Counting Down to the County Fair

It is one month until the Angelina County Youth Fair and 16 4-H and FFA members across the county are feeding their lambs in preparation for this year’s Angelina County Fair scheduled for April 18-22.

Showing sheep has been a mainstay in county and state livestock shows. While sheep are not currently a widely grown commercial stock animal in East Texas, those who raise and show them are very committed to them.

Heidi Wilsie is 16-years-old and in the 11th grade at Diboll High School. She is an FFA student with the Diboll FFA Chapter and is currently serving as Diboll FFA’s Student Advisor. Heidi is also a team member of the Livestock Judging Team. This is her 3rd year to be able to participate in the county fair, but it is actually her first year to show a lamb.

Sheep come with the requirements of gentling, halter-breaking, hoof trimming, managing for parasites, a good deal of training, as well as an excellent feeding regimen and proper facilities. Like some other projects, lambs raised for this year’s show were entered and received an ear tag on Saturday, January 14 at the George H Henderson Jr. Expo Arena. Exhibitors refer to that date as the “validation day” or the day you officially entered county fair and proved ownership of your livestock projects. Exhibitors will practice walking and showing them completely without a halter. Given the nature of sheep, exhibitors are able to completely handle them with one hand under the jaw and the other around the neck.

Heidi said her favorite activities outside of school is being able to spend time with her family and also being outdoors. And her favorite part about raising a lamb is being able to enjoy the many aspects of his personalities and then being able to compete at different shows with him. She named her lamb “Nelson” and she picked this name because it’s one that you don’t see very often and she likes to be different than others. She purchased Nelson on August 6, 2016, he had just turned three-months-old. She says that when she got him so he was still very little.

Nelson was purchased from Mrs. Emily Barton. Now at 10-months-old, he weighs 160 lbs. While feeding, exercising, and watering are part of any livestock exhibitor’s routine, her least favorite thing is “washing him in 40 degree weather to get ready for a show and him deciding to shake the water off of him” and onto her.

You ought to watch Heidi and the other exhibitors in the ring. First, they set the hind legs square to the body and back a bit, then place the front legs, keeping the body and neck straight and the head in a high, proud position with ears up and forward. When the judge evaluates the muscling of the lambs he will feel the loin, leg and condition (fat thickness) over the ribs. The exhibitors will “brace” their lambs for this by pushing back on the sheep. The sheep should equally push back against the youth and flex their legs and loin to provide a better idea of the extent of their musculature.

For Nelson and the other lambs to place well, they should have a good expression of muscle from the shoulder to the rump. It should have a long, level, square rump with good width at the pin bones (dock). Other good indicators of muscling are the forearm and leg muscles. The widest part of the leg, when viewed from behind, should be through the middle of the leg. Also, a lamb that walks and stands wide is generally going to be more heavily muscled.

The auction will be at 4 pm, Saturday, April 22. For a complete schedule of this year’s County Fair, visit angelinacountyfair.com