BERRIEN SPRINGS —  Market beef registration for the 2019 Berrien County Youth Fair is underway and registrations must be received at the fair office by Feb. 1, fair organizers said.

Exhibitors must be at least 5 years old to show animals at the 2019 Fair. Berrien County youth between the ages of 5 and 20, as of Jan. 1, may register their market beef animals by picking up a form at the fair office, by calling the fair office at (269) 473-4251, or by online registration for market beef.  Once registered, participants will create a user name and password — user names do not carry over from last year, but people can use the same as was used last year. Exhibitors can return to the program and add more entries up until each entry deadline. 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. 

All beef and dairy animals must have a Radio Frequency Electronic Identification (RFID) tag number listed on the exhibitor entry form, which is issued by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and can be obtained by calling 1 (800) 292-3939 or on-line at michigan.gov/mdard. 

Completed registration forms may be:

• dropped off at the fair office between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday.

• mailed to the fair office at Berrien County Youth Fair, P. O. Box 7, Berrien Springs, MI 49103

• placed in the drop box located near the entrance to the Fair office

• submitted as online entry by midnight Feb. 1.

New this year: Beef Carcass Class

The BCYF beef committee is offering a beef carcass class starting in 2019.  All entries must be submitted by Feb. 1.  A minimum of two beef must be registered for the class to proceed, with a maximum of 10 beef in the class.  Only one tagged beef will be allowed per exhibitor.  Registration can be done online with market beef registration or in person by Feb. 1.  For more details regarding the beef carcass class, please call the Fair office (269) 473-4251.

Information necessary to register a market beef animal includes: name of exhibitor, exhibitor number, RFID number, address, telephone number, address where animal is housed, department, division and class number, and breed(s) to be registered. Market beef classes consist of: Shorthorn, Hereford, Angus, Simmental, Chianina, Dairy, Market Heifer and Crossbred.

Animals must be entered in the correct class at the time of weigh-in. Market beef animals that are tagged on weigh-in day can only be exhibited by the exhibitor that registered that animal. There will be no changes allowed among siblings on entry day. Each exhibitor may register four animals, but only two animals may be exhibited at the 2019 Berrien County Youth Fair Aug. 12-17.  All steers that are registered to come to the fair must be brought to the Fairgrounds to be ear-tagged and weighed from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 23 at the beef barns, buildings 53 and 52.  For more information, go to bcyf.org.