Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA)
YQCA has been adopted as the official youth quality assurance program for youth livestock participants at the State Fair of Virginia. All 4-H and FFA youth in Virginia that plan on exhibiting sheep, meat goats, swine, or beef cattle at the 2023 SFVA Youth Livestock Shows are required to complete a face-to-face, instructor led training prior to September 1, 2023. Available trainings and details for registration can be found in the tabs below. Trainings will be organized and led by VCE 4-H and ANR Agents serving as official YQCA Certified Instructors. The program is directed by the Virginia YQCA State Leadership Committee.
Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA) is a national multi-species quality assurance program for youth ages 8 to 21. An in-person YQCA workshop requires complete attendance.
YQCA is the result of a collaborative effort between states that have previously offered multi-species youth livestock quality assurance programs, the National Pork Board’s Youth PQA Plus program and representatives from other national livestock groups.
YQCA is designed as an annual education and certification program focused on food safety, animal well-being and character awareness for youth ages 8 to 21 producing and/or showing pigs, beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, goats, market rabbits, and poultry. The program has been designed by extension specialists and national livestock program managers to ensure it is accurate, current and relevant to the needs of the animal industry and shows and is appropriate for youth.
IN VIRGINIA, the online training certification is not accepted.
YQCA emerged from the discussion of state youth livestock leaders with representatives of national livestock organizations. There was a growing concern about the amount of effort required for each group to maintain an accurate and engaging curriculum to provide youth quality assurance training. The National Pork Board’s Youth PQA program was the first national program and many subsequent trainings were modeled from it. Some states had created multi-species programs to include youth showing animal other than pigs into one training. University of Nebraska Extension had developed an online training platform to meet training requirements for youth in areas where workshops were not available. All of these parties discussed the development of a single, national, multi-species program that could leverage the best of everyone’s efforts. These meetings culminated in 2015 with the decision to work together and establish a new non-profit organization, Youth for the Quality Care of Animals, that developed and offered a training and certification program with the same name. YQCA was founded in fall of 2016 and the program was launched in March 2017.
The YQCA organizational Board of Directors, as well as Virginia Cooperative Extension adopted the following goals for the YQCA training and certification program:
- Ensure safety and well-being of animals produced by youth for showing and for 4-H and FFA projects
- Ensure a safe food supply to consumers
- Enhance the futhre of livestock industry by educating youth on these very important issues so they can become more informed producers, consumers and/or employees in the agriculture and food industry
- Maximize the limited development time and budgets of state and national youth program leaders to provide an effective quality assurance program
- Offer livestock shows a valid, national quality assurance certification for youth livestock exhibitors
The YQCA curriculum is broken into four levels: Junior ages 8-11, Intermediate ages 12-14, Senior ages 15-18 and Young Adult ages 19-21. Three or four levels of content focused on food safety, animal well-being and character are outlined for each level. Topics include but are not limited to: The Basics of Animal Identification, Daily Animal Care, Administering Animal Health Products, Providing Quality Care, Herd Health Plan, Providing Quality Feed, Sharing The Story, Goals To Success, and Ethics In The Show Ring.
In addition to the content being crafted at appropriate age levels, each curriculum topic is accompanied by specific educational objectives to guide the learning process. These objectives outline the key concepts and skills youth are expected to master following their participation in the appropriate level of the program.
YQCA is able to provide payment coupons for the instructor-led trainings through industry grants and cooperation with Virginia Cooperative Extension. The coupons will need to be requested through the registration links provided in the training calendar.
If you have any questions, please contact either Katherine Carter.
- Log into your account at YQCAprogram.org
- Click on Username in the top right corner
- Select “Course Certificates” from the drop down
- Under “Instructor Led Training Certificates” select the child/name that you are looking for and “Download Certificate”
- If no certificates or trainings are listed, please contact Katherine Carter at carterke@vt.edu
2023 YQCA Training Schedule
Saturday, February 11, 2023 | Skyline Stockman's Contest, Front Royal, VA | Training Complete |
Tuesday, March 6, 2023 | Buckingham at The B.A.R.N, Buckingham, VA Instructors: Kim Mayo and Cayla Walker |
Training Complete |
Friday, March 17, 2023 | VT Youth Beef Field Day, Blacksburg, VA *Must attend Youth Beef Field Day Instructor: Katherine Carter |
Training Complete |
Monday, March 27, 2023 | Charlotte County Extension Office, Charlotte CH, VA Instructors: Darla Marks and LK Mondrey |
Training Complete |
Monday, April 3, 2023 | Rockingham County – Rockingham County Fair Exhibitors only | Training Complete |
Monday, April 17, 2023 | Highland County *Limited to Highland County Fair Exhibitors only | Training Complete |
Monday, May 8, 2023 | Fluvanna County Community Center, Fork Union, VA Instructors: Kim Mayo and Cayla Walker |
Training Complete |
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | *Limited to Page County youth only Page County Extension Office, Stanley, VA Instructors: Meagan Dyer and Elizabeth Baldwin |
Training Complete |
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | Frederick County Fairgrounds, Clear Brook, VA Instructor: Spring Vasey |
Training Complete |
Wednesday, May 17, 2023 | Highland County *Limited to Highland County Fair Exhibitors only | Training Complete |
Monday, May 22, 2023 | *Limited to Page County youth only Page County Extension Office, Stanley, VA Instructors: Meagan Dyer and Elizabeth Baldwin |
Training Complete |
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 | Loudoun County Fairgrounds, Leesburg, VA Instructors: Kim Monroe and Stacy Swain |
Training Complete |
Friday, June 2, 2023 | Rockingham County Fairgrounds 4808 South Valley Pike, Harrisonburg VA Instructors: Jeremy Daubert, John Benner and Corey Childs |
Training Complete |
Wednesday, June 14, 2023 | Goochland County Central High Complex, Goochland, VA Instructors: Kim Mayo and Cayla Walker |
Training Complete |
Thursday, June 15, 2023 | Nelson County The Nelson Center, Lovingston, VA |
Training Complete |
Friday, June 16, 2023 | Culpeper County The Carver Center, Rapidan, VA Instructor: Kelly Mallory |
Training Complete |
Thursday, June 22, 2023 | Clarke County Fairgrounds 890 W Main St Berryville, VA |
Training Complete |
Thursday, June 29, 2023 | Augusta Expoland 227 Expo Rd Fishersville, VA |
Training Complete |
Wednesday, July 5, 2023 | Warren County Community Center 538 Villa Avenue, Front Royal VA Instructor: Stacy Swain |
Training Complete |
Tuesday, July 18, 2023 | Giles County High School 1825 Wenoah Avenue Pearisburg, VA |
Training Complete |
Saturday, July 22, 2023 | Rockingham County Fairgrounds, Harrisonburg -Dairy Focus | Training Complete |
Tuesday, July 25, 2023 | Pittsylvania County Clark Family Farm 3812 W Gretna Rd, Gretna, VA Instructor: Becky Roberts |
Training Complete |
Thursday, July 27, 2023 | Southern Piedmont AREC 2407 Cox Rd Blackstone, VA |
Training Complete |
Tuesday, August 1, 2023 | Virginia Beach Extension Office 2449 Princess Anne Rd Building #14 2nd Floor Virginia Beach, VA |
Training Complete |
Tuesday, August 8, 2023 | SWVA Wythe Livestock Exchange 3561 Stoney Fork Road Wytheville, VA |
Training Complete |
Wednesday, August 9, 2023 | Shenandoah County Fairgrounds - Lilly Building 300 Fairground Rd Woodstock, VA |
Training Complete |
Saturday, August 12, 2023 | Rockingham County Massanutten Technical Center Harrisonburg, VA
|
Training Complete |
Monday August 14, 2023 | TC Walker Educational Center 6099 TC Walker Road, Gloucester, VA |
Training Complete |
Friday, August 18, 2023 | Fauquier County PATH Foundation, 321 Walker Drive Warrenton, VA |
Training Complete |
Sunday, August 20,2023 | Rockbridge County Rockbridge Extension Office Lexington, VA
|
Training Complete |
Katherine Carter - Extension Youth Animal Science Specialist; (540) 231-2257
Dr. Scott Greiner - Extension Specialist; (540) 231-9159

Youth Livestock Topics
Contact
Katherine Carter
Extension Youth Animal Science Specialist
carterke@vt.edu
(540) 231-2257
Jennifer Redifer
Extension Program Associate-Youth Animal Science
jredifer@vt.edu
(540) 231-6345
Scott Greiner
sgreiner@vt.edu
(540) 231-9159
Virginia 4-H Livestock Programs Endowment
The Virginia 4-H Foundation is spearheading the advancement of the Virginia 4-H Youth Livestock Programs Endowment. 4-H livestock programming is funded through a combination of private gifts, endowment income, gifts in kind, and participant fees.