lambs and livestock shows

This past weekend was our last show of the season. We have a few months off before we start showing all over again. But, it’s not a time for leisure. There are breeders to be visited, lambs to sort through, plans to talk about and deals to be made. When everything is said and done we’ll start the new season with at least four new critters in our barn. Some people think we’re nuts to spend so much time going from show to show. But, it’s what we do; it’s where our friends are; it’s where we have fun and it’s where our passions lie. I don’t think it’s any different than sitting on a soccer field every Sunday morning for months on end. It’s just what we do as a family, to stay on the right track and out of trouble.

I think it was inevitable that Brianne would raise sheep. After all she was in the barn with me when she was just a few weeks old and attended her very first sheep auction before she was 6 months old. We propped her up in her car seat on a stack of bailed straw and two darling, crotchety old sheep breeders watched her intently as I took my consignment of yearling rams across the auction block.

The barn is where she learned to climb fences without falling off; where she learned to feed and water; and where she learned the facts of life, both the birds and bees kind and the life and death kind. It’s where she got her passion for animals and her love of country living and farming.

She showed her first lamb at our county fair when she was nine. From that summer of working and feeding and practicing showmanship, and attending the county fair she was hooked. Now she raises five or six lambs a year and shows at a dozen or more weekend, county and state fairs each year.

I don’t think there’s any better combination than kids raising livestock – no matter what the species is. Kids learn how to care for another living creature. They learn responsibility through feeding, watering and cleaning their animals. They learn patients because animals, especially farm animals, don’t always do what you want them to do. And, they learn the difference between animals that are on our farms to produce and those that are here to feed us. Sometimes the lessons are tough. But, there is also a lot of joy in raising animals.

We’ve made a lot of really great friends through showing livestock and not just people who show sheep. The kids who show are wonderful. They’re polite and respectful. The kind of young people every parent wishes their teen would hang around with. They keep in touch through the internet and will likely end up at the same college’s together, becoming life long friends.

Kids, critters and competitions – it’s a great life!!

At the show Brianne won 4th and 5th in the market division and 2nd in showmanship. Pretty good end to the season.