2017 Lawrence County Fair

1st Place Rambouillet Ewe Lamb Resting 

After The Show

We made a trip to the Lawrence County Fair to see the sheep show. The Rambouillet ewe lamb that was picked up in late July seemed to be an old hand at showing and was resting calmly after the show.  It looks like she took the Penguin Stanley Cup Hockey theme seriously, lol!
We wandered around the grounds and spotted the Mercer County Spinners & Weavers Guild set up and doing spinning and weaving demonstrations. Their natural dye workshop sample cards caught my eye & reminded me that it's time to collect goldenrod & walnuts ...

Mercer County Spinners & Weavers Guild 

Natural Dye Sample Display Cards

WRF Visits The Lawrence County Fair

We Arrive At The Lawrence County Fair Sheep Barn!

Wild Rose Farm headed out to the opening night of the Lawrence County Fair to see the breeding sheep show.  It was a slow night at the fair - rain storms threatened & the Grandstand program was cancelled.  We were in the show arena next to the sheep barn, snug on the bleachers with everyone else who was taking shelter from the rain.  Oh yeah, some of them were actually there to see the sheep! 

Rambouillet Ram Lamb Escapes To Join His Pen Mate -  Judge Intercepts!
 You Can Tell He Is A Sheepman ...

After waiting through a mix up in the show order - Montadale - Shropshire - Southdown - Suffolk - Rambouillet - (doesn't "R" come before "S" in the alphabet?) - the Rambouillets were only too eager to take the floor!  The ram lamb bolted from the holding pen to join his flockmate in the ring.  Ashley kept her cool and got a chuckle out of it as the judge intercepted the ram lamb.  ;)   Back to the pen he went to wait his turn.  I had a bit of trouble getting pics - dark sawdust, bright & not so bright lighting, folks jumping up in front of me, & manuevering in the show ring - so let's just go with the flow ...


A Snippet of A View Of The Rambouillet Ram Lamb

Setting Up Rambouillet Ewe Lamb In All Breed Championship Ewe Class

One of the things about going to a show is hearing the comments from the judge - positive comments that our Rambouillets are structurally correct and have good fleeces.  The judge looks in the mouths of all of the sheep & checks depth of loin, structure, & soundness.  But when they get to wool breeds, he also parts the fleece on their sides from front to back to check for uniformity & fineness. 
Here are a couple of shots of some other sheep that caught my eye - both are Southdowns.  Take a look at this chunky commercial ram lamb being judged - I wasn't just swayed by his wonderful frosty gray color.

Young Men With A Nice Commercial Ram

Southdown Ewe Class - I Favor The Stockier Southdowns!

After the show on opening day, patriotic Rambouillets "Jack & Jill" get to relax for the rest of the week.

Festive Rambouillet Sheep Pen!

Show Sheep At The Fair!

Super M & Little C Waiting For The Show!

The two Rambouillet ewes that left the farm a while ago made their show debut at the Lawrence County Fair this week.  Wild Rose Farm ran up to the fair to see the breeding sheep show Monday evening.  The ewes looked good and they were calmly waiting in their exhibit pen before the show started.  The show goes in alphabetical order by breed - Cheviot - Corridale - Dorset - Hampshire - Horned Dorset - Katadin - Montadale - Natural Color - Rambouillet - Tunis - Shropshire - Southdown - Suffolk.  Actually, quite a few sheep since Lawrence County has a large farming community. 

Setting Up WRF Yearling Ewe #0304



It's a little hard to get a good picture under the lights across the show ring, but we were able to get a decent shot as Ashley was setting up the yearling ewe.   She got the blue ribbon in her class and was the Grand Champion Rambouillet Ewe in the show.  She was a little jumpy on the way out of the ring but we can show you a glimpse of the ribbons.   Maybe next year for "Little C"!

Ribbons!