developing procedures, and becoming an advocate for best practices within the livestock industry.
Troy Walz, Extension Educator for the Nebraska Extension in Custer County said the goal of Youth Quality Assurance is to teach youth about the quality of meat and food products that come from livestock.
“Quality assurance for youth livestock producers means making a promise to the consumers, or the people who consume products from livestock, that these products will be the highest possible quality and that the young producers will do everything possible to make these products safe to eat,” said Walz.
“These young livestock producers need animal quality assurance training certification to show animals at fair. Along with the requirement for fair, we hope that the interactive stations and discussions held at the training provide them with knowledge that they can use as they continue to become the future of the industry,” said Amy Staples, Director of Regulatory and Compliance & Research and Development for Adams.
