Lambtown Sheep Show with Farm Club

One of the Lambtown events is the sheep show. I live so close that I like to participate and I know that people like to see my sheep there. But I knew that I couldn’t be a vendor AND show sheep. I told the FarmClub that I would get sheep to Lambtown if they wanted to handle the show. They were willing.

This was simpler than some other shows because there were no group classes and, as at many shows, you could only enter yearlings and lambs. I sold my yearling ram at Estes Park in June so we didn’t even have to worry about who would want to handle a ram. I entered two ram lambs, two ewe lambs, and two yearling ewes. It’s the yearling ewes in this photo. These are twins born in 2022.

Farm Club members set up a display about Jacob sheep and Farm Club. All I had to do was bring a few of the panels that we use at State Fair and the box of photos and signs. I forgot that I’d be using the Meridian Jacobs sign in my vendor booth so Lisa used her t-shirt to indicate Meridian Jacobs. Clever!

I have to explain about that panel in the center. When you wind a warp on a loom you pack the layers of yarn with paper as you roll it on the beam. During one of the Sheep-to-Shawl competitions a few years ago FC member, Alison, thought that the paper used for rolling the warp could be made more interesting. As the shawl was woven, this message emerged from the back of the loom. Isn’t that a great idea?I thought it was worth laminating and using as a sign.

I did not get to see the sheep show, but many Farm Club members were there and some took the following photos.

Beth and Marina did most of the showing. The competition was from a Shetland breeder. This is the ewe lamb class.

This is the ram lamb class. The green on the ram is because our breeding season had already started and this ram lamb was wearing a marking harness when he was with his group of ewes.

Beth ended up with a challenging sheep. This ewe decided to go on strike.

We ended up with Champion Ram and Champion Ewe of the Primitive Breeds division.

Deborah helped out when a third person was needed for the champion class. Once again Beth had a less cooperative sheep, but handled him well.

Dan spent all afternoon driving the tractor and wagon that transported people back and forth from the vendor halls to the livestock area.

This was very popular not only with adults that appreciated the rides, but with kids who liked to sit in the front. Dan took extra laps to give some of those kids more time sitting on the front bench.

Lambtown 2023 was a big success for all of us. The crew that put the show on this year is to be commended for the time they spent on planning and organizing and the professionalism they brought to the event.

State Fair – One More Post

The story of the last day of the California State Fair, which was show day for us, is here. The other days are in this post. Now I’ll go back to the last day because one of my friends sent me photos of the last show and there are some others to share.

The Supreme Champion show was scheduled at 4:00. This is where the champion animals of each division compete together. The ram class is first followed by the ewe class. They enter the ring in order of the shows over the two days of showing. Kirby’s yearlings were given Champion ram and ewe earlier in the day, the second to last division in the sheep show. This photo shows the ilne-up of all the rams. From right to left Southdown, Dorper, White Dorper, Wether Sire/Wether Dam, Dorset, Hampshire, Suffolk, Montedale, AOB (All Other Breeds) Meat, Columbia, Natural Colored Wool, Primitive, AOB Wool.

Here is a closer view of our end of the line-up.

I like this photo (if I ignore my hair) from Beth.

I handled the yearling ram, Thorn, but Kirby led Rose into the ewe class. I was just back-up. It is rare that a breed like Jacob would win Supreme Champion. It did happen once! Here is a post from 2016 when Meridian Rotor won Supreme Champion Ram. I have the belt buckle and banner to prove it! The judge had spent so much time talking with Kirby in the show ring and praising her sheep that she thought she might win. She was somewhat disappointed when she didn’t.

Between the primitive breed show and supreme show Dan and I took the opportunity to walk up to the Expo buildings at the front of the fairgrounds.

One of the buildings was devoted to dragons.

Another was all about gaming…maybe. I don’t really know what it was about. We breezed through.

The one that I wanted to see was about Cannabis. I was amused when I first heard that the California State Fair would have a cannabis competition. You can enter a sheep, a woven blanket, a jar of jam, and your cannabis. Can’t you picture the judges sitting around a table sampling the entries? Not like that–this was all lab test results. This was a well done display, with lots of reading about the history, the time-line of cannabis culture in California, and the differences in all the varieties. Who knew? Back in the high school years it was just a baggie of leaves. I’ve been very far removed from this world for a long time. We didn’t have enough time to thoroughly read all the information there because we had to get back to the barn for the Supreme Show.

I have never been part of the gaming or dragon worlds and barely a participant in the early cannabis years so these exhibits made me feel old again.

Back to the barn. Farm Club members were holding down the fort. Yay for Farm Club!

After the Supreme Show they gave out the awards for Marketing and Herdsman. Usually those awards are presented between the Supreme Ram and Ewe shows, but they weren’t announced until after the ewe show and after the photos were taken. It was rather anticlimactic since all the spectators had left and I was the only exhibitor there to pick up the award. See the first State Fair post linked above for photos.

When it was time to take down the display and load sheep I let Kirby watch the last horse event of the fair. When we were finished I joined her. When this show finished we left for home.

State Fair – The 4th Day

No, you didn’t miss the first, second, and third days. I haven’t had time to sort photos or write anything. So I’ll start with the last day which was our show day.

We tied our sheep to the outside of the pens while waiting our turn so we could get the straw off the bellies. We had 11 sheep at the fair this year. I was missing a yearling ram because I sold Turbo at the Estes Park show. My show string consisted of 2 ram lambs, 2 yearling ewes, and 2 ewe lambs. Kirby has sheep that are the descendants of the ewe I gave her in 2019–I don’t give her sheep each year for the show. Kirby had twin yearlings (ram and ewe), and three lambs (two ewes and a ram) to show. I just looked at the blog post I wrote after the 2019 State Fair. There are some of my favorite photos of Kirby there, and you’ll see some of the same other characters in 2019 as in this post.

Kirby with the yearling ram, KJ Royalty Thorn, twin to KJ Royalty Rose. It’s the breeder’s prefix that is part of a registered sheep’s name, and Kirby’s prefix is KJ Royalty. She was the owner of Meridian Belle when she was bred. Now all the offspring of Belle and Belle’s offspring will have that prefix. There is a theme here for some of the sheep names. You’ll pick up on that if you’re a Disney fan.

Thorn was the only entry in the Yearling Ram class and the judge gave him high praise for conformation and fleece.

It is too bad that there are no other breeders showing up for the Primitive Breeds sheep show now. Pre-pandemic we had some Shetlands, Icelandic, and other breeds so there was competition. Now it’s just Kirby and me as separate breeders. This is the Champion drive for rams. That’s Thorn as the yearling. My ram lamb, Meridian Cyclone (weather theme for 2023 lambs) was first place ram lamb and Kirby’s Gusgus was second. Thorn was given Champion Ram and Cyclone was Reserve.

There were three Farm Club members helping on this day and it took all of us to make sure the sheep were where they were supposed to be and Kirby had an adult helper so we don’t have more photos of the show. But we have photos of After. Thorn’s sister, Rose was awarded Champion Ewe so Kirby made out with the banners.

Fair week is always exhausting and Kirby’s four fair days were at the end of being away from home for six weeks. Her birthday was the previous day, and there was a lot going on then as well.

After the show we were back to educating (entertaining / enlightening?) the public. I am grateful to the Farm Club members who came to help. Siobhan was there Thursday and brought a local friend to help also. Lisa came Friday and Saturday. Marina, Beth, and Doris were there Saturday and Sunday. I couldn’t have done this and stayed sane without them there.

This entertainer showed up in that 2019 post.

He rides all over the fair and makes balloon characters for kids. This is a dinosaur that Kirby plans to take home to her brother. Hopefully it will survive a road trip back to Texas.

The last event of the day was the Supreme Champion show. Both of Kirby’s Champion sheep needed to be in their respective classes. This photo shows Rose and Thorn together. I don’t have photos of the Supreme show because I was in the show ring with Kirby. Afterwards they announced the Herdsman and Marketing awards.

We did it! First in Herdsman and first in Marketing. These awards have more meaning for me than the sheep show awards because there wasn’t competition in the sheep show ring. Actually there wasn’t that much competition this year for these, but there was some and we really worked for it.

If you look at that 2019 post you’ll see that this is the same crew as then, with the addition of Kirby.

While we were loading the trailer and my car I let Kirby watch one last horse performance if she stood at the corner where I could see her (easy in the bright green shirt). When we finished loading I joined her.

Black Sheep Gathering – Day 3

View Day 1 and Day 2 of this adventure. The only thing I had to think about on Saturday was showing sheep in the afternoon and Spinners’ Lead in the evening. I’ll share scenes from the farm booths and around the vendor hall.

Karen of Liongate Farm always has an array of unique needlefelted pieces at her booth.

She was awarded the Black Sheep Cup for this piece. The detail is amazing.

Here is another Black Sheep prize awarded to a different fiber artist.

I was glad to see the Black Lamb Cup awarded to a youth entry. We need to encourage the next generations to be excited about sheep and fiber.

The perfect shoes to wear to a sheep gathering.

This is an impressive display that was just outside the vendor hall. I hope that everyone took a look.

There are dozens of different sea creatures in a variety of fiber arts represented here.

A closer view.

Back at the barn, a little clean up was necessary. Jazzie had been wearing a blanket but I took it off because I’d rather see the sheep than a blanket. Jazzie is a black and white sheep and Lenore, behind her, is a lilac.

We were the only Jacob breeders who entered the show this year so we had to show in an All Other Breeds division. This is for sheep registered in their own breed associations, but without enough sheep or breeders to show in separate divisions.

Ram lamb, Meridian Bridger, won Champion ram of this division.

We also had best Young Flock (one ram lamb, two ewe lambs). This isn’t the typical photo you’d take of your winning sheep group, but I mainly wanted to have one of Farm Club members who were there and helped out. This is Brenda, Lisa, Beth, and me. Doris was taking the photo. Other Farm Club members were there too. Ryan had his own Heritage Fiber booth in the vendor hall, Stephany was helping with the Mendocino Wool Mill booth, and Lyn was visiting. Did I miss someone? I kept running into people I knew all day.

The collection of ribbons and a trophy.

I think Lisa took this photo. I was told that this should be my new profile photo on all my social media pages. What do you think?

The Angora goats showed on Saturday also.

The day ended with Spinners Lead. I had told Ryan that he should definitely wear his handspun handknit sweater using fleece that he got at his first shearing day from Jacob ewe, Columbine.

He led Jazzie, whose fleece matched the spots really well.

There were 15 entries (no photos unfortunately), and the two of us won the top placings in the show. Ryan was first for non-sheep-owner and I won for the sheep owners. Great fun! I’m so glad that we did this.

Estes Park Wool Market – the third installment

I just finished the blog post about the second day of travel and first day of the Estes Park events.

Saturday was very full, with a whole day of scheduled events for the AGM as well as the full Wool Market events going on. We started the day with breakfast followed by a talk about copper in the diet of sheep and then a discussion of spinning Jacob wool. There was a session on slaughter and butchering with a live demonstration of the butchering part followed by other informational sessions.

The JSBA Jacob Sheep show was held after lunch. Rams were first. Turbo won the yearling ram class

I had two entries in the ram lamb class. I was pleased that the winner of the class was my ram (#2317) purchased by a Jacob breeder (standing) from Pennsylvania.

We went into the ring for the Champion ram class and Turbo was the winner.

The ewe classes followed. Royal helped show in all the other classes. Dan was glad of the help, and he was in the barn keeping people away from the sheep we had tied up in the alley so they’d be ready for the show ring. This is Quora in the aged ewe (anything over yearling) class.

Quince was in the next class. You don’t normally have sheep with lambs at shows, but in this case I brought two nursing ewes with their lambs. The reason for that was the next class:

We were the only entry in this class that was for Three Generations. Dan is holding Quora. Quora’s daughter, Quince, is in the midde, and the lamb is Quince’s.

Quince and her lamb are also in this class, Family Tree. Turbo joined the group as he is the sire of the lamb.

A just-for-fun Project Runway followed the show. There were four entries in the adult category for less serious themes. I was the only person in the Wool category.

They all had humorous stories to go along with the entries. I don’t remember all, but this is obviously a sheep dressed in royal garb and I think Anne is her subject.

I will say that when I compare these ladies to me…

…it reminds me of my job in the early 1980s. Why? I worked at a place called Continental Lady, leading aerobics classes. When we had to wear Halloween costumes I stitched unwashed wool all over a t-shirt, and wore black leggings and a wool hat with cardboard ears. The other people (all young women) all dressed as princesses or fairies or some other cute, pretty character….and then there was me. Just like in these photos. At least I’m not wearing unwashed wool. I have on a base layer of wool that is not seen, a wool sweater knit by friend Kathleen Hendrix, a handspun handwoven v-shawl, and a knit cap that was probably my last knitting project. Turbo is wearing a handspun, handwoven scarf.

It’s taken me two days just to finish writing this post. Let’s see if I can finish this story before the next one starts.

On the Road to Estes Park Wool Market and AGM

A week ago today we started the drive to Colorado for the Estes Park Wool Market and the JSBA AGM (Jacob Sheep Breeders Association Annual General Meeting–that’s why it’s easier to use acronyms). I just looked up acronym and JSBA is one when we say it “Jazba”, but AGM is an initialism. Just thought you might want to know that.

We got on the road at 8:30 with a trailer full of sheep.

Turbo, the yearling ram, was up front. A yearling ewe, Quince, with a single lamb and a two-year-old ewe, Quora, and her twins were on the left. The right compartment held 3 ewe lambs and 3 ram lambs. They were bigger than the lambs on the left who were still nursing.

We always bring our map books along, but there wasn’t going to be any National Park time on this trip.

Dan did all the driving. He likes to drive. I entertained myself in a variety of ways, often with my phone. We’re still seeing snow in the Sierras.

I haven’t been through the Sierras on I-80 in years. I think the flumes that follow the canyon are so interesting. And look at the water pouring out of this one.

Nevada landscape. We were amazed at how green it was.

There are lots of “drive-by” scenery photos. As great as the iPhone is for photos, when zoomed in it can leave something to be desired. I left my regular camera home because I couldn’t find the battery charger and both batteries were almost dead.

More green landscape in Nevada. Amazing!

I think this is still Nevada, but I didn’t keep notes. Of course I assumed that I would remember. The photo info shows it was taken about 5:20. I guess I could do the math to figure out where we were.

I know this is Utah because that is the Great Salt Lake. At this point it was 7:20 p.m.

This was taken from a gas station in Lake Point, Utah, just past the Salt Lake.

It was at this gas station that I watered and fed the sheep. We stayed in one spot for about a half hour to give the sheep a chance to eat. Then back on the road.

I was keeping track of miles, mileage, etc. We were dismayed to calculate after this gas stop that we were only getting 10.2 mpg. We’d had 12.6 from home to Loveland and 11.6 from Loveland to Elko. Pulling a loaded trailer, at elevation, and up hills is bad enough, but fighting a headwind made the mileage worse.

We drove into Wyoming. I say “we”. Dan drove into Wyoming and eventually had to stop. We stopped at a rest stop abour 2 a.m. and I gave the sheep a little more hay. I can’t say that we stretched out in the cab of the truck because there really wasn’t room to stretch out, but we covered up with our wool blankets and slept as best we could. I got out my ipad and finished editing the minutes of Tuesday night’s Artery meeting so I could send it when I had wifi. Then I slept.

Stay tuned for the next day!

State Fair

The CA State Fair was at the end of July but I was too busy with back-to-back events to post about it. Now we’ll go back in time to the fair. Of course, entering the fair is about showing sheep. But for me an important element is the display and the Marketing Award. A lot of effort goes into that from me and from Farm Club members. We’ve been using the old tin backdrop for a long time and I still really like the look. It worked especially well with the natural dye display we made this year. There are also signs about Farm Club, examples of yarn and wool on the table, and a continuous loop of about 45 minutes of my farm videos. The Touching Table is popular with fair-goers.There are more signs over the sheep pens. My potted plants were dug out of the pasture and include a sign about what is in the bucket.

There is always someone demonstrating at the booth. I was glad that I brought my loom this year. It drew a lot of interest and I wove six scarves while I was there.

Speaking of weaving, this is Lucien, who was with the Eureka! Mohair Farm across the aisle from us. He was interested in weaving so I brought the Cricket loom for him to use. I forgot the warping peg, but notice that we found something to use instead. By the next day Lucien had woven off this scarf using a clasped weft technique for his first piece! Yarns in his scarf and mine are locally grown Anderson Ranch yarn and my handspun.

Here is closeup of some of the yarns on display. Farm Club member, Lisa, dyed most of these. One of the kids’ activities we provide is this sheet for drawing in details on the sheep. Not everyone takes them home.We are also here for the sheep show. Fortunately Jacob sheep don’t require a lot of fitting, but it is nice to get them cleaned up a bit.The horns looked pretty good after a scrubbing. This is a ram lamb named Axle.This is Jana on the right and a less-glad-to-be-there Halcyon. The Primitive Breeds show was Saturday afternoon. This is a yearling ram, Meridian Gotham. (Look at those shiny horns.)Unfortunately there was very little competition this year and I had the only rams. So it’s nice to get a Champion award, but it would have been nice to have other breeders’ sheep there. Marina and Betsy helped show. This is the ram lamb class.Meridian Maybelline was awarded Champion Ewe.Thanks so much to Betsy and Marina for pitching in and showing sheep. And thanks to Dona for the photos. Here we are with a pile of awards, including Premier Breeder and Premier Sire.

Winning Champion, even with little competition, means that you take your sheep into the ring on Sunday for the Supreme Champion competition. No, Gotham didn’t shrunk overnight. He was the same size as always. It’s just that those Suffolks are like ponies. This is the Supreme Champion Ewe competition. In between the Supreme Champion Ram and Supreme Champion Ewe competitions they announce the Marketing Award winners. We did pretty well! Best Marketing Program. Best Program Directed at the Public. Best Signage. 1st place Herdsman. 1st Place Educational Program. 2nd Place Educational Program over all the livestock species during the three weeks of the fair. Can’t ask for more than that!

But there is more! Loading up in my new trailer! Oregon here we come in 2019!

Maryland 2018 – Days 3 & 4 MSWF

This is the third post for MSWF. Go backwards in the blog if you want to read the others.

I missed the shearing part of the Sheep to Shawl competition on Saturday morning and, by the time I made it to the tent where the competition was being held, one team had just cut their shawl off the loom.

That was Spin City. They had a Scout theme, complete with cookies and merit badges.

I realize that unless you have a large screen you’re not going to be able to read the Merit Badge descriptions. Most have to do with becoming competent in skills of spinning, knitting, shearing, etc. However I particularly liked the one that shows a credit card and is awarded for: “Enabler (silver or gold). The requirements for earning this badge are: Teaching someone to knit, crochet, spin, felt, weave, or dye. You also must have ‘encouraged’ another to buy a braid of roving, skein of yarn, or spindle. Silver: If you have ever persuaded someone to buy a wheel or loom then you have earned the silver enabler award. Gold: To earn the gold enabler award you must have influenced someone’s decision to buy a farm,  fiber mill, or yarn store.”                 The Fiber Friends’ sign said that they were “Celebrating the Royal Wedding with a Royal Shawl”.

Definitely a royal purple theme.

The third team was called Friends Thru Fiber and had a butterfly theme.

I was showing sheep Saturday afternoon and didn’t make it back to this area to find out who won the competition.

I mentioned in the last post about the opportunity to spend time with people who I rarely see.

               These are two of the JSBA inspectors that I communicate with via email a lot. Royal on the left, is the person who bought the sheep I brought.                       Here is a photo of showing Serrano that Royal just sent me.

                 As things were winding down on Sunday afternoon I helped Royal load the sheep for his drive to Pennsylvania. That’s my two with their new friends.          Serrano in the trailer.               As I left the fairgrounds I took a few photos of the gorgeous countryside.                       I love seeing the farms and these old barns.

Back at the hotel…                   …I laid out my winnings.                    Stay tuned for one more day of Maryland adventures!

Maryland 2018 – Days 3 & 4 MSWF

The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival was the reason for this trip. I spent the first day and a half in Maryland sightseeing and hiking (see previous two posts). The Festival was on Saturday and Sunday. I think I have enough photos here for a dozen posts, but I’ll try to limit myself to just a few. This post is devoted to the sheep. One of the cool things about this show is that there are examples of several rare sheep that may not be entered but are on display.             Scottish Blackface.                  Lincoln Longwool.            Kerry Hill.

       Leicester Longwool.                Tunis.

           Herdwick.

            Hog Island.            Clun Forest.              Shropshire.              Border Leicester.                And of course, Jacob. This is not my ram. This one had never been shorn.               My sheep were shorn in February which put them at a disadvantage at this show.            This is Jolene and Saffron waiting for the show.            Andy, who drove the sheep filled trailer out here, offered to show one of the ewes.                                                   He is an experienced showman, but I’ll bet this is the first Jacob he has shown.

                                                  My sheep place in the middle. The ram, Serrano, placed 4th out of 7 or 8. Jolene was 3rd and Saffron was 7th in a class of about 10.                     I hung around the Fine Natural Colored Wool show in case Andy needed help. This is one of Terri M’s fleeces. Color like a Jacob, but much finer.                 Look who was also on display. Making their debut, these are 50% Valais Black Nose sheep, the first generation in a breed-up program with the goal of producing almost 100% purebred sheep.

           Elegant and cute at the same time!                  Seen in the parking lot!

More from the festival in the next post.

 

Lambtown 2017–Showing Sheep

I wrote a post about teaching and vendoring (a new word?) at Lambtown. Dona send me several photos of our sheep and Farm Club members that I can also share.

Buster had his own pen. The ewes are Cindy and Vanna.

Mary having a conversation with Buster.

Mary and Lisa in the barn.

Sumi, also in the barn. A lot of the Farm Club members were also on the Spinzilla team and were working to increase their yardage spun.

Lisa rode the train back and forth from the barn to the vendor hall.

The sheep show was Sunday afternoon. Yearling rams were up first.

Buster was the only one in his class.

He didn’t want to cooperate.

Do I really want to be dancing with a ram.

I think not.

He was better behaved on a halter…

…and especially when tied to the fence after his turn.

This is the rest of the sheep waiting their turns.

Vicki helped with the ram lambs.

We showed against Shetlands in the Primitive Breeds Division.

Doris helped with the yearling ewes.

Everyone was a winner. Thanks!