Animal Crackers 2025

Saturday, May 3, 2025, 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM

The NYS 4-H Animal Science Team is pleased to announce 2025 Animal Crackers, "All Creatures Great and Small”, on Saturday, May 3, 2025, on the Cornell University campus. This year’s program will highlight Dairy, Goats, Poultry, and Rabbit/Cavy topics.

Interesting, educational, hands-on activities are planned to make Animal Crackers a memorable learning event. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about Beef, Dog, Horse, and Swine biology and management while having fun participating in a variety of interactive activities with 4-H’ers from across NYS. 4-H youth 8-12 years old or those with beginner to intermediate knowledge of the covered species are invited to participate.

Workshops information:

ØDairy:

ØWorkshop 1:Holy Cow - Why can cows and sheep eat grass and other farm animals can’t?Rather than a small stomach like people have, dairy cattle have a different type of digestive system with a large stomach with four parts. Did you know they actually have a little help when it comes to digesting plant materials? Special digesting microbes live in the cow’s rumen. Have a look and feel inside a live cow rumen.

ØWorkshop 2:Repro Depot - All hands in to learn about dairy cattle reproduction. Starting with the anatomy and then venture into Artificial Insemination. Even try your arm at A.I.

ØGoats:

ØWorkshop 1:You’ve “Goat” to be Kidding! “This is your chance to maneuver a kid through the pelvic cage for a safe delivery, learn to bottle feed a kid and get ready for kidding!” Youth will use the dystocia crate to learn how to identify kidding positions and deliver toy kids. We’ll explore some different equipment for bottle feeding kids and work on bottle sanitation. We’ll discuss kidding supplies and how to identify a chilled kid.

ØWorkshop 2:Goat Nutrition: Fueling your future - “Learn to eat like a goat and how to judge hays. We’ll work together to use the internet to check out our goats’ food choices and come up with healthy meals.” Youth will learn about some of the unique features of goat lips and how goats use them to be selective eaters. We’ll do some hay judging and also use the Langston Nutrition Calculator to come up with some goat diets for specific types of goats described by the youth.

ØPoultry:

ØWorkshop 1: Poultry Health: Just How Disgusting are Germs???Play the Germ Tag Game and use Glow Germ to find out!!! This workshop will help youth understand how disease spreads, especially in light of the current Avian Flu situation.
ØWorkshop 2: Chicken Guts Relay - A local Farrier will come and discuss the art of caring for a horses hoof. They will go over different tools, what a farriers day looks like, discus parts of the hoof, and how to care for a hoof.

ØRabbits/Cavy:

ØWorkshop 1: What’s Wrong with my Rabbit/Cavy? Learn about common diseases/conditions that can affect your rabbits and cavies and how to keep them healthy!
ØWorkshop 2: Baby Bunnies!!!!Learn some basics about rabbit kindling and then engage in a fun genetics activity to create your own bunny!!

Registration: There is a $25 per youth and $15 per adult cost to attend the program. Animal Cracker t-shirts for youth participants will be provided; lunch will be provided for both youth and chaperones. Adults may purchase Animal Cracker t-shirts at the door.

Registration for the event must be done through your local Cornell Cooperative Extension Office and must be completed no later than April 23, 2025. All groups must have at least one chaperone. Chaperones are asked to review the chaperone information sheet on the Animal Crackers website. Additional information about the event, as well as the Cornell University campus, can be found on the same website.

Mark your calendars for one of the most exciting animal science programs of 2025!

If you are interested in attending contact Michelle at 607-664-2571 or mlc353@cornell.edu

undefined