We brought 17 Shetlands to the fair this year - 5 ewe lambs, 5 yearlings, 4 aged ewes, and 3 ram lambs. Friday morning it rained when one group was loaded and then again in the late afternoon. Friday night is when we have a potluck supper in the sheep barn with old 4-H friends, the fair vets, and whoever else shows up. We catch up with one another as many are fitting their wool sheep. Thank goodness the Shetlands don't have to be fitted. It was around midnight when we got back home. We live about 20 minutes away.Saturday morning starts out with the special populations sheep and goat show. Junior showman help out in this show. Next is the fleece show. There were 16 natural colored Shetland fleeces in the class. We took 1st with Shania, 2nd with Emily, 3rd with Sprinkles, 4th with Abby, 5th with Amelia and 9th with Charlotte!
Both Katie and Lauren have aged out of the junior show so we were done for the day. I sat spinning ringside for that show. A yearling ewe that we sold to our friends won Supreme Champion Ewe. It's nice to know that the judge appreciated our sheep.
Sunday morning around 10:30 the open show began. The Shetland classes were some of the largest. Go Shetlands!
Lauren and Joe are on the line for the ram lamb class. Katie's ram, James Bond, placed 3rd. Whisper placed 4th and Felix was 7th.
The natural colored Shetland ewe lamb class had 14 sheep. Here is Lauren with Vesper who placed 1st in that class. We also had a 3rd with Camille and 4th with Money Penny.
Lauren showed Jackie O. in the white Shetland yearling class and fleece class. She placed 3rd in the ewe class and 1st in the fleece class.
Then it's the yearling class of natural colored Shetlands. Our best of 16 was 4th with Amelia, and 7th with Lucy.The old girls get their turn too! Below is Katie with Shania on the left and Lauren shows Annie on the right. Annie placed 1st--not too bad for an 8-year-old ewe. We also had 3rd with Sprinkles, 7th with Shania, and 8th with Sarah.
The most exciting win of the day was when Lauren and Joe took Emily and Lucy into the Shetland pair class. They won first place and then went on to take Supreme Champion Pair! Katie had the 2nd place pair of Shetland ewes with Money Penny and Solitaire.
Katie was pleased with James Bond when he won the Shetland fleece class. We also had 3rd with Camille and 6th with Money Penny.
It was so nice to have the help of Joe and Jennifer (Lauren's friends) in the show ring. Now that the girls are older they can handle the showing and Rothey & I get to watch and take pictures. (The lighting wasn't great in the barn so we tried using the night setting.)
The most exciting win of the day was when Lauren and Joe took Emily and Lucy into the Shetland pair class. They won first place and then went on to take Supreme Champion Pair! Katie had the 2nd place pair of Shetland ewes with Money Penny and Solitaire.Katie was pleased with James Bond when he won the Shetland fleece class. We also had 3rd with Camille and 6th with Money Penny.
It was so nice to have the help of Joe and Jennifer (Lauren's friends) in the show ring. Now that the girls are older they can handle the showing and Rothey & I get to watch and take pictures. (The lighting wasn't great in the barn so we tried using the night setting.)Sunday it rained and poured all day!! A complete washout for the fair. It was quite cold too! Strange to wear jackets at this fair.
We loaded everything up quickly after that show and headed out around 5:30. It was so much fun to unload in the rain ( :( ) when we returned home. The sheep sure were happy to be back to their barns!
We are looking forward to our next fiber fair and show at the end of October!! Then it will be breeding time and the cycle begins again!!
4 comments:
I forgot to say that Jackie O. is a favorite pattern of mine! AgAb (moget face.....gray pattern with katmoget pattern). I had only one and sold her and now wish I had more...I guess I can hope to 'make' more this fall :)
congrats again!
Congrats. You really have some beautiful sheep! Your kids are lovely too and look like they had a great time. I wish our fair was just a weekend. They county and state fairs if you go, you have to stay the whole week. I just don't know if I will get to the point I am willing to pack up and go for that long. I guess it will really depend on the interest level of my kiddos as they get older. Well congrats again!
Thank you all for stopping by our blog!
It's great to know what Jackie O. really is. We have heard them called "ghost kats" but didn't really know. Our grey ewe and fawn kat ram have had one of these for the past 4 years. Two were rams that we sold to others. This year her ewe lamb was marked the same but a light brown version. Thanks, Garrett, for that info.!
I understand, Kara. We wouldn't go to the fair either if we had to stay a week. Both of our main shows are Friday through Sunday and that's plenty long enough!
Hi there,
I linked here from another's blog, and it was so fun to see your fair (sorry about the rain) photos of the shetlands.
Gail at Little Red Oak Farm in MN
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