TRENDS
Absentee landowners continue to buy pasture and range land for alternative/recreational land usage or for beef/hay production. A large percentage of these absentee landowners have limited knowledge pertaining to agriculture. There is a definite need and priority amongst all the landowners to preserve traditional agriculture land usage and to educate all concerned parties with new technology, management practices, marketing options and remain as a source of technical information. With the current high price paid for beef cattle, there is added interest and money being spent on the development an improvement of forages and beef cattle. Freestone County is home to over 60,000 beef cows.

4-H AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
4-H enrollment totaled 281 with over 136 Adult Leaders. 4-H Club Managers, project and activity leaders, as well volunteers at large gain leadership, project and communication skills that help them to develop into effective leaders in the community and in the Freestone County 4-H Program. The 2006 Freestone County Fair Youth Livestock Project Sale raised over $300,000. THE 2007 FREESTONE COUNTY FAIR, JUNE 11-16. The Freestone County Office of Texas Cooperative Extension will implement the Quality Counts program for 4-H youth and adults for the 2006-2007 year.

QUALITY COUNTS
Quality Counts is a banner Extension program that is used to teach youth livestock exhibitors and leaders character education and the importance of quality assurance. This program can also be implemented in a wide area of 4-H by teaching responsibility, ethics, and development of moral character. Quality Counts is broken into four chapters with lessons and supporting activities for each lesson. There are eight core concepts (six pillars of character, purpose of 4-H/FFA/FCCLA, purpose of livestock projects, decision making/goal setting, impact of livestock projects on red meat industry, responsibility of producing a safe product, medication use/reading and following labels, and animal care and their well being. Each chapter has activities that support and help teach these core concepts. After youth and leaders have been properly trained in Quality Counts, they may begin to teach other youth and leaders. The Quality Counts program will be taught at every Adult Leaders meetings, Adult Project Trainings, Livestock Judging Practice, 4-H Club Mtgs, Showmanship Clinics, Project Clinics, project visits, etc. In the 2006 Freestone County Fair, there were 386 4-H livestock projects out of 517 animal projects exhibited. This group of youth and parents, are the identified target group to be exposed to Quality Counts and Character Education. The Freestone County Fair Board has made it mandatory for 4-H and FFA youth to attend at least one Quality Counts training to be eligible to exhibit in the 2007 Freestone County Fair.