🍀Joining 4-H and enrolling in ZSuite

Welcome! Here’s how to go from “we’re interested” to “officially enrolled and ready to tag an animal.”

Who can join

• Cloverbuds: ages 5–7. Non-competitive. Cloverbuds come to meetings, do activities, and give short demonstrations, but they cannot show a market animal at the fair.
• Members: ages 8–18. Members compete. To show a market animal at the Navajo County Junior Livestock show you must be at least 8 years old on January 1 of the project year.

Ages are figured as of January 1, so a kid who turns 8 in March can join as a member but has to wait until the next year to show a market animal.

Show age divisions (as of January 1)

Species	Junior	Intermediate	Senior
Beef, lambs, goats, turkeys	8–13	—	14–18
Swine	8–11	12–15	16–18

The 4-H year

The 4-H year runs October 1 through September 30. Enrollment opens in the fall. If you’re doing a livestock project you’ll want to be enrolled well before winter, because the Junior Livestock Committee needs signed paperwork from every exhibitor by March 15 and a list of all exhibitors by April 1. Steers get tagged in April. Small animals get tagged in early June.

Tip: Enroll in October or November, right when the new year opens. It gets the paperwork out of the way before you’re busy shopping for an animal.

Step 1: Come to a meeting

Talk to the club leader (see the contact directory) and come to a club meeting. That’s where you’ll:

• meet the other families,
• learn the meeting schedule,
• find out about the program fee and how to pay it.

Step 2: Pick your project(s)

A “project” is what you’ll be learning and keeping records on. Livestock projects are named by species: Market Swine, Market Goat, Market Sheep (Lamb), Market Beef, Market Turkey. You can enroll in more than one project, and you can add non-animal projects too (baking, robotics, shooting sports, photography). Not sure which animal? Read Choosing a species.

Step 3: Enroll in ZSuite

ZSuite (4h.zsuite.org) is the online system Arizona 4-H uses for enrollment, record books, and event sign-ups. Here’s the flow for a brand-new family:

1. Go to 4h.zsuite.org and click Sign Up.
2. A parent or guardian creates the household account with their own email and a password. Pick Arizona as the state and Navajo as the county. Write the login down; you’ll use this account every year.
3. Inside the household, click Add Member for each child. Enter their name, birth date, school, and grade.
4. Choose the club: Spring Valley Heaters.
5. Choose the project(s), for example Market Swine.
6. Read and e-sign the forms: code of conduct, photo release, medical/emergency information, and the Arizona 4-H participation waiver.
7. Pay the program fee if ZSuite prompts for it. Arizona 4-H charges an annual fee per member. Some years the club collects it instead, so ask the club leader how to pay before you enter a card.
8. Submit. Your enrollment shows as Pending until the club leader and the Extension office approve it, usually within a week or two.

Coming back for another year? Log into the same household account and click Re-enroll on each member. Check that the club and projects are right.

Heads up: If you already have a ZSuite account from another state or county, don’t make a new one. Call the Extension office (928-524-6271) and they’ll move your family over.

Parents and volunteers

Adults who help regularly (drive kids, help at meetings, coach showmanship) enroll as volunteers in ZSuite and complete a background check. It’s free and it protects the kids. The club leader will tell you if you need to.

Step 4: YQCA certification

YQCA stands for Youth for the Quality Care of Animals. It’s a yearly animal-welfare and food-safety course that every market-animal exhibitor must complete. The Junior Livestock Committee requires your certification number and expiration date on your fair entry, and the certificate must still be valid on the last day of the fair.

• Go to yqcaprogram.org, create an account (a parent can do this), and take the online course for your age. It takes about an hour and costs a small fee.
• Sometimes the Extension office hosts an in-person training instead. Watch the calendar.
• Print or screenshot the certificate. Bring it to tagging and to fair check-in.
• If you registered last year and it expired, renew it before tagging.

Step 5: The Junior Livestock paperwork

4-H enrollment is only half the paperwork. To show at the fair you also register with the Navajo County Junior Livestock Committee through ShoWorks and sign their Terms & Agreement. That’s all covered on the paperwork & legal page.

Being a member in good standing

To show at the fair you need to be an “active, bona fide member.” In our club that means:

• Attend club meetings. The county requires regular attendance for livestock exhibitors.
• Give a demonstration during the year.
• Keep a record book in ZSuite.
• Show your animal in at least one pre-fair show (SAILA show, jackpot, or livestock camp).
• Follow the code of conduct: good sportsmanship, respectful language, proper dress in the ring.

Enrollment checklist

• Attended a club meeting and met the leader
• Household account created in ZSuite (Arizona → Navajo → Spring Valley Heaters)
• Each child added with the right project(s)
• Forms e-signed by parent and youth
• Program fee paid (ask how)
• Enrollment approved (no longer “Pending”)
• YQCA course completed; certificate saved

Next: Choosing a species.