May 16, 2025
State Livestock Nomination Deadlines Approaching for Kansas State Fair Grand Drive and KJLS
All small livestock and commercial breeding heifer state nominations are due June 15. Commercial breeding heifers, market swine, commercial breeding gilts, market lambs, commercial breeding ewes, and ALL meat goats must be state-nominated to be eligible for the Kansas State Fair Grand Drive and/or KJLS. The deadline to order DNA envelopes for these species is June 5. Late nominations are not accepted. Families are encouraged to plan ahead and order their DNA envelopes early to allow plenty of time for them to be received, collect samples, input their nominations online, and return the signed DNA envelopes to the youth livestock program office.
For nominations to be accepted, animals must be submitted online through ShoWorks by June 15, as well as have a corresponding completed and signed DNA hair sample envelope postmarked. Families also need to mail a copy of their receipt showing the list of all animals and tag numbers entered in the system under each child for their family. Every exhibitor who would like to show at the Kansas State Fair Grand Drive and/or KJLS needs their own ShoWorks account. Families must submit animals under each child within the family for all kids to be eligible to show the animal. Otherwise, animals will only be available to be entered under the exhibitor who submitted it online under their name. All youth must also sign the DNA envelope for each animal. Only one completed DNA envelope per animal needs to be submitted, as long as it includes the signatures of all eligible exhibitors within the family and a parent/guardian.
The 2025 state livestock information is available from the KSU Youth Livestock Program website, under the Nomination Information tab. No paper forms will be accepted; all nominations must be submitted online. Several resources are available to guide families in successfully completing their nominations, including the Rookie Guide, species checklists, and Zoom session recordings. Families must plan ahead.
New families who will be nominating for the first time need to request a family name and number before beginning the process, which may be done through this link. Returning families need to use their originally assigned number and the existing ShoWorks account for children who nominated animals last year. Those who need to reset their password may do so through the blue “Password Reset” button below the Password field on the login page.
All exhibitors are required to upload two documents upon entering their first animal in the system – their new 2025 YQCA certificate and the 2025 family Declaration Form. The system accepts PDF documents, as well as image files. Both forms must be uploaded at the same time and cannot be edited once uploaded.
Ear notches are required for swine nominations, and full scrapie tag numbers are required for sheep and meat goats. The scrapie tag number must include the Flock ID and individual animal number (example: KSS0035 16121). Nominations received without this information will be considered incomplete and returned to the family for completion. Resources on reading ear notches and submitting scrapie tag numbers are available on the website.
Families must use the Kansas nomination link to submit animals and order DNA envelopes: https://kansasnom.fairwire.com/. For more information about the state livestock nomination process and the helpful resources, visit the KSU Youth Livestock Program website: https://www.asi.k-state.edu/extension/youth-programs/nominated-livestock/. Families who are interested in state-nominated animals should contact their local extension office as soon as possible.