Assuring That Youth Raising Livestock For

1
Assuring That Youth Raising Livestock For Food
Produce a Quality Product R.A. Nold, J.L.
Fassett, and S.K. Rockwell University of Nebraska
- Lincoln
Results
Introduction

• Nearly one percent of the livestock produced in
  the United States is marketed through youth
  programs. Although this appears to be a small
  percentage of the food products entering the
  market, it is enough to cause public concern if
  wholesomeness is compromised. This could
  ultimately jeopardize consumer confidence in the
  entire livestock industry. Thus, it is important
  that youth producers adhere to the same or
  similar quality assurance standards as large
  scale livestock producers.
• The Nebraska 4-H Assuring Quality program, a
  multi-species quality assurance program for youth
  was evaluated to determine if it
• taught youth basic quality assurance concepts,
• created a more positive attitude toward raising
  a safe
• quality food product for consumers, and
• influenced the way youth care for their
  animals.

Retrospective Pre-test A self-report measure of
program impact where participants first rate
their knowledge and skills gained from the
program, and then rate how they perceived their
knowledge and skills prior to the program.
Materials and Methods
Instrument Parents perceptions of their childs
gain in knowledge, attitude about quality
assurance practices and care of their livestock
were evaluated using a retrospective pretest.
Using a Likert scale, parents rated their
childs knowledge, attitude and behavior changes.
Means calculated from a scale where 1 Yes
definitely knows/understands, 2 Yes probably, 3
No probably does not know/understand , and 4
No definitely does not. plt.01
Giving injections to fruit is a fun and
experiential learning activity to teach
differences between intramuscular and
subcutaneous injections and their potential
effects on muscle tissue.

• Sample
• Total participants in 2002 Assuring Quality
  program gt 6,500
• Youth randomly selected in stratified cluster
  design 400
• Overall return rate for mailed survey 40.
• Percent of parents reporting their child
  assisted with the completion of the survey 59

• Data Analysis
• Cronbachs alpha (coefficient of reliability)
  .90
• Individual survey items combined for each of
  five concepts
• -- Quality assurance concepts,
• -- Feeding/watering,
• -- Animal identification,
• -- Housing/faciities, and
• -- Prevention
• Paired t-test to identify differences in pre-
  and post training
• Probability level of .01

A 4-H member learns about residues by sampling
different kinds of milk, including homogenized
chocolate, chocolate milk mixed from syrup and
chocolate mixed from powder

Results
Means calculated from a scale where 1 Almost
always implemented the practice, 2 Often, 3
Sometimes, and 4 Almost never.
Participants Attitudes about Acceptable Quality
Assurance Practices
Summary

• By participating in Assuring Quality, youths ages
  8 -11 first gained knowledge about quality
  assurance and animal care, changed their
  attitudes about the responsibility involved with
  raising livestock for food, and then implemented
  practices consistent with quality assurance
  standards

a Means calculated from a scale where 1 Yes
definitely agrees, 2 Yes probably agrees, 3
No probably does not, and 4 No definitely does
not. plt.01