Show Sheep Beginnings

[Ridgetop]

So adorable! The big grin showed how much fun she had!

If you use liquid dish soap it will cut any lanolin in her coat. Not sure if it is needed with Katahdins, but it is what we used with our show sheep. If she needs any trimming it will also make cutting any wool or hair easier to get rid of the lanolin.

Good luck at the next shows.

(The girl standing behind her had her leg in front of her lamb. She was bracing it. This is common in market sheep showing. Mocha did not need that sort of positioning since she stood quietly. Was this breeding sheep showmanship?)

 

[Margali]

Oreo had her first introduction to a halter. Mocha had a refresher session to start the year's show season.

 

[Baymule]

All done with Panda’s supervision!

 

[Ridgetop]

Since your sheep are so tame, you can start halter training earlier. Halter the mother and the babies and have a person lead the ewe while you lead the lamb. The lamb won't fight the halter because it will be following the mother. Also, halter training a 2-3 month old lamb is much easier than training a 6-12 month old lamb. LOL

Here is a hint: When the children were in 4-H we had done some remodeling and instead of getting rid of our large sliding mirror closet doors, we propped them against the side of the house so the children could see how the sheep looked from the side when they stacked them. The properly stacked sheep looks completely different from your position above and next to the sheep than it does to the judge who is standing about 5-10' away and to the side. It was really helpful to the children to see what the correct position looked like in the mirror from their position above the sheep as they stacked it into the correct position.

BYW: If it got windy we had to move the giant mirror door into a protected place so it didn't get blown over.

 

[Show Sebright]

Probably, Mr. Big City my new Royal palm


Edit- I realize this is not the thread I thought I posted this in. Sorry!

 

[Margali]

I feel like crap but Cassandra wanted to work with her sheep. So out we went. Oreo had her first lesson on walking with a halter. We also introduced her to curry comb.

 

[Baymule]

That is adorable! Good going Mom! Even though you feel bad, you are out there with your precious little girl and her lamb.

 

[Margali]

@Ridgetop Thanks for tip of bringing Mocha with Oreo. The two had a decent lesson and then we worked on brushing out shedding hair. They put up with the brushing since they were tied to hay manger. We might manage a bath this weekend.

 

[Ridgetop]

Love it that Cassandra is so excited to be working with and showing her sheep. She will make a lot of friends at shows. My younger boys are in their 30's and still friends with some of the livestock kids they and showed with 20 years ago.

 

[Margali]

I attempted to give Mocha a bath tonight. Shampoo was applied and curry combed in then sluiced off. Udder and creases with back legs towel scrubbed. Toweled dried her and let her go grazes for a couple of hours before dinner.

I only got kicked once and stepped on. Nerd that I am, I watched youtubes about washing sheep. I failed at first step- magically calm sheep that stands on platform. Mocha is too long for mine!
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