# 4-H lamb ~ here he is



## redfarmhouse (Aug 17, 2011)

We know nothing about lambs but I sure think he is a pretty guy.




Our son is really excited.  He is sitting out there in the pen right now trying to get him to come to him.
No name yet.  He is thinking some cartoon character but hasn't come up with one.


----------



## Hillsvale (Aug 17, 2011)

He sure is pretty... look at the legs on him. What is his breed?

Your young fellow would have better success (at first) gentle guiding with the halter and a hand in back of the ear... and treats in his pocket!


----------



## manybirds (Aug 17, 2011)

is he going as a market lamb or wool? he is cute (haha not as cute as mine! we bought one at our county fair this year. the guy was going to put it up for market but didn't get papers in fast enough so was going to sell it for meat. but the sheep was a registered purebred topquality old style hampshire ewe and i thought it would be a waist to put such a good quality sheep up for meat.)


----------



## boykin2010 (Aug 17, 2011)

I thought of scooby-doo when i saw him 
It would be a good name


----------



## Ms. Research (Aug 18, 2011)

Congratulations.  Nice looking and love the look on your son's face.  

I have to agree with the name Scooby Doo!   Loved that cartoon!


----------



## jenn (Aug 19, 2011)

He looks to be a Suffolk. We just got done with our fair and both my girls raised lambs for a market project. We have lots of fun with it! Plus it helps that we have a sheep farm.. 
Scooby sounds like a great name!


----------



## redfarmhouse (Aug 21, 2011)

They said he was a Suffolk but would probably show as a crossbreed.  He has been working on walking him on halter and they are doing really well together.  Jared is being very patient and slow using "pressure and release" methods that we have been learning with our Clinton Anderson horsemanship training.  Funny! 

He will show him in the spring in 3-4 shows and then he will be auctioned for market.

His name is Lambert.  Our son decided that the lamb reminded him of a cyclist from the Tour de France and named him after Alberto Contador so his official name is Lamberto Contador.  I'm glad he is calling him Lambert for short.


----------



## Julie_A (Aug 21, 2011)

Beautiful!!!


----------



## jenn (Aug 21, 2011)

Great name  May I ask where you are at? For our local county fairs our lambs are only 6 months of age when they are shown and then sold at auction. I am just curious of how other states and such do their lamb projects for fair. I am on our sheep committee and 4-H council and am always looking to see how we could improve our methods.


----------



## redfarmhouse (Aug 24, 2011)

We are in Canadian County, Oklahoma.  It's a huge 4-H county here.


----------



## Ms. Research (Aug 24, 2011)

Wishing your Son and Lambert lots of success in 4-H.  I think it's wonderful when children get involved with animals.   Thanks for sharing how your Son named his lamb.


----------



## jenn (Aug 25, 2011)

At what age are your lambs when you typically show them? Here in MI they are usually 6 months old. At our fair the kids show them for showmanship then they show them for their market class. Then 2 nights later they have the market auction right there for the kids and they get to auction them. Fair week is so much fun! 

I wish him lots of luck!! They are fun animals to work with! We have also found that a whether is much easier to work with then an ewe. Ewe's have too many hormone's running at about 6 months when it's time for show.


----------



## 20kidsonhill (Aug 25, 2011)

sAme for us, lambs are shown at around 6 months of age, there is a showmanship class, and then a weight class for the lamb, so if you have 2 lambs you would pick one for showmanship, but show the other two in their individual weight classes. So you have a potential of 3 times to show.  Unless you don't get enough of a weight difference between the two lambs and they end-up in the same weight class and you have to have someone else show one of your lambs for you. 


It doesn't matter what the breed is, or if it is purebred or a cross they all show as meat by weight. showmanship classes are in order of experience. novice being the first year, intermediate being the next two years, then all the rest being seniors.


----------



## goodhors (Aug 25, 2011)

Our kids get a bonus 4th class, because they can do pens of 2, as well as the individuals and Showmanship.  Our local Fair 
has rules about sizes, with 90# being minimum and 175# being maximum size for the meat classes.  One year there was one bottle
fed lamb that was weighed in at 174# and he was ENORMOUS, looked like an adult ram.

You may want to go to the local Fair or 4-H Office and get the Rules of your Fair to read ahead.  They often have "local" rules that 
would never come to mind until something happens and a rule is made to prevent it happening again.  Probably why we have our
weight rules, someone tried to enter a newly weaned lamb or an old, LARGE sheep as a lamb.  So they had to write in the limits 
in both direction.

I ran into that myself, with two Prospect Beef/Club Calves this year.  We talked to a LOT of folks about it, selling both at Fair.  Then
the week entries were due, I read in the Fairbook that kids can ONLY SELL ONE CALF!!  WHAT!  No one said anything about being 
limited in selling, they can enter a Dairy calf and Beef breed calf to show.  But clearly written in the rules is that kid can only sell one
calf.  They can sell a calf and big steer, calf and lambs or calf and pig.  So we ended up taking both, but brought the smaller one 
home again.  I have her advertised, hope someone will buy her.

But "Rules are Rules" and you as the exhibitor have to know them or suffer the results of ignorance, like me.   I PLANNED to be done 
with cattle after Fair, but obviously that didn't happen.

Lambert is fairly good  size now, so if there is a weight rule, he could be too old or too big by next summer.  You will want to check 
with your 4-H folks and learn NOW  what is required for showing lambs regarding age, size and weight.  Learning now, will save you 
a bunch of grief later on if Lambert will not be meeting requirements of the Fair.


----------



## BrownSheep (Jan 8, 2012)

Around here we typically show Hampshire Suffolk crosses at about 8 months. Our fair only allows ONE  animal to be sold at fair. And I think you can take up to three animals per species per kid and one 'floater' between family members. That's just in 4-h...FFA can show as many as they dare I believe. Our weight limits are 120- 180 they can be bigger but buyers only pay up to 180. The most I've shown is 4 sheep at a time. And my heaviest lamb weighed 189 @ 8 months.   I kept her, Big Bertha. : )


----------

