In The News

Illinois 4-H/FFA Quality Assurance and Ethics Clinic Web Site

Available until June 15 for Horse and July 1, 2004, for Beef, Dairy, Sheep & Swine exhibitors.

http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/qaec/qaec

4-H and FFA members requiring Quality Assurance and Ethics Clinic certification will have the opportunity to complete this requirement to exhibit at the 2004 Illinois State Fair on the Internet. State Fair Jr. Horse Show exhibitors must complete certification prior to June 15; exhibitors in beef, sheep, swine and dairy must complete the certification before the July 1 deadline.

The web certification will be the only approved method for 2004 and future years as approved by the Illinois State Fair Junior Livestock Advisory Committee. The movement to web certification was a result of requests by parents and participants because of busy schedules and conflicts with other activities when clinics were scheduled, according to Dave Seibert, Animal Systems Educator with the University of Illinois Extension.

Participants are required to only take the training once and for the Illinois State Fair, this includes those exhibiting beef, dairy, horses, sheep and swine. Those who have previously taken the QAEC training are still maintained on the approved list and will not need to be re-certified. Completion of the QAEC is mandatory for all State Fair exhibitors in the beef, dairy, horse, sheep and swine classes.

The URL for the site is http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/qaec/qaec . Participants will be required to follow just a few steps to complete the certification. These steps include registering one's name, e-mail address, receiving an ID number, and entering the county of their 4-H Club or FFA School. After completing the registration, exhibitors will receive training on six different sections that include Introduction, Benefits, Purpose, Care, Medicine and Affidavit. Following each section, participants must correctly answer a short quiz to make sure they have captured the knowledge within each section.

Upon completion of these six different sections, participants will have the opportunity to receive training in one or more of the five specie sections of beef, dairy, horses, sheep and swine. At the completion of each of the specie sections, an overview of the ISF specie Rules and Regulations are provided with the opportunity to print these for future reference. These references are provided so Illinois State Fair exhibitors know the requirements prior to making entry.

In case participants cannot complete the QAEC certification while on the web, by retaining their ID Number, they will have the opportunity to return to the web site, and complete the requirements. This can be done by entering the participant's name and ID Number. With this information, the program will allow them to pick up at the point of exiting the training and complete the requirements. Upon completion of the training, the computer will capture their name. Also, before exiting the web site participants will want to print a certificate to verify completion. Also, after the July 1 deadline a list of participants will be sent to each county office.

Exhibitors taking the training should be aware that a web browser plug-in program called “Shockwave” will need to be downloaded to make the site interactive. This program is free and instructions on the QAEC Web Site are provided on how to download the program. Also, several of the specie modules are sizable due to the amount of information and inclusion of images. Exhibitors viewing the program on a slow connection and/or a computer with limited processing speed and memory may require longer download times to receive the images and sound. This is especially true with the beef and horse modules.

Since the internet is accessible through many sources, Seibert hopes that this avenue of training will make the QAEC training more convenient for exhibitors of the five species at the Illinois State Fair. If you have any questions regarding the 4-H/FFA QAEC certification contact Dave Seibert, Animal Systems Educator, University of Illinois Extension (309) 694-7501.

Source: Dave Seibert, Extension Educator – Animal Systems, U of I Extension, 309-694-7501

ISF – 04QAEC News Release