BERRIEN SPRINGS — The 2019 Berrien County Youth Fair is accepting applications for its large animal exhibition. The deadline for entry for dairy, sheep, goats, swine, llamas, alpacas and beef breeding is June 1. Any Berrien County resident between 5 to 20 as of Jan. 1 can apply to exhibit their animals from Aug. 12 to 17 at the fair, themed this year as “Country Nights and Carnival Lights.”

Online registration is available for all departments, except equine. Equine entrants must complete an entry form and return it to the BCYF office by June 1.

Once registered, exhibitors can return to the program and add more entries up until each entry deadline. Families can register under one e-mail and password. The exhibitor’s printed email confirmation will serve as the traditional yellow copy of the entry form and is required on entry day, just as the yellow copy of the traditional entry form is.  The link for online entries can be found at bcyf.org. 

Entry forms may be brought to the fair office between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, postmarked on or before June 1 or placed in the drop box outside the fair office after hours until midnight on June 1. 

Animal identification rules from the United States Department of Agriculture are the following:

• Dairy and beef must have an official USDA identification tag or have a registered breed tattoo accompanied by breed registration papers.

• Goats must have an official USDA Scrapie identification tag or a registered breed tattoo accompanied by breed registration papers.

• Sheep must have an official USDA Scrapie tag.

• Swine must have market ear tags provided by BCYF

• USDA tags number must be on the entry form when it is turned in, so youth need to order their tags as soon as possible. Exhibitors wishing to enter a registered goat must turn in a copy of goat registration papers with entry form.

Those registering market animals will also need BCYF market tags. Goat and swine exhibitors must come to the fair office and pick up the BCYF market ear tags.  Sheep tags will be dispersed on June 5 and 6 during the mandatory sheep tagging event held at the BCYF.  BCYF ear tags must be in the animals’ ear by Aug. 1 or the entry will be disqualified for goats and swine.  Sheep tags must be in ears by June 8.

• Small animals — rabbits, poultry, cats, dogs and pocket pets — must be registered by July 1.

• Still exhibits — crafts, home economics, flowers, horticulture and variety classes — must be registered by Aug. 1.

There are a limited number of exhibitor handbooks and entry forms available at the Berrien County Youth Fair, all Berrien County public libraries and the Berrien County 4-H Office. Packets are available in Baroda at Baroda City Mills, in Buchanan at Country Heritage Credit Union, the Red & White Feed and Family Farm and Home in Benton Harbor, as well as Tractor Supply Company and Rural King in Niles. The Watervliet location is the Fruit Exchange. Three Oaks has packets at Seifert’s Farm Supply and Stevensville has packets at Tractor Supply Company. 

No late registrations will be accepted.