The First Flock

My daughter Carli started in 4-H when she was about 14. She didn't actually join that year, but helped a friend with her lamb project. Her friend was our next door neighbor Dean's niece and she and her brothers kept their lambs at his house, since they lived in the city limits. Carli really seemed to enjoy working with the lambs so I was really happy when she asked if she could join 4-H the following year. I figured it would give her something to do and maybe keep her out of trouble.

We started attending meetings and purchased her first lamb. The 4-H advisor was Dean's ex-mother-in-law, Jeffie. (Side note: Jeffie's daughter, Dean's ex-wife, later married the man who was my husband's best man at our marriage. We knew Jeffie from that time originally. Jeffie's daughter is now happily married to another man. Third time's the charm!

Showing a lamb involves a lot of work. Carli had to regularly practice walking and setting up the lamb, feed, water, keep slick shorn, graining, weighing, adjusting feed, attend meetings, and solicit sponsors, a lot of which I helped her with. I think the two big payoffs for Carli were when she got a week off school to participate in the fair, and when her check came in from the auction of her lamb.

Junior Livestock Auction, market lamb

The following year she asked if she could have a market lamb to show as well as a breeding pair. She had seen some of the other kids with their breeding sheep and show flocks. She thought she might like to have a show flock of her own. I thought it might be a nice idea too. Looking back, I think I was just living my dream through her. I'd always wanted to live on a farm and have animals but it just wasn't possible when I was growing up. Now I had my excuse.

To her credit, Carli bought her market lamb that year with the money she'd earned from the sale of her last lamb. After doing a little research on the internet, we settled on Dorsets for her breeding sheep. By happy circumstance, we found a breeder in Bakersfield.

Jamie Lee

Gregg and Marlene Bell own Ewephoric! Dorsets. They have a really nice operation and show at many shows around the nation. We told them what we wanted and they picked out an unrelated spring ewe lamb and fall ram lamb for us. I wrote the check for $500 (gulp!), $200 for the ewe, $300 for the ram, and we were on our way. We named the ram Bruce Lee and the ewe became Jamie Lee.

Bruce Lee

Carli worked hard with all of her sheep. It seemed like before we knew it, the fair was right around the corner. Through Jeffie, we found a sheep "fitter" (he's a guy that trims the sheep wool to show, like a dog groomer would trim a poodle for a dog show). He came out the day before the show to fit the two breeding sheep.

The night before he came we washed and dried the sheep and covered them with their sheep covers. That was something I was unprepared for at the time. We didn't have any covers and had to buy them and have them express shipped. They looked kind of funny but they had to stay clean. They are like a horse hood and blanket, only for sheep.

The fitter was a nice old man that was happy to see that he could set up in our big garage to do his work. He told us that some people had him fitting on uneven surfaces, in the hot sun, or other major inconveniences. We supplied him with cold sodas, a fan, and a radio, and he got to work.

About four hours after beginning, the fitter was done with both sheep. He had worked magic with them. They actually looked like big time show sheep now, like you see in the sheep magazines. There went another couple hundred dollars, but I have to say he really earned it.

It was show time at the fair! Carli did some last minute touch ups. She smoothed out where the blankets had pressed the wool too much and cleaned off some hanging straw and it was time to go in the ring. (The kids are the only ones allowed to do grooming once they are on the fair grounds.) One of her friends from school who was in another 4-H club helped her show the breeding sheep. Since those sheep are usually full grown by then they can be difficult if not impossible for one person to set up so they are allowed another 4-H member to help.

Jamie Lee was first up. Marlene, the sheep's breeder, was on hand with her camera. After the whole rigamarole of walking, standing, feeling, and more walking, the judge had everyone line up before he made his final picks. He pointed at Carli for Number 1! Jamie Lee had won Champion Breeding Dorset Ewe.



A sheep show is very similar to a dog show. First all the ewes of one breed enter the ring to pick the best of that breed. Then those that were chosen best go back to determine the Supreme Champion. The same is done for the rams.

Carli took Jamie Lee back in for the Supreme Champion competition, but I could see Jamie Lee was a little tense while walking and had an unattractive hump in her back. If I remember correctly, a Rambouillet ewe was chosen as Supreme Champion Breeding Ewe.

Now it was time for Bruce Lee to go in the ring. First with all the other Dorset rams. They walked around, set up, the judge examined each ram, then had them walk again. They lined up and the judge pointed at Carli for Number 1! Bruce Lee was Champion Dorset Breeding Ram. We waited while the other breeds went around and their champion was chosen.

Finally it was time for Carli and Bruce to go back in, this time for the Supreme Champion Ram competition. They walked around as before. All the rams looked impressive. Once again the judge had them all lined up and then gave a little comentary on each sheep. Finally he came to Bruce. He went on about his nice structure, good walk, type, loins, and whatever else, and then finally said, "And that's why this is my pick for Supreme Champion Breeding Ram."

Supreme Champion Breeding Ram

Marlene and I screamed and the small crowd clapped. Marlene turned to me and said, "Well you know what this means, don't you?" I wasn't really sure what she meant. "You can't go any higher. You can't stay on top forever."

She was right. Carli turned 16 and suddenly lost all interest in the sheep. I like to say that was the worst year of my life. She was hardly home, she'd come home too late, she was drinking. It was a bad time for my husband and me. My friends at work all reassured me, or tried to. "She'll come around." "It's just a phase." "When she turns 18 she'll snap out of it."

Thankfully, my friends were right. When Carli was 17 1/2 she got a new boyfriend, a new attitude, started going to a new school, and got her first real job. The transformation was amazing and I am forever grateful.

Carli

She's 18 now and almost graduated. She is making straight A's and showing some interest in junior college. She has her own apartment, a great new job, and able to take care of herself. She visits us regularly and has taken an interest once again in the sheep. Not that she wants any but likes to see the babies and is willing to help me when I ask, without throwing a fit.

This flock has a happy ending to its beginning!