show lambs

[newgirl97]

I'm looking at getting into showing lambs, we have sheep right now, and i really enjoy their company, and would love to do more with them.

But one thing i cannot find online anywhere; After you show your lamb do you keep showing it? or is it to be sold? I don't think i could sell my lamb/sheep after all that time. Do you have to sell your lamb if you enter a 4-H program?

Also, what is a good breed for showing that i can look into?

 

[goodhors]

Most folks talking about "show lambs" are talking Market Lambs sold for meat.
If you are in 4-H, FFA, you show at your Fair, with the idea of selling the Market
Lamb for money. This lamb is your "finished product or project" like Farmers
raise for proft in "real life" to keep their farms profit making. Lambs are
usually wethers, so they are not breedable. Lambs have reached their BEST
point in being sellable, going to bring the most money at this Fair Sale.

Meat breeds get LARGE at maturity, 200#,so having pet wethers is not just like
keeping a kitten or hen. They eat a LOT, need shearing yearly, with a
good sized area for living in. You will get nothing back from them and will take
a loss selling them at over a year old, as sheep. They don't taste well as older
animals, sale prices will be lower too.

Locally, the favorite Market Lamb look is black face and legs, with white or
grayish body colors. Breeds are usually Hampshire, Suffolk or crossbreds.
The lambs should be around 130 pounds to show well at Fair, and hard muscled
from being exercised DAILY. You get mileage on them to create those
muscles, develop the body that will win in a show. Locally, Judge WILL feel
the lambs for muscling, critique them for body development, reward the best
ones.

The handler, YOU, need to develop your showing skills, to get lambs presented
well for Judging. Takes practice, effort working with each individual lamb so
you are smooth together.

I would suggest you show in the Breed classes if you want to keep your
lambs instead of selling it. Market Lambs are raised with an eye for
selling them at the Fair Auction. Most Fair selling is for better than Market
prices, so kids turn a profit after expenses. Kids learn to save the money for
next year's projects, put some towards College. Selling lambs for meat is
hard to accept, but you give them the best possible life before that Sale.
We couldn't keep them, just had to enjoy them while we had them. It
isn't easy selling, but that is what they were bred for, as a profitable crop.

 

[purplequeenvt]

There are club lambs (usually Suffolks and Suffolk crosses) and I believe that those are sold/butchered as part of the compitetion, but if you were to get into a purebred breed - meat or wool - you could show them as lambs and then yearlings.

As for breed ideas, think about what you are interested in and go from there.

 

[BrownSheep]

I would suggest doing a breeding project if you are looking to keep the animal. I know people who literally show lambs all over the west at different shows but eventually sell them because they are markey animals. Suffoulk Hampshire crosses are pretty much the only things shown in my area.

 

[Bossroo]

Most folks talking about "show lambs" are talking Market Lambs sold for meat.
If you are in 4-H, FFA, you show at your Fair, with the idea of selling the Market
Lamb for money. This lamb is your "finished product or project" like Farmers
raise for proft in "real life" to keep their farms profit making. Lambs are
usually wethers, so they are not breedable. Lambs have reached their BEST
point in being sellable, going to bring the most money at this Fair Sale.

Meat breeds get LARGE at maturity, 200#,so having pet wethers is not just like
keeping a kitten or hen. They eat a LOT, need shearing yearly, with a
good sized area for living in. You will get nothing back from them and will take
a loss selling them at over a year old, as sheep. They don't taste well as older
animals, sale prices will be lower too.

Locally, the favorite Market Lamb look is black face and legs, with white or
grayish body colors. Breeds are usually Hampshire, Suffolk or crossbreds.
The lambs should be around 130 pounds to show well at Fair, and hard muscled
from being exercised DAILY. You get mileage on them to create those
muscles, develop the body that will win in a show. Locally, Judge WILL feel
the lambs for muscling, critique them for body development, reward the best
ones.

The handler, YOU, need to develop your showing skills, to get lambs presented
well for Judging. Takes practice, effort working with each individual lamb so
you are smooth together.

I would suggest you show in the Breed classes if you want to keep your
lambs instead of selling it. Market Lambs are raised with an eye for
selling them at the Fair Auction. Most Fair selling is for better than Market
prices, so kids turn a profit after expenses. Kids learn to save the money for
next year's projects, put some towards College. Selling lambs for meat is
hard to accept, but you give them the best possible life before that Sale.
We couldn't keep them, just had to enjoy them while we had them. It
isn't easy selling, but that is what they were bred for, as a profitable crop.

I would also add ... The show lamb must have correct conformation for it's breed standard. Also, one should dock the young lambs' tails fairly short to have the best advantage to show the heavy / meaty hind quarter to show that there is more meat to put on one's table. Which in turn brings more money at sale time or auction.

 

[newgirl97]

Thanks for the replies all!

I'm just going to stick to my breeding lambs.

 

[TexasShepherdess]

We show breeding sheep, dorpers specifically...got into it as my son was younger and I wasn't sure if he was "ready" to load a market lamb onto the truck at sale. the breeding project is still a project..but a different one. He will be showing his first show's ewe;s ewe lamb next year, the cumulation, IMO, of the breeding project.

We show ewes and rams..and can continue to show them til they are aged at the dorper shows.

We did do a market dorper last year..just "because"....I prefer my breeding sheep.