October 15, 2020
New YQCA Material Available
The national, multi-species youth livestock quality assurance program, Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA), launched its fourth year of the program on October 1. Therefore, a new set of educational modules are now available for youth to complete. Extension Agents and Ag Teachers who requested to become certified instructors to teach face-to-face classes should have received an email the first week of October. The training is completed entirely online, through an instructor’s account. Once the certification process is complete, approved instructors will receive the 2020-2021 curriculum via email and are welcome to begin teaching classes.
The YQCA Board released some important reminders for instructors earlier this month. The first being that instructor-led courses may not be taught virtually. Members who would like to participate in an online training should complete the web-based course. Additionally, the junior-only slide deck is being discontinued and will no longer be available. Since Kansas has a special agreement with YQCA regarding 7-year-olds, those youth may participate in an all ages instructor-led course, with a parent/guardian, to receive their certification.
Youth may complete the online training for $12/child, or participate in an instructor-led session for $3/child. The test-out option is only available for youth who are 12 or 15 as of January 1. All participants must register and pay through the YQCA site, regardless of the type of training. A young person’s YQCA certification is valid for one year, so youth need to re-certify annually.
The Kansas State Fair Grand Drive and KJLS are expected to continue requiring all exhibitors to complete YQCA to be eligible to exhibit in the 2021 shows. For more information, contact Lexie Hayes (adhayes@ksu.edu; 785-532-1264).