May  21, 2026 

If your calendar looks anything like mine right now, you already know: summer in 4-H is not for the faint of heart. Between county fairs ramping up, camp season in full swing, summer enrichment programming, state events, and a dozen other commitments stacking up faster than entries at the rabbit barn — the next few months will ask a lot of all of us. That energy is something to celebrate. It means young people across Kansas are showing up, learning, and growing.

Read the full article here. 

Save the date for the 2026 Kansas 4-H Livestock Sweepstakes! It will be hosted August 22-23 in Manhattan. The deadline to register will be August 1. All participants must be entered by their local extension unit. So, contact your local extension office if you are interested in participating!

The contest rules, schedule, and information will be posted on the Livestock Sweepstakes page of the youth livestock website by early June.

Kansas 4-H Livestock Sweepstakes is an event that encompasses the Kansas 4-H state livestock judging contest, meat judging contest, livestock skillathon, and quiz bowl in one, action-packed weekend. These state-level contests are the national qualifying events for Kansas 4-H members. Youth may participate in as many or as few contests as they would like over the course of the weekend. Individuals who compete in livestock judging, skillathon, and senior/open meat judging will be eligible for the sweepstakes award. Teams who compete in livestock judging, skillathon, senior/open meat judging, and quiz bowl will be eligible for the sweepstakes team award.

Applications for the Kansas Youth Leadership Council and the National 4-H Conference will open before June 1. All applications will be completed online and will be due by October 1, 2026, 11:59 p.m. CT.

Any Kansas 4-H member between the ages of 14 and 18 before January 1, 2027, may apply as a Council Rep, and those 15-18 before January 1, 2027, may apply for the National 4-H Conference.

This year's KYLF delegation will elect representatives from the four extension program areas (NE, NW, SE, SW) for one-year terms on the council. Up to 6 National Conference Delegates will be selected through an interview prior to KYLF, and they serve a two-year term on the council.

The State 4-H Horticulture Judging Contest will be held on Saturday, August 15, 2026, in Manhattan, Kansas. Our contest is hosted for the day by the Department of Horticulture and Natural Resources. Registration will be due Wednesday, August 5, 2026, and will consist of registering your teams and/or individuals in an online form and then mailing your payment to the State 4-H Office after you receive an invoice. If you are holding qualifying contests later/late fairs, please contact me about late registration.

The ID Sheet for 2026 has been updated with some new items.  The study list for the knowledge portion of the contest has also been updated and continues to include some of the videos from the past three years, along with a few publications.

The contest is for teams and/or individuals.

Registration information will be available for Extension Staff in late June. Local units will be alerted when registration opens.

Kansas 4-H families will be extremely busy in summer 2026, hosting and sending delegates around the world.

Earlier this spring, the Kansas IFYE Association thought it would host one inbound IFYE during the summer of 2006.   Recently, Kansas learned it would not be receiving an IFYE this summer due to the low numbers of IFYEs coming to the USA.  

In other exchange news, Kansas 4-H will be hosting 30 Japanese delegates and 3 chaperones on the Kansas 4-H Japan Exchange from July 23 to August 15 through the States’ 4-H International Exchange Programs.  Currently, Kansas is seeking families to host two boys and one girl.  Pam Van Horn and her Kansas committee are coordinating this exchange.  For more information on how to host, contact Pam Van Horn, pvanhorn@ksu.edu or (785) 826-8917.

Kansas 4-H will also be hosting four Taiwanese 4-H members on the Kansas 4-H Taiwan Exchange through States’ 4-H International Exchange Programs.  The Taiwanese will be in Kansas from June 30 to July 25.  Mary Kay Munson and Lauren Moon are coordinating this exchange.  For more information, contact Mary Kay at mkm2@ksu.edu or (785) 375-3189.

Currently, we have one student from Japan on the 2025-26 Kansas 4-H Academic Year Program (AYP) high school exchange who will return to Japan in mid-June.  Allison Lecklider, Kansas 4-H AYP Coordinator, is still looking for a family(s) to host a new exchange student from August 2026 to June 2027.  Contact Allison for full details at allisonlecklider@yahoo.com or (785) 822-5125.

Kansas 4-H is also sending three outbound delegates to Japan for four weeks, Peyton Fechter, Cullen Manning, Ady Johnson, and one adult chaperone, Alex Thompson, to Japan for eight weeks.

For questions or comments, contact Deryl E. Waldren, dwaldren@ksu.edu or (303) 349-7403.

4-H families in Brown, Geary, Miami, and Saline Counties will be hosting Taiwan 4-H members from June 30 to July 25.  Before they arrive in our state, they will have an orientation in Washington D.C.  While in Kansas, the visiting teens will become family members of their hosts and participate in community activities and 4-H with them.  Based on their time in Kansas, they should be able to participate in July 4th celebrations and county fairs in counties where they are staying.  Host counties are encouraged to give them opportunities to participate in 4-H activities and share opportunities to tell Kansas audiences about Taiwan 4-H and their lives in Taiwan.

Families scheduled to host, their Extension Units, and the Taiwan 4-H’ers to be hosted are listed below by name and chosen nickname (in parentheses).
-Michelle Coats, Saline County, Central Kansas District, hosting Li-Chen (Jasper) Lo
-Dianna and Brandon Dibben, Geary County, hosting Yi-Li (Diego) Liu
-Sarah and Kyle Olson, Brown County, hosting Yun-An (Ariel) Chen
-Jaime and Ben Pedigo, Miami County, Marais des Cygnes District, hosting Pin-Ying (Pistachio) Lin    

Thanks to the local staff who helped with vetting host families:  Kate Littich, Matt Young, Karla Hightower, and Lexi Ray.

States’ 4-H International Exchange Programs recently announced the Outbound Exchanges to be offered for summer 2027.  The following exchanges are for four weeks beginning in June or July 2027 for Kansas Youth ages 12 or 15 to 18, depending on the destination country:
Norway (June 17-July 17), Costa Rica (June 24-July 23), Taiwan (June 30-July 30), Japan (July 7-August 6), and South Korea (July 7-August 6).  The Japan 8-Week Exchange will run from June 9 to August 6.  More details will be available in early June with a flyer posted on States’ 4-H and Kansas 4-H websites.

The online outbound application will be live in September. Kansas will again have a due date for applications on November 1.  For more information, contact Kansas outbound coordinator, Mary Kay Munson at mkm2@ksu.edu or (785) 375-3189.

Kansas 4-H is almost to the finish line of finding host families for the Japan delegates. Only two boys and a girl are still looking for host families. The youth are age 12 – 15.

If interested, Kansas Families are needed to host delegates from July 23 to August 15. Yes, that might be through the county fair, but the Japanese youth would love participating in and learning from the fair activities. Some past delegates have shown hogs and sheep plus exhibited foods, and arts and crafts. It’s a dream come true for the delegates during their school break.

Additionally, by August 15, some schools may have started - take the delegate along to school, as past delegates have experienced American schools. Now, that’s a memory!

Any Kansas family (4-H Family or non-4-H Family) with children aged 9-17 who are interested in hosting someone from another culture may apply. A separate bed is required, but not necessarily a separate room from the host sibling. Delegates are 100 percent medically covered with 4-H insurance and bring their own spending money for souvenirs. The delegates can go on host family vacations or camping trips, or join their host sibling at summer camps and the county fair. The focus is on everyday family life.

Many of the youth delegates and their families have invested funds for 10+ years to come to the United States for a 3 ½ week stay during their school break. Let’s assist the delegates in making their goals become a reality.

Please don't wait; the deadline was May 15, but we will extend it until delegates are placed.

Contact Pam Van Horn with questions, pvanhorn@ksu.edu.

All small livestock and commercial breeding heifer state nominations are due June 15. This includes commercial breeding heifers, market swine, commercial breeding gilts, market lambs, commercial breeding ewes, and ALL meat goats. Late nominations are not accepted. The deadline to order DNA envelopes for these species is June 5. Families are encouraged to plan ahead and order their DNA envelopes early to allow plenty of time for them to be received, collect samples, input their nominations online, and return the signed DNA envelopes to the KSU youth livestock program office. K-State, the Kansas State Fair, and/or KJLS are not responsible for late, lost, or misdirected mail.

For nominations to be accepted, animals must be submitted online through ShoWorks by June 15, as well as have a corresponding completed and signed DNA hair sample envelope postmarked by that date. Using certified mail, or another shipping method that provides tracking and a receipt as proof of mailing, is HIGHLY encouraged. 

Every exhibitor who would like to show at the Kansas State Fair Grand Drive and/or KJLS needs their own ShoWorks account. Families must submit animals under each child within the family for all kids to be eligible to show the animal. This does mean an animal may be entered into the online nomination system multiple times. All eligible exhibitors within the family must also sign the DNA envelope for each animal.

Ear notches are required for swine nominations, and full scrapie tag numbers are required for sheep and meat goats. The scrapie tag number must include the Flock ID number and individual animal number (example: KSS0035 16121) to be accepted.

The 2026 state livestock information is available from the KSU Youth Livestock Program website (https://www.asi.k-state.edu/extension/youth-programs/).

Families must use the Kansas nomination link to submit animals and order DNA envelopes: https://kansasnom.fairwire.com/.

Contact Lexie Hayes with questions, adhayes@ksu.edu.

Starting in May, we will no longer send monthly emails about the status of Criminal Background Check completions. Instead, the list will be updated continuously throughout the month and may be referenced at any time for the most current information.  The location of these can be found in the Kansas 4-H Youth Development TEAMS.

This change is intended to streamline communication, allow access to those who need it with turnover in positions, and reduce the number of emails. While monthly reminder emails will no longer be sent, the list itself will continue to be maintained and updated monthly.

Invoices will continue to be generated every three months and can be found in the same folder in the Kansas Youth Development TEAMS.

Please note that both the monthly list and invoices will be password-protected. When opening these documents, you will be prompted to enter a password. A separate email containing the password will be sent to those who traditionally have received the monthly emails.

If there are any questions please send us an email at Kansas4h@ksu.edu.

Please save Tuesday, August 18, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. CST to join us as your 4-H Team shares items you will need to prepare your local extension unit for the new 4-H year. Don’t worry, we will have a break built into this meeting, as no one likes sitting in a meeting for two hours straight without a break!  A calendar invite will be sent out to the system soon.