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It is time to order broiler chicks! We will be ordering chicks for both the parish and state shows.The deadline to order chicks for both shows is November 6, 2025.Be sure to order separate sets of birds for each show!You can only enter one pen of pullets and one pen of cockerels.Chicks are $.55 per chick for parish and $.75 for per chick for state.We recommend that you order at least 20-25 chicks for each show.Chicks will be straight run and not sexed.Order forms can be found online or picked up from the 4-H Office.
We will again host two cookery contests this year! The Ground Beef, Rice and Bento contests will be held on Monday, November 10, 2025, at the 4-H office.
Commodity Cookery Rules & Regulations (All Grades): Doors will open at 7:30am. for those who have school that day. Others may bring their dish(es) at 8:30am. Dishes may be dropped off by a parent, and you do not have to be present to receive an award. Judging will begin at 9:00 AM. Once judging begins, no late dishes will be accepted. ALL participants must submit their recipe at the time of entry with category, division, name, grade and school club on the back of the recipe. Only one copy of the recipe (neatly handwritten or typed) is required. Each participant may ONLY ENTER ONE DISH IN EACH COMMODITY SUBCATEGORY. For example, you can enter a dish in Rice Main Dish and one in Rice Dessert, but NOT two in Rice Dessert.
Remember, dishes must be prepared at home. Each dish must be chilled on ice to 40° or lower (even cakes and cookies), plated in a disposable container and brought to the contest in an ice chest accompanied with ICE, or they will be disqualified. No place mats, serving utensils or flower arrangements, etc will be accepted. NOTE: only 3-4 servings of the dish must be plated at the contest. For example, if the recipe states that it serves six, only three servings should be displayed but your recipe must state the entire serving size. All first place winners will advance to the regional cookery competition.
Ground Beef Cookery A min. of one pound of ground beef must be used. Divisions: Low-Calorie Main Dish (Provides less than 300 calories per serving. Calculation of calories must be stated on recipe.), Quick & Easy Main Dish (A dish that is ready to serve in less than one hour. The time for each step and for cooking and baking must be stated on recipe.), & One-Dish Meal (Provides a complete serving from at least three of the five food groups. Food groups in the dish should be on the recipe.)
Rice Cookery Each dish must contain at least 1 cup of cooked rice. Wild rice, rice cereal, rice flour, etc. must also contain cooked rice. Example: Traditional Rice Krispie treats do not meet the contest requirements. The contest will be divided into three categories: Rice Main Dish: contains significant amounts of rice and protein. Rice Side Dish: rice dressing would be considered a side dish. Rice Dessert: breads, cakes, pies, cookies, candies, icebox pies, ice cream, pudding, etc.
Healthy Boxed Lunch or “Bento” A bento lunch is a compact, balanced, and visually appealing meal packed in a box. Each competitor will create a lunch to be eaten at school by a 9- to 12-year-old student. The beverage will be water and should not be included. Your entry should be representative of “MyPlate” recommendations: www.myplate.gov. Each competitor will transport their Healthy Box or “Bento” lunch to the contest packed in a disposable, portable, lock-top, and leak proof container, chilled to 40° or lower and on ice.
Our second Commodity Cookery Contest will be held on December 8, 2025. This will include the Sugar Cookery and the Seafood Cookery Contests.
Commodity Cookery Rules & Regulations (All Grades): Doors will open at 7:30am. for those who have school that day. Others may bring their dish at 8:30am. Dishes may be dropped off by a parent, and you do not have to be present to receive an award. Judging will begin at 9:00 AM. Once judging begins, no late dishes will be accepted. ALL participants must submit their recipe at the time of entry with category, division, name, grade and school club on the back of the recipe. Only one copy of the recipe (neatly handwritten or typed) is required. Each participant may ONLY ENTER ONE DISH IN EACH COMMODITY SUBCATEGORY. For example, you may enter a dish in Sugar Baked Items and one in Sugar Other Dessert, but NOT two in Sugar Other Dessert. Remember, dishes must be prepared at home. Each dish must be chilled on ice to 40° or lower (even cakes and cookies), plated in a disposable container and brought to the contest in an ice chest accompanied with ICE, or they will be disqualified. No place mats, serving utensils or flower arrangements, etc. will be accepted. NOTE: only 3-4 servings of the dish must be plated at the contest. For example, if the recipe states that it serves six, only three servings should be displayed but your recipe must state the entire serving size. All first place winners will advance to the regional cookery competition.
Sugar Cookery:Recipe must include at least one cup of sugar which includes raw, brown, powdered & granulated sugars only. Divisions: Baked items (bread, cakes, pies, cookies, etc.) and Other Dessert (candies, icebox pies, ice cream, etc. Homemade jams, jellies and preserves or raw eggs are NOT accepted entries).
Seafood Cookery:The dish must use at least one (1) cup of seafood.The seafood must be fresh, frozen, pasteurized or dried.Canned seafood is not acceptable.Surimi, an artificial crab made from fish, cannot be used.There can be no raw seafood in the final dish.Entries in categories 1 -5 may contain a small amount of a second seafood but not more than ½ of the amount of the primary seafood.For example, a recipe could contain one cup of crab as the primary seafood and ½ cup of shrimp as the secondary seafood. The Seafood Cookery offers five divisions: Shrimp, Crawfish. Oyster, Fish/Non-Traditional, Crab.
The 4-H Fashion Board would like to invite 5th-12th graders to come experience the Fashion & Beyond On Tour. Join us as we travel to Crowley, LA bringing fashion to your fingertips on January 19, 2026, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm at the 4-H Office. You will get a closer look at all aspects of the fashion world, from newspaper runways, color wheels, upcycling, fibers, to basic sewing fundamentals. You will engage in multiple sessions of activities planned by the fabulous fashion board. Items to bring: sack lunch, terry cloth dish towel (21”x27”), 2.5 yards of 1.5 inch wide ribbon (choose a color that compliments your towel). The cost is $35 per person.Limited registration spots available! No Sewing skills needed! Contact the 4-H office for more details and to be added to the event registration in 4HOnline when it opens on December 1st!
The Louisiana Food & Fitness Board will be hosting two day camps this year! One on January 12, 2026, in Alexandria from 10am-3 pm and one on January 13, 2026, in Baton Rouge from 10am-3pm. This camp is open to 4th-6th graders and costs $35 to attend (lunch included). Limited registration spots available! Contact the 4-H office for more details and to be added to the event registration in 4HOnline when it opens on November 24th.
We are once again offering horse clinics this year for FREE! This year Acadia parish will be offering horse clinics every month! We will again team up with master horsemen throughout the region. The first clinic will be held at the Acadia Parish Rice Arena on November 17th from 6-8 PM. In order to attended youth must be an approved 4-H member AND bring your own horse. For more information or questions, please call Emma Zaunbrecher Tyler at 337-366-2109.
This club is open to all 7th-12th grade 4-H members. Junior Leaders have fun helping younger 4-H’ers with their project work and assisting in their communities. This club participates in numerous activities where members meet and make friends with other teenagers throughout the parish and state. They also attend an educational awards trip each summer as a reward for their participation throughout the year. Meetings are scheduled for the second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 PM at the Acadia Parish Extension Office. The next meeting will be held on October 14th. The cost to join is $15 (non-refundable). For more information on how to join, see the Project Club section of this newsletter. Registration is now open through your 4HOnline account, under the events tab. The deadline to join is November 11th.
Join in on this service project and contest in one! The Life Book contest is to design a cover sheet for a Life Book. Only the cover sheet will be judged for the contest. The actual Life Book will be donated to youth in foster care in Acadia Parish, for them to keep a record of their life using photos, artwork and mementos collected along the way. These Life Book journals allow youth in foster care to document their history, celebrate accomplishments and let their talents shine!
This contest is open to all 4-H members! The contest is to design a creative cover and assemble a Life Book for a foster care youth. Cover entries should be one page, single-sided. Multiple entries will be accepted. No computer generate themes accepted. Cover designs will be judged in two divisions: 4th-6th graders and 7th-12th graders. First place winners in each division will receive a $50 prize and second place winners will receive a $25 prize! Entries are due to the 4-H Office by December 8, 2025.
Materials needed:
-1 1/2-inch binder (with clear pocket on front cover)
-24 clear heavyweight sheet protectors
-Life Book template pages, printed single-sided (available from the 4-H Office or via email)
-card stock for the cover
-5-10 sheets of colored, heavy paper or construction paper in the back pocket
-1-inch spiral notebook in the front pocket.
Please note that all materials for assembling the binder should be new, store bought items.
To assemble the book:
-select a binder
-place 24 clear heavyweight sheet protectors in the binder
-insert printed life book template pages into the sheet protectors so that the pages appear two-sided. Continue until the entire template has been added
-design a creative cover sheet and insert in the clear pocket on the outside front cover of the binder
-place spiral notebook in the front pocket of the binder
-place extra colored paper in the back pocket of the binder
For the contest entry sheet and to print Life Book pages, visit our website. If you need the pages printed, please contact the office. https://tinyurl.com/Acadia4HEvents
Animals must be in the exhibitor’s possession and validated by the following dates below. All animals can be validated by the exhibitor or parent on their own premise. The responsibility of tagging and collecting DNA hair samples will be that of the exhibitor and/or parent. Exhibitors should request a validation kit from the extension office.Validation will consist of: Ear tagging animal. Collecting hair sample and/or DNA sample; hair sample should be placed in a properly identified validation envelope for each animal validated.Validation envelopes must be returned to local LSU AgCenter office with validation fee by specified deadline. Exhibitors must enter animal information into the
4-H Online system on or before deadline. The responsibility of entering animal info into 4-H online, ear tagging animals, and collecting DNA and/or hair samples will be that of the exhibitor and/or parent. Validation envelopes must be returned to the 4-H Office with the $7 fee by the deadline stated below. Animals validated must be in the exhibitor’s name or family name. Animals tagged for the 2025 LA State Fair may utilize the State Fair tag but must still pull hair to complete the LSU AgCenter State Show validations.
Validation and Possession Dates: Com.=Commercial
Com. Does, Market Goats, Com. Lambs, Market Lambs, Com. Heifers and Com. Dairy Heifers: November 10, 2025, by 4:30 P.M. Market Swine and Com. Gilts: December 1, 2025, by 4:30 P.M.
The National 4-H Week promotional contest is designed to encourage clubs to promote 4-H in their community through the design and creation of a promotional display. We are excited to announce the winners of this great competition. The 2025 winners are as follows: 5 th Mire, 4th Lucky Clovers, 3rd St. Francis, 2nd Morse, 1st Evangeline. The winning club will be awarded with ice cream!
In this month’s lesson, members will learn how sugarcane is transformed into sugar as they take a journey down the cane rows. A few interesting facts will be revealed through our “Real or Not Real” game, such as, Louisiana is the largest sugarcane-producing state in the U.S. based on harvested area, sugar is pure and 100% natural, and it only has 16 calories per teaspoon and zero fat grams.
Did you know November is recognized as National Recycling Month? A time to remind us of the importance of reducing waste and reusing materials. What better way to celebrate than by getting creative with our 4-H Recycled Art Contest? Instead of tossing things away, give them a second life, and even turn them into something beautiful! This is your chance to show how trash can become treasure. Let’s make saving the Earth fun and creative! This contest is open to all 4-H members. The deadline to turn in entries to the 4-H Office is December 1, 2025.
Contest Categories (One entry per category allowed)
Sculpture & Structures
Build a 3D creation using recycled materials, think robots, animals, buildings, or abstract art.
Wearable Wonders
Design clothing, accessories, or costumes made from reused items, fashion meets sustainability.
Functional & Fabulous
Create something useful from recycled materials, like organizers, planters, toys, or tools.
Contest Rules
Open to all 4-H Members. One entry per 4-H’er. Contest Divisions
Grades 4–6, Grades 7–8, Grades 9–12. All entries must be made from used items that would otherwise be thrown away or recycled (e.g., metals, paper, rubber, glass, plastics, cloth). Projects must be created by the 4-H’er. Label each entry with your name, grade, school, and category. All items will be returned. Ribbons will be awarded to winners. Grand and Reserve Champions in each grade division will be recognized.
