I went early on Saturday and Sunday to feed sheep. This is the display that Farm Club members put together for the barn.
The ram, Blizzard, started out in a different pen but he and the ram lambs were fighting through the fence during the night. Dan and Farm Club members switched pens for him and a couple of ewes so there wasn’t direct contact with the other rams.
Walking back to the vendor building I stopped at Woolly Adventures. This is quite an undertaking, but Gynna does a fabulous job.
There are over a dozen different activities for kids here. ..
…and she thinks up more each year.
I labeled more naturally dyed yarn Saturday night and had it at the booth on Sunday..
The sheep show was on Sunday. I had to be in the vendor hall so Farm Club members handled all the show details. Marina, Beth, Reba, and Nicki showed most of the sheep.
Dan helped out with the yearling ram.
Thanks to Deborah and Nicki for the photos of the sheep show.
Thanks to Doris for recording the show and the judge’s comments so I could watch it later at home! The sheep show didn’t end until after 4 when the vendor hall closed. Friends and I took the booth down quickly. Dan loaded sheep and drove them home. Then he came back with the other trailer for the booth.
He walked in with this new dolly with a note that said Happy Birthday (early for my November birthday)
All these years I have carried these grids in and out of buildings two at a time. Now it will be easier.
I realize as I’m writing this post that is more about the sheep show than about Kirby, but she starred in the last post, and the sheep show is why we were there. The Heritage Breeds show was on Sunday, the last day of the sheep show. I am the person who, several years ago, asked State Fair to include a Heritage Breeds show so that those of us with Jacob, Icelandic, Navajo-churro, Shetland, to name a few of the breeds that have shown there, could enter. The entries slacked off towards 2019 and then there was the pandemic. Since the fair has been back, Kirby’s sheep and mine have been the only entries in this division.
This year a Karakul breeder from Southern California entered. so we had competition.
This has nothing to do with the sheep show, but it is another animal with impressive horns. The longhorn cattle are in the other part of the barn during the sheep week. Their show was also Sunday afternoon.
One of the reasons that I originally wanted to show sheep here is that I thought I could be competitive for the Marketing Award. I spend a lot of time in preparing the different components of this display. It is probably more educational than marketing, but I am marketing more than sheep–for me it’s about the other parts of the business, all related to the sheep and wool.
Before the show we got all the sheep on halters and brought them outside the pens to get the straw off the bellies. In the morning Kirby and I spent a few hours with sheep at the wash stalls trying to scrub feet and legs and clean horns. Jacob sheep are shown in a natural state at the fiber shows where I have seen them, and I would not show at all if they were expected to be fitted. I do feel as though they look out of place compared to all the other sheep at this show.
The first class was Yearling Rams. We took first and second place because mine were the only two in the class. There was competition in all the other classes and the Karakuls mostly placed over the Jacobs. That’s OK–it’s a good lesson that you don’t win just because you show up.
Both Kirby and I had 2 sheep in each of the other classes (yearling ewes, ram lambs, ewe lambs). That meant that we needed four of us to show sheep and I wanted one person to be available in case Kirby had trouble with her sheep. I don’t have any good photos of Kirby in the show ring, but she was able to show her own sheep. She is in the middle of this photo and the one below.
There were just enough Farm Club members here on show day to help with this.
The last few years we have had a ram and/or a ewe in the Supreme Champion classes, the last event of the sheep show. Not this year.
These are the winners of the last three divisions in the show. There is the Natural Colored ram, bigger than any of the other breeds in the ring, the Karakul representing the Heritage division and the winner of the All Other Breeds Wool division, a Cotswold I think.
The judge pulled his five favorites out of the line. From right to left, Dorper, White Dorper, Southdown (I think), Dorset (I think), and Natural Colored. One of the Dorpers was the winner.
After the Supreme Champion show they announce winners of the Marketing Award and Herdsman, both awards that are not for the sheep but for the appearance and presentation of your space. Many of the exhibitors don’t include any signage or have any interaction with fair visitors. These awards are meant to be encouragement for exhibitors to provide information for the public.
For the sheep and goat show I got 2nd in Marketing overall, Best Program in Marketing, 1st in Herdsman and Best Educational Presentation in Herdsman. I also got 2nd for Best Educational Presentation over all the livestock shows during the run of the fair.
Last year Kirby’s birthday was at the fair. This year her birthday was the following day. She chose the activity and that will be the last post about her visit.
A couple days after our Airbase Tour it was time for State Fair. We had worked with the lambs every day since Kirby got here nine days prior to the fair, but I didn’t get any photos then.–too busy. For the last couple of years Kirby has had a long enough visit to California to spend time working with the sheep and then going to the fair.
I gave Kirby her first lamb in 2019 and she showed at State Fair that year. There are photos in that blog post on my website, but the one below is one of my favorites.
This is Meridian Belle as a lamb in 2019. Kirby’s flock has grown to include Belle’s daughters, Beauty (2021), Rose (2022), Cindy (2023), and Jingle (2024) and their offspring. Beauty’s daughter is Belleza (2023) and Rose’s daughter is Lily (2024). There have been male offspring as well but I haven’t kept them. We may keep one of the rams this year. Kirby’s flock prefix is KJ Royalty.
The sheep arrive at the fair on Thursday of the third week.
I forgot to take a photo of the space before we unloaded sheep. First thing is getting sheep out of the trailer, vet check and then putting them in pens. We have a lot of other stuff to unload because of the display that I do. That will be another post.
Kirby enjoyed taking her sheep out to share with the public and so that they get calmer when being handled. This is KJ Royalty Jingle, Belle’s daughter.
We used to show dairy cattle at the State Fair and Katie (Kirby’s mom) was a little younger than Kirby is now. At that time people from the Livestock Office took visitors on barn tours. Katie would spend time at the end of the line-up of cattle and talk to people. I remember hearing one woman telling another “that little girl knows more than the tour guide”.
Kirby is also good at engaging visitors and answering questions.
Sometimes you need a break from it all…
…and then maybe a nap.
After a break it’s time to go back to engaging the public.
KJ Royalty Lily, Rose’s lamb.
The signs over Kirby’s yearling pen.
When friends were at the fair I was able to walk around with Kirby a bit. We spent a lot of time at the Cavalcade of Horses, where different horse performances happen every hour.
A display presented by the California pear industry.
One of the Lambtown events is the sheep show. I live so close that I like to participate and I know that people like to see my sheep there. But I knew that I couldn’t be a vendor AND show sheep. I told the FarmClub that I would get sheep to Lambtown if they wanted to handle the show. They were willing.
This was simpler than some other shows because there were no group classes and, as at many shows, you could only enter yearlings and lambs. I sold my yearling ram at Estes Park in June so we didn’t even have to worry about who would want to handle a ram. I entered two ram lambs, two ewe lambs, and two yearling ewes. It’s the yearling ewes in this photo. These are twins born in 2022.
Farm Club members set up a display about Jacob sheep and Farm Club. All I had to do was bring a few of the panels that we use at State Fair and the box of photos and signs. I forgot that I’d be using the Meridian Jacobs sign in my vendor booth so Lisa used her t-shirt to indicate Meridian Jacobs. Clever!
I have to explain about that panel in the center. When you wind a warp on a loom you pack the layers of yarn with paper as you roll it on the beam. During one of the Sheep-to-Shawl competitions a few years ago FC member, Alison, thought that the paper used for rolling the warp could be made more interesting. As the shawl was woven, this message emerged from the back of the loom. Isn’t that a great idea?I thought it was worth laminating and using as a sign.
I did not get to see the sheep show, but many Farm Club members were there and some took the following photos.
Beth and Marina did most of the showing. The competition was from a Shetland breeder. This is the ewe lamb class.
This is the ram lamb class. The green on the ram is because our breeding season had already started and this ram lamb was wearing a marking harness when he was with his group of ewes.
Beth ended up with a challenging sheep. This ewe decided to go on strike.
We ended up with Champion Ram and Champion Ewe of the Primitive Breeds division.
Deborah helped out when a third person was needed for the champion class. Once again Beth had a less cooperative sheep, but handled him well.
Dan spent all afternoon driving the tractor and wagon that transported people back and forth from the vendor halls to the livestock area.
This was very popular not only with adults that appreciated the rides, but with kids who liked to sit in the front. Dan took extra laps to give some of those kids more time sitting on the front bench.
Lambtown 2023 was a big success for all of us. The crew that put the show on this year is to be commended for the time they spent on planning and organizing and the professionalism they brought to the event.
The story of the last day of the California State Fair, which was show day for us, is here. The other days are in this post. Now I’ll go back to the last day because one of my friends sent me photos of the last show and there are some others to share.
The Supreme Champion show was scheduled at 4:00. This is where the champion animals of each division compete together. The ram class is first followed by the ewe class. They enter the ring in order of the shows over the two days of showing. Kirby’s yearlings were given Champion ram and ewe earlier in the day, the second to last division in the sheep show. This photo shows the ilne-up of all the rams. From right to left Southdown, Dorper, White Dorper, Wether Sire/Wether Dam, Dorset, Hampshire, Suffolk, Montedale, AOB (All Other Breeds) Meat, Columbia, Natural Colored Wool, Primitive, AOB Wool.
Here is a closer view of our end of the line-up.
I like this photo (if I ignore my hair) from Beth.
I handled the yearling ram, Thorn, but Kirby led Rose into the ewe class. I was just back-up. It is rare that a breed like Jacob would win Supreme Champion. It did happen once! Here is a post from 2016 when Meridian Rotor won Supreme Champion Ram. I have the belt buckle and banner to prove it! The judge had spent so much time talking with Kirby in the show ring and praising her sheep that she thought she might win. She was somewhat disappointed when she didn’t.
Between the primitive breed show and supreme show Dan and I took the opportunity to walk up to the Expo buildings at the front of the fairgrounds.
One of the buildings was devoted to dragons.
Another was all about gaming…maybe. I don’t really know what it was about. We breezed through.
The one that I wanted to see was about Cannabis. I was amused when I first heard that the California State Fair would have a cannabis competition. You can enter a sheep, a woven blanket, a jar of jam, and your cannabis. Can’t you picture the judges sitting around a table sampling the entries? Not like that–this was all lab test results. This was a well done display, with lots of reading about the history, the time-line of cannabis culture in California, and the differences in all the varieties. Who knew? Back in the high school years it was just a baggie of leaves. I’ve been very far removed from this world for a long time. We didn’t have enough time to thoroughly read all the information there because we had to get back to the barn for the Supreme Show.
I have never been part of the gaming or dragon worlds and barely a participant in the early cannabis years so these exhibits made me feel old again.
Back to the barn. Farm Club members were holding down the fort. Yay for Farm Club!
After the Supreme Show they gave out the awards for Marketing and Herdsman. Usually those awards are presented between the Supreme Ram and Ewe shows, but they weren’t announced until after the ewe show and after the photos were taken. It was rather anticlimactic since all the spectators had left and I was the only exhibitor there to pick up the award. See the first State Fair post linked above for photos.
When it was time to take down the display and load sheep I let Kirby watch the last horse event of the fair. When we were finished I joined her. When this show finished we left for home.
No, you didn’t miss the first, second, and third days. I haven’t had time to sort photos or write anything. So I’ll start with the last day which was our show day.
We tied our sheep to the outside of the pens while waiting our turn so we could get the straw off the bellies. We had 11 sheep at the fair this year. I was missing a yearling ram because I sold Turbo at the Estes Park show. My show string consisted of 2 ram lambs, 2 yearling ewes, and 2 ewe lambs. Kirby has sheep that are the descendants of the ewe I gave her in 2019–I don’t give her sheep each year for the show. Kirby had twin yearlings (ram and ewe), and three lambs (two ewes and a ram) to show. I just looked at the blog post I wrote after the 2019 State Fair. There are some of my favorite photos of Kirby there, and you’ll see some of the same other characters in 2019 as in this post.
Kirby with the yearling ram, KJ Royalty Thorn, twin to KJ Royalty Rose. It’s the breeder’s prefix that is part of a registered sheep’s name, and Kirby’s prefix is KJ Royalty. She was the owner of Meridian Belle when she was bred. Now all the offspring of Belle and Belle’s offspring will have that prefix. There is a theme here for some of the sheep names. You’ll pick up on that if you’re a Disney fan.
Thorn was the only entry in the Yearling Ram class and the judge gave him high praise for conformation and fleece.
It is too bad that there are no other breeders showing up for the Primitive Breeds sheep show now. Pre-pandemic we had some Shetlands, Icelandic, and other breeds so there was competition. Now it’s just Kirby and me as separate breeders. This is the Champion drive for rams. That’s Thorn as the yearling. My ram lamb, Meridian Cyclone (weather theme for 2023 lambs) was first place ram lamb and Kirby’s Gusgus was second. Thorn was given Champion Ram and Cyclone was Reserve.
There were three Farm Club members helping on this day and it took all of us to make sure the sheep were where they were supposed to be and Kirby had an adult helper so we don’t have more photos of the show. But we have photos of After. Thorn’s sister, Rose was awarded Champion Ewe so Kirby made out with the banners.
Fair week is always exhausting and Kirby’s four fair days were at the end of being away from home for six weeks. Her birthday was the previous day, and there was a lot going on then as well.
After the show we were back to educating (entertaining / enlightening?) the public. I am grateful to the Farm Club members who came to help. Siobhan was there Thursday and brought a local friend to help also. Lisa came Friday and Saturday. Marina, Beth, and Doris were there Saturday and Sunday. I couldn’t have done this and stayed sane without them there.
This entertainer showed up in that 2019 post.
He rides all over the fair and makes balloon characters for kids. This is a dinosaur that Kirby plans to take home to her brother. Hopefully it will survive a road trip back to Texas.
The last event of the day was the Supreme Champion show. Both of Kirby’s Champion sheep needed to be in their respective classes. This photo shows Rose and Thorn together. I don’t have photos of the Supreme show because I was in the show ring with Kirby. Afterwards they announced the Herdsman and Marketing awards.
We did it! First in Herdsman and first in Marketing. These awards have more meaning for me than the sheep show awards because there wasn’t competition in the sheep show ring. Actually there wasn’t that much competition this year for these, but there was some and we really worked for it.
If you look at that 2019 post you’ll see that this is the same crew as then, with the addition of Kirby.
While we were loading the trailer and my car I let Kirby watch one last horse performance if she stood at the corner where I could see her (easy in the bright green shirt). When we finished loading I joined her.
View Day 1 and Day 2 of this adventure. The only thing I had to think about on Saturday was showing sheep in the afternoon and Spinners’ Lead in the evening. I’ll share scenes from the farm booths and around the vendor hall.
Karen of Liongate Farm always has an array of unique needlefelted pieces at her booth.
She was awarded the Black Sheep Cup for this piece. The detail is amazing.
Here is another Black Sheep prize awarded to a different fiber artist.
I was glad to see the Black Lamb Cup awarded to a youth entry. We need to encourage the next generations to be excited about sheep and fiber.
The perfect shoes to wear to a sheep gathering.
This is an impressive display that was just outside the vendor hall. I hope that everyone took a look.
There are dozens of different sea creatures in a variety of fiber arts represented here.
A closer view.
Back at the barn, a little clean up was necessary. Jazzie had been wearing a blanket but I took it off because I’d rather see the sheep than a blanket. Jazzie is a black and white sheep and Lenore, behind her, is a lilac.
We were the only Jacob breeders who entered the show this year so we had to show in an All Other Breeds division. This is for sheep registered in their own breed associations, but without enough sheep or breeders to show in separate divisions.
Ram lamb, Meridian Bridger, won Champion ram of this division.
We also had best Young Flock (one ram lamb, two ewe lambs). This isn’t the typical photo you’d take of your winning sheep group, but I mainly wanted to have one of Farm Club members who were there and helped out. This is Brenda, Lisa, Beth, and me. Doris was taking the photo. Other Farm Club members were there too. Ryan had his own Heritage Fiber booth in the vendor hall, Stephany was helping with the Mendocino Wool Mill booth, and Lyn was visiting. Did I miss someone? I kept running into people I knew all day.
The collection of ribbons and a trophy.
I think Lisa took this photo. I was told that this should be my new profile photo on all my social media pages. What do you think?
The Angora goats showed on Saturday also.
The day ended with Spinners Lead. I had told Ryan that he should definitely wear his handspun handknit sweater using fleece that he got at his first shearing day from Jacob ewe, Columbine.
He led Jazzie, whose fleece matched the spots really well.
There were 15 entries (no photos unfortunately), and the two of us won the top placings in the show. Ryan was first for non-sheep-owner and I won for the sheep owners. Great fun! I’m so glad that we did this.
Three of us traveled together to Black Sheep Gathering in Albany, Oregon. My friend, Vicki, used her truck to pull my trailer with my 10 sheep. She brought fleeces to show and sell. Another friend, Doris rode with us. We left about 7 a.m. on Thursday.
I don’t remember the last time that I saw Shasta Lake full.
Glimpse of Mt. Shasta.
Another view of Mt. Shasta.
Two of the sheep I brought were already sold so we did a parking lot transfer of those and then settled the rest of the sheep in the barn by late in the day.
Vicki slept in her camper, but Doris and I set up tents for the weekend. This became a gathering spot for some of our California and Oregon friends.
I took photos of a few of the less common breeds. These are Horned Dorset, a sheep with spots that can make them look like Jacob sheep to people who don’t see the more subtle differences. The horns have a quite different look than my sheep with two horns.
I just finished the blog post about the second day of travel and first day of the Estes Park events.
Saturday was very full, with a whole day of scheduled events for the AGM as well as the full Wool Market events going on. We started the day with breakfast followed by a talk about copper in the diet of sheep and then a discussion of spinning Jacob wool. There was a session on slaughter and butchering with a live demonstration of the butchering part followed by other informational sessions.
The JSBA Jacob Sheep show was held after lunch. Rams were first. Turbo won the yearling ram class
I had two entries in the ram lamb class. I was pleased that the winner of the class was my ram (#2317) purchased by a Jacob breeder (standing) from Pennsylvania.
We went into the ring for the Champion ram class and Turbo was the winner.
The ewe classes followed. Royal helped show in all the other classes. Dan was glad of the help, and he was in the barn keeping people away from the sheep we had tied up in the alley so they’d be ready for the show ring. This is Quora in the aged ewe (anything over yearling) class.
Quince was in the next class. You don’t normally have sheep with lambs at shows, but in this case I brought two nursing ewes with their lambs. The reason for that was the next class:
We were the only entry in this class that was for Three Generations. Dan is holding Quora. Quora’s daughter, Quince, is in the midde, and the lamb is Quince’s.
Quince and her lamb are also in this class, Family Tree. Turbo joined the group as he is the sire of the lamb.
A just-for-fun Project Runway followed the show. There were four entries in the adult category for less serious themes. I was the only person in the Wool category.
They all had humorous stories to go along with the entries. I don’t remember all, but this is obviously a sheep dressed in royal garb and I think Anne is her subject.
I will say that when I compare these ladies to me…
…it reminds me of my job in the early 1980s. Why? I worked at a place called Continental Lady, leading aerobics classes. When we had to wear Halloween costumes I stitched unwashed wool all over a t-shirt, and wore black leggings and a wool hat with cardboard ears. The other people (all young women) all dressed as princesses or fairies or some other cute, pretty character….and then there was me. Just like in these photos. At least I’m not wearing unwashed wool. I have on a base layer of wool that is not seen, a wool sweater knit by friend Kathleen Hendrix, a handspun handwoven v-shawl, and a knit cap that was probably my last knitting project. Turbo is wearing a handspun, handwoven scarf.
It’s taken me two days just to finish writing this post. Let’s see if I can finish this story before the next one starts.
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