Are you a Mississippi 4-H member? If so, enter the June Dairy Month Poster Contest! Your poster will help teach others about the dairy industry and the importance of including milk and dairy products in a healthy, well-balanced diet. You will have fun as you work with 4-H volunteer leaders, Extension agents, parents, dairy farmers, and dairy industry leaders to develop your poster to promote the dairy industry or dairy products. Dairy posters are first judged in your county 4-H Dairy Poster Contest. First-place county winners in each age division advance to statewide competition at the Mississippi 4-H Club Congress. Past first-place winners cannot compete again in the same division in the statewide competition, but they can compete in a different age division as they become eligible.

The contest runs through June 28, 2024­. Each county will be allowed to submit one winner from each age division from the local county contest. Extension agents must email their winning poster in each age division to Dr. Dean Jousan at dean.jousan@msstate.edu by the close of business on Friday, June 28, 2024.

Using the theme May the Dairy Be with You, make a poster about the benefits of the dairy industry and dairy products. The poster must be 22 inches by 28 inches. It can be on poster board or a substitute. Get ideas from magazines, parents, friends, Extension agents, 4-H volunteer leaders, dairy farmers, or others. Information about dairy foods is available at https://thedairyalliance.com. Do not use brand names or copyrighted material (such as cartoon characters) on your poster. The content of the dairy poster should be positive toward the dairy industry. Posters that slander the dairy industry are prohibited.

Ask your Extension agent to help you make sure your poster has correct information about milk and dairy products. The poster must focus on the benefits of consuming real dairy products, not alternative milk beverages from nuts (such as almond milk) or other sources. Your agent will establish a deadline for submitting dairy posters to the county Extension office and can help you think of public places to display your poster, such as farm supply stores, grocery stores, veterinary clinics, doctors’ offices, libraries, schools, or Extension offices.

You can also use your poster in presentations about the dairy industry or milk products at 4-H meetings and other meetings in your community. Your Extension agent can help you think of presentation opportunities. Take pictures of your poster on display and of any presentations you deliver with the poster. Share these pictures with your Extension agent. The Mississippi State University Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences may also share some of your pictures with sponsors of the 4-H Dairy Poster Contest.

Write your name, address, 4-H age, and county in the upper right-hand corner on the back of your poster.

Recognition is given to the Dairy Alliance for sponsoring this contest.

Publication 799 (POD-05-24)