4-H Animal Science Resource Blog

STEM Connections, know-how & Inspiration

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  • Alpaca/Llama
  • Dairy Cattle
  • Dog
  • Goat
  • Herpetology
  • Horse and Pony
  • Poultry
  • Rabbit/Cavy/Small Animal
  • Sheep
  • Swine

Zoonosis Prevention: A Kahoot Quiz Game

May 17, 2021

Thank you to all who participated in the first all-virtual Junior Breeder Symposium on Saturday, March 27, 2021. If you missed the event, or want to try the Zoonosis Prevention game again, it is live now!  The Kahoot quiz game can be played individually by clicking here. You may also go to kahoot.it and use Game PIN: 01733729. It is available through the above link until … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Alpaca/Llama, Animal Health, Club Programming Idea, Dairy Cattle, Dog, Featured Resource, Focus on STEM, Goat, Herpetology, Horse and Pony, Poultry, Rabbit/Cavy/Small Animal, Sheep, Swine Tagged With: animal health, care, featured resource, health, Kahoot game, youth STEM, zoonosis education

Reproduction – Amphibian Style

April 12, 2021

Spring is the time you start hearing the calls of toads and frogs.  You might have even heard the Spring Peepers calling as early as March!  Why do they make these sounds?  What is their purpose?  To find a mate!  Amphibians have a variety of interesting ways of reproducing and preparing for their young. Although there are often exceptions in biology, we can start with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Current Issue, Focus on STEM, Herpetology

Learning how to do research in the field: A Pilot Study in Guyana for Coral Snake Mimicry

January 18, 2021

Or how research really goes in the field! Everyone talks about research being done in the field.  It can sound glamorous, especially when the results are exactly what you hope for or even expect. But the reality is just the opposite.  More often than not, it is what you don’t find or what doesn’t work that helps you learn and adjust your experiment. Anthony Sena, a first … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Career Profile, Focus on STEM, Herpetology

Hometown Hero: The Blue-spotted Salamander

January 4, 2021

If towns are shutting down entire roads for you, you must be important, right? Every spring in central New Jersey, temporary road closures are created to protect amphibians who migrate across roads in search of perfect mating grounds. In March and April as the temperatures warm to 40-45 degrees, amphibians including frogs and salamanders make the trek from their winter homes in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Club Programming Idea, Current Issue, Focus on STEM, Herpetology

Club Support: Animal Vital Signs Activity

November 7, 2020

Pennsylvania 4-H has a resource page of at-home 4-H activities that can be useful to 4-H clubs meeting remotely during COVID-19 social distancing. One series of at-home activities that may be assigned to club members this year is appropriate for companion animal projects as well as livestock: the Animal Vital Signs series: "Vital Information" - What is Normal? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Alpaca/Llama, Animal Health, Club Programming Idea, Dairy Cattle, Dog, Featured Resource, Focus on STEM, Goat, Horse and Pony, Poultry, Rabbit/Cavy/Small Animal, Sheep, STEM Learning, Swine

What can snakes on Madagascar teach us about evolution?

November 2, 2020

Arianna Kuhn, PhD Candidate, City University of New York, American Museum of Natural History As a  PhD candidate at the City University of New York, my current work aims to understand the evolutionary events that cause new species to form, but my career in herpetology actually began with geckos from Africa! As an undergraduate at Villanova University, I knew that I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Career Profile, Focus on STEM, Herpetology

Rutgers Campus Farm to Host Special Day for 4-H Members (canceled due to COVID-19)

January 31, 2020

For 4-H members and families interested in animals, Saturday, March 28 is your special day!  Come and learn about horses, goats, sheep, cattle, and rabbits from leading veterinarians, professors, and other experts – all at your state university in New Brunswick.  The Junior Breeder Symposium is for all youth and families interested in learning more about animals.  You have the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Dairy Cattle, Featured Resource, Field Trip, Focus on STEM, Goat, Horse and Pony, Rabbit/Cavy/Small Animal, Sheep, Uncategorized

Improve Your Herd with Good Record Keeping

January 26, 2020

Record keeping is an important aspect of sheep production.  It helps to identify which lambs should be kept as flock replacements, which ewes should be kept in your flock or culled, and which rams sire the best lambs.  The National Scrapie Eradication Program requires producers to keep records on all animal dispositions (sheep that leave your flock) for five years. As a 4-H … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured Resource, Focus on STEM, Sheep Tagged With: animal science project area, record keeping, sheep, youth STEM

Sheep Identification – USDA Requirements

November 4, 2019

Photo of ewe with an ear tag

Proper identification is an important aspect of raising sheep. Whether you are a 4-H member raising only one market lamb per year or working toward establishing your own breeding operation, you will need to know U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) identification requirements and NJ Division of Animal Health rules. Scrapie Identification is required by the USDA for almost … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Animal Health, Current Issue, Focus on STEM, Sheep Tagged With: 4-H Animal Science, animal science project area, Focus on STEM

Paleontologists identify small fossils as that of oldest frog relative found in North America

August 21, 2019

This article was first published in the February 27, 2019 Virginia Tech News  https://vtnews.vt.edu/.   A team of paleontologists led by Virginia Tech’s Michelle Stocker and Sterling Nesbitt of the Department of Geosciences have identified fossil fragments of what are thought to be the oldest known frogs in North America. The fossils are composed of several … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Animal Project Areas, Career Profile, Current Issue, Focus on STEM, Herpetology

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New Jersey 4-H provides educational outreach programming for youth in grades K-13 (one year out of high school) through 4-H clubs, special interest programs, school enrichment, afterschool programs, and overnight camping.

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