Responsibility
Overview
• Importance of positive role modeling
• Doing your best and striving for excellence
• Providing educational resources to young
people
• Emphasizing the importance of animal
welfare
• Teaching the importance of food safety
when raising livestock
Positive Role Modeling
• Adults have the responsibility to be
positive role models and set good
examples.
• This includes:
– Engaging in ethical practices
– Demonstrating good sportsmanship
– Providing resources young people need
– Producing safe food products
Role Modeling
• As young people develop, they seek role models.
• Role model – a person who serves
as a model in a particular behavioral
or social role for another person to emulate
• Positive role models are essential
for youth development.
Role Modeling in Society
• Young people find both positive and negative
role models in today’s society.
• Young people often idealize sports figures, yet
many athletes have been accused of using
performance-enhancing drugs.
• These negative role models may make it
seem acceptable to use performanceenhancing drugs in livestock.
Positive Role Models in Society
• As society becomes more complex, positive role models are
harder to find.
• Societal influences that affect the unity of young people and
adults:
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Increased mobility
Distancing from relatives
Sports icons
Generational differences
• Every young person needs a positive relationship with at least
one adult.
• Ideally, young people will have positive relationships with:
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Church leaders
School leaders
Business leaders
Other “positive” leaders
What is a positive role model?
• A positive role model demonstrates character
traits such as:
– Trustworthiness
– Respect
– Responsibility
– Fairness
– Caring
– Citizenship
• Groups that serve as role models include:
– County Extension agents
– Agricultural science teachers
– Project committee members
– Master volunteers
– Family members
– Other adult volunteers
Sportsmanship vs. Gamesmanship
• It is the responsibility of adults to teach young people about
showmanship both inside and outside the ring.
• Young people must understand the difference between
sportsmanship and gamesmanship.
Sportsmanship – exhibiting livestock with honor
Gamesmanship – striving to win for gain and glory
Sportsmanship
• Examples of good showmanship
– Picking up a show stick someone drops in the ring
– Teaching a younger exhibitor how to clip and fit a steer
– Opening a gate for someone who has a pig penned
– Letting another exhibitor borrow a brush
– Taking leadership of the county/chapter showmanship
training to help others
– Sharing your knowledge about selecting projects with
others
– Helping a younger exhibitor carry a bucket of water
Gamesmanship
• Examples of gamesmanship
– Jabbing someone else’s animal in the show ring
– Being dishonest about an animal’s age when registering
– Showing an animal in the wrong breed or division
– Telling the judge that your animal weighs a different
amount than the card says
– Blocking the judge’s view of another animal in the class
– Depriving your animal of the appropriate amount of feed
and water to get its weight down
– Providing compensation to the judge to influence his or
her decision
Doing Your Best
and Striving for Excellence
• Making ethical choices involves choosing to do your best, strive
for excellence, pursue victory, and display accomplishments with
honor.
• It does not involve giving in to unethical practices in order to win.
• Competitors expect to compete, not to forfeit to their opponents.
• When times get tough, parents and adult leaders should
demonstrate the following practices:
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Perseverance
Diligence
Hard work
Accountability
Self restraint
Search for improvement
Striving for Excellence
• The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use
of your powers along lines of excellence. John F. Kennedy
• Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an
environment where excellence is expected. Steve Jobs
• The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their
commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field
of endeavor. Vincent T. Lombardi
Providing Educational
Resources for Young People
• The educational resources adults provide can help
young people better appreciate and understand
agriculture.
• Resources may include:
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Extension publications
Extension specialists and agents
Feedback from project experts
Master volunteers
4-H and FFA curricula
Extension trainings
4-H and FFA camps
Animal Welfare
• Young people must learn personal
accountability when raising livestock.
• They are accountable for the methods they use.
• Raising livestock requires commitment.
– Feeding and watering daily
– Safe handling of livestock
– Giving only prescribed
medications and feeds
– Providing a safe environment
for animals
– Treating livestock that are sick
Food Safety
• Market livestock projects account for nearly
7 million pounds of meat each year.
• Adult leaders must emphasize the importance of
producing safe, high-quality meat.
• Adults should help young people understand Food
Quality Assurance and learn
to use Hazard Analysis
Critical Control Plans (HACCP).
Food Quality Assurance
• Established in 1979 by federal government
• Monitors the production, processing and
distribution of all food products
• Eliminated overlapping, inconsistent, complex
specifications for various food products
• Goal – help consumers buy food
as efficiently and economically as
possible while taking advantage
of the innovations and efficiencies
of the commercial marketplace
Food Quality Assurance
• Responsibilities of Food Quality Assurance
Program:
– Assure food quality and manage Commercial Item Descriptions
(CID)
– Coordinate CIDs with users, regulatory agencies, inspection and
testing agencies, and the food industry
– Review CIDs to ensure document requirements conform to
applicable laws, regulations and policies
– Approve CIDs, as appropriate, and arrange for their printing,
indexing and distribution
– Maintain a complete and current inventory of CIDs
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points
(HACCP)
• Plans that identify where and how food safety
problems occur and how they can be prevented
• HACCP plans should be used with 4-H/FFA
livestock projects. They ensure that meat will be
safe and wholesome for the consumer.
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points
(HACCP)
• When implementing HACCP plans:
– Identify hazards
– Find critical control points
for each hazard
– Establish critical limits for
each control point
– Monitor
– Take corrective action if there
is a problem
– Keep records on each critical control point
– Verify that the HACCP plan is working correctly
Conclusion
• Importance of
– Positive role modeling (sportsmanship vs.
gamesmanship)
– Doing your best and striving for excellence
– Providing young people with educational resources
– Animal welfare
– Food safety (Food Quality Assurance, HACCP)