# Wool Sheep vs. Market lambs handling and showing



## TheSheepGirl (Mar 29, 2011)

I was wondering what the average is for your specific counties and states as far as the handling of market lambs and wool sheep. 

Here market lambs are braced and their front feet are lifted to stack the animal. The front feet are not touched at all by the hands and a straight legged brace is preffered over a bent legged brace. The animal is lifted by the head to move the front feet into place. It is not uncommon to see the animal's chest resting on the showman's knees and the animal's feet to be lifted slightly off the ground to give it more slope.

Wool sheep may be shown either braced or crouched. Crouched is preffered, because it is more "wool sheep" than bracing and wool sheep do not need to be braced by popular opinion. The feet are moved individually into place from the crouched position and it is considered acceptable to reach over the sheep to move the foot on the oposite side or to reach infront of the sheep from the crouched position. It is also acceptable to move the back feet by hand to stack them. 

It is also acceptable here for showman to wear short sleeves when showing their sheep. Last year's state champ. wore a tank top and a pair of blue jeans. Some of the people also wear tennis shoes in the show ring.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Mar 29, 2011)

G'day Sheepgirl,what an interesting topic,Down here and I have only seen sheep judged at our local show(fair).The judges seem to be more concerned with the rams ability to "move".They instruct the handler to let the rams loose (one at a time)in an alley and watch their balance and muscle structure,because it does not matter how "good ' they look,if they cant catch the "ewes" in the paddock they are of NO use........................When the rams are stood they seem to compare their length overall,the eye muscle,amount of hind quarter and they should not be "over ally"wide across the front(this is the main reason for farmers having to "pull lambs"),good mouths and feet also seem to figure in the judgement.

I look forward to hearing other views from up there on this subject.

..........................................T.O.R......................................


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## patandchickens (Mar 30, 2011)

T.O.R., is your sheep showing an activity in and of itself (being judged such that the winning animals are not _necessarily_ going to be the best FUNCTIONAL animals that you'd want in a practical flock -- kind of like how in horseshows, horses that win halter or model classes often are pretty useless in terms of athletic careers), or is it being judged strictly as 'what sheep would an actual working sheep farm be best off having'?

In North America there is a considerable element of the former, especially in some breeds. But from what you describe I wonder if it may be different down there?

(I can't really answer SheepGirl's question btw b/c I don't know enough of what I'm seeing done in the ring and have not seen _that_ much sheep showing anyhow (at the Royal Winter Fair and various 'county fairs'). It's never been obvious to me that there is a heckuva lot of posing going on, actually, other than trying to keep the sheep in one place, preferably in the ring LOL)

Pat


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## aggieterpkatie (Mar 30, 2011)

It's been quite a few years since I was in 4-H showing sheep, so keep that in mind, but our "rules" or showing methods were pretty similar to those TheSheepGirl posted.  I never did brace hard, and I really think bracing and lifting the sheep so much started when I was on my way out of 4-H.  I showed back in the days where judges actually picked market lambs with lots of meat on them instead of these tubey-giraffed necked club lambs they're breeding today.   

And I wouldn't necessarily categorize them into "market" and "wool", but more "market" and "breeding".  The breeding sheep are usually shown by 1 or more people- one to hold the sheep and one to place legs.  It's not uncommon for just 1 person to show though, except with the larger breeds they're not really reaching over or under to place legs, they'll use their hands to place front legs, and use their toes to reach back and gently step on the sheeps hind feet until it's placed in a proper position.  

In open classes showmen usually wear jeans and flock t-shirts, or just whatever they normall wear. 4-H kids are always in khakis and white shirts (or all white if dairy showmen).


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Apr 1, 2011)

G'day Sheepgirl,P&C has raised an area which is outside the scope of your thread ,so I think I will update an old "topic",Which at the time the forum was quite "shy" about commenting on....................Hope you get some more responces to your question...............T.O.R.


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