2022-2023 Market lamb

[Show Sebright]

Hi, I’m doing a market lamb this year. So I wanted to keep updates on him for y’all to ad your advice. I spent a year learning how to care for a market show lamb but now that I’m actually doing it, I realize that I know next to nothing. Please tell me what you think I can do to make Dutch the best market lamb.

 

[Show Sebright]

So some pictures of when I bought Dutch on May 4th 2022. He was not halter broke so it was a wild couple of days.

 

[Show Sebright]

Over the next very week until his testicles fell off I halter trained him and finally gave him a much needed bath. I
Found some rats in his water bucket. But @Baymule , @Mini Horses and some others helped me out with that.

 

[Show Sebright]

Finally we shaved Dutch! The reveal was amazing. I went from having a fluffy lamb in the kids book to have an amazing show lamb. For my first time ever shaving something that wasn’t my goats beard I think I did great. Only 2 little cuts and non bled. I attempted to blend his legs . And there are some pictures of him after.

 

[Show Sebright]

I starts with my leg wool and exercise program. Every other day he get his page washed, conditioned, pro hair 100 sprayed, and blowed out. On the days he is not getting his fabulous legs done we are doing small exercises and show practice. Usually we either do a mile walk in the shade and walk a few feet with just my hand guiding him no halter (his halter is still on in case something spooks him and I need to grab it) or bracing and setting to practice with a very short walk. Every day we play some game in the yard. His favorite is hide and seek. He weighs about 71 ish lbs.

 

[Show Sebright]

I won’t as a pic because it’s kinda gross. He ripped open his wound from where his testicals fell off. It healed up not I was very scary. I thought i killed my market lamb!


They last 3 days he has been having soft poop. I’m not sure why. I got him some horse dewormer that’s safe for him and gave him enough for 50lbs. I was scared to over dose him. It seems better today.

I wanted to thank @Poka_Doodle , @Mini Horses , and @Baymule for the help so far.

 

[Baymule]

You are doing a great job! Even more important, you are enjoying your lamb!

 

[Show Sebright]

I took Dutch on a 0.6 mile walk this morning. He was playing with the feed scoops. Now he is just eating my chair…

 

[Baymule]

Awww he’s so cute!

 

[Legamin]

Hi, I’m doing a market lamb this year. So I wanted to keep updates on him for y’all to ad your advice. I spent a year learning how to care for a market show lamb but now that I’m actually doing it, I realize that I know next to nothing. Please tell me what you think I can do to make Dutch the best market lamb.

Well you want to start with a really CUTE lamb…..and you seem to have got that covered! We started our boy on mom and grass with no grain and got him to 60lb in 7 weeks. We’ve pulled our market lamb off mom because they were overwhelming the ewe’s milk production…a couple days of hootin and hollering from the respective pastures and then it quieted down. We are currently at the eight week mark on nothing but grass averaging 85-90lb and they’ve dressed out with almost 3” of wool…which has to come off for show…which is a real shame because the Leicester Longwool is KNOWN for their beautiful wool! All I can recommend is spend time with him, get the training harness on him for 15 min to half hour at a time so he is calm and compliant. Work on stance. I use alfalfa cubes to generate interest in standing stock still for the judges. We have a bit of a different judging for the breed because they are so rare there are not enough to choose a 1st-3rd with others not winning. Instead we may have the only lamb of the breed so the judging is on a 5 star system with a certificate for each lamb at the end. 5 stars is a breeding lamb of exceptional quality that can bring the very best price….but, understandably, judges are reluctant to pass out 5 stars because too many will dilute the honor…and eventually the breed if standards aren’t upheld.
This year I think we lucked out and cannot imagine our boy not getting at lease 4-4.8 stars. He is so close to breed standards perfection that I have to pinch myself when I check on him!
Your lamb is beautiful. Keep the back straight by not overfeeding and work on the leg stance, keeping them spread for a solid stance which gives the judge access to his hind quarters checks. When your take him make sure you have a wet warm cloth in a zip lock baggy just in case he gets a bit of nerves and starts making a mess on his back end from looseness. I don’t know why this happens but sometimes it’s a thing. Though I spend more effort on raising and selling quality breeding stock I sometimes get them judged just to have something on the wall that justifies the prices. if ‘grass fed/grain fed’ are not limited by the judges you should check about a week before the event to make sure his back is flat and wide enough to set a spirit level on…if there is any deficiency this can sometimes be worked out by grain feeding a little bit to fill out the mid back and hips if they seem a bit narrow. We have to watch out because it’s easy for our show ram to tip the scales at 360+lbs at nine months and if they are not calm, cooperative and ready….you just don’t want to take them into the ring. So temperament is a thing that you want to focus on and try to get him really comfortable around noise and people and strange sheep.
Fairs and judging are a bit loose and focused on 4H in our region so I really don’t have much advice for the fancier or high level shows…I doubt I will ever get to that point. But I will wish you good luck and hope you come away with the Blue!