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.
Meridian Janie (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Jane)
Meridian Maybelle (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Mae) This ewe was going to be on my sale list but she had an unexpected tryst with Cayenne and may be pregnant.
Meridian Ruthie (Meridian Cayenne x Meridian Ruth), who just broke her horn and is somewhat bloody on one side. This is another ewe who may be pregnant after the aforementioned incident.
Meridian Zora (Meridian Cayenne x Meridian Betty)
Zora is a pretty little lilac ewe who was chosen from Day 1 for her cute markings, although “cuteness” isn’t listed under the JSBA Breed Standard selection criteria.
Meridian Quartz (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Jade). Quartz was chosen because, besides being a nice looking ewe, her mom is everyone’s favorite pet sheep and…
…I want to see how her 6 horns grow out.
Meridian ??? I haven’t named this lamb yet but she certainly deserved a good one. (Meridian Serrano x Unzicker Shenandoah)
bide a wee Marion (Ruby Peak Cinnamon x Meridian Maven), who didn’t go home to Oregon after the AGM we hosted in August.
Meridian Janna (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Janis). Janna is a big tall ewe lamb and is out with the breeding group, possibly to be bred by Meridian Axle.
Meridian Soprano (bide a wee Buster x Meridian Sonata) has definitely been bred by Axle.
I brought the groups in one at a time and separated the rams. That’s Buster in the pen. His nose is already bloody because he was ramming the panel to try to get to Axle, the young 2-horn ram in the middle of the photo.
Most of the ewe flock was back together now and that was Clark’s lucky day! That’s him in the background with his head turned away.
Meanwhile the other four rams went into their “buddy-up” pen. The point of this is that they are confined enough that they can’t do much damage. That doesn’t mean that they don’t hit each other but at least they can’t back up 10 feet and come charging.
After a few days of learning to be buddies again they went back to the ram pen with minimal fuss. They all had figured out the pecking order. Cayenne (above) is #2.
Cayenne. I love a nice two horn head.
This is Spark, Cayenne’s full brother, born this year. There is the difference a year makes. Cayenne was born last year.
Brothers.
Bide a wee Buster is #1 in the ram pen.
Buster is 3 years old and Clark is his son from this year. 
Bookends?
Here’s the lucky ram who gets to stay out with the ewes for another few weeks. This is Axle, also a 2018 ram. He is wearing a blue marker…
Today I moved most of Peyton’s ewes back to the flock. Three of them were the Pope Valley sheep that came this summer, and they immediately found their two friends. That’s the five or them in the front. Large Triangle, 4-Horn, Small Triangle, White Ear, and Crooked Blaze in the back. (They do have names but I remember them better by what I called them at first.)
This is part of Peyton’s group. He got 11 ewes. 
Peyton is a BFL and these will be crossbred lambs.
Next was Buster. He was given 16 ewes.
All the rams had yellow markers.
Clark is next. He is Buster’s son from this year. It’s hard to pick him out in this photos because the ewes are all bigger than he is.
Clark was given 11 ewes.
Last we have Cayenne with 10 ewes. 
Last, there is the group of ewe lambs that I chose not to breed this year.
The three big rams come to see what’s going on.
The 2-year old 4-horn is Buster and the yearling 2-horn next to him is Cayenne. 
The lambs aren’t named yet but this one is a full brother to the yearling ram that I took to Maryland this spring and who now lives in Pennsylvania.
Since the young rams can’t find the older rams they will fight among themselves. That two horn lamb is a full brother to Cayenne in the photos above.
Buster again and that two horn yearling is Gotham (
Gotham chasing the lambs.
This is the other two-horn lamb that I’m keeping for now.
Gotham in pursuit.
This young guy has got moves!
We’ve been using the old tin backdrop for a long time and I still really like the look. It worked especially well with the natural dye display we made this year. There are also signs about Farm Club, examples of yarn and wool on the table, and a continuous loop of about 45 minutes of my farm videos. The Touching Table is popular with fair-goers.
There are more signs over the sheep pens. My potted plants were dug out of the pasture and include a sign about what is in the bucket.
Here is closeup of some of the yarns on display. Farm Club member, Lisa, dyed most of these.
One of the kids’ activities we provide is this sheet for drawing in details on the sheep. Not everyone takes them home.
We are also here for the sheep show. Fortunately Jacob sheep don’t require a lot of fitting, but it is nice to get them cleaned up a bit.
The horns looked pretty good after a scrubbing. This is a ram lamb named Axle.
This is Jana on the right and a less-glad-to-be-there Halcyon. 
The Primitive Breeds show was Saturday afternoon. This is a yearling ram, Meridian Gotham. (Look at those shiny horns.)
Unfortunately there was very little competition this year and I had the only rams. So it’s nice to get a Champion award, but it would have been nice to have other breeders’ sheep there. 
Marina and Betsy helped show. This is the ram lamb class.
Meridian Maybelline was awarded Champion Ewe.
Thanks so much to Betsy and Marina for pitching in and showing sheep. And thanks to Dona for the photos.
Here we are with a pile of awards, including Premier Breeder and Premier Sire.
Winning Champion, even with little competition, means that you take your sheep into the ring on Sunday for the Supreme Champion competition. No, Gotham didn’t shrunk overnight. He was the same size as always. It’s just that those Suffolks are like ponies.
This is the Supreme Champion Ewe competition. 
In between the Supreme Champion Ram and Supreme Champion Ewe competitions they announce the Marketing Award winners. We did pretty well!
Best Marketing Program. Best Program Directed at the Public. Best Signage. 1st place Herdsman. 1st Place Educational Program. 2nd Place Educational Program over all the livestock species during the three weeks of the fair. Can’t ask for more than that!
Loading up in my new trailer! Oregon here we come in 2019!
The handwoven Jacob wool goodie bags were ready, filled with locally made or grown products.
The friendly parking attendant was ready.
Sheep were given last minute instructions about behavior. (Karen Lobb from bide a wee Farm in Oregon)
Guest were arriving.
Our first gathering was a welcome by me and then a talk/book reading by 
She read passages from her book, Raw Material, Working Wool in the West, to be published in October. This introduced the attendees to the concept of Fibershed and to Farm Club all at once.
Next it was time for dinner. Farm Club member, Kim, provided background music throughout dinner and we were told how much people enjoyed listening to her.
Most participants led sheep (some willing and some not so much) down the barn aisle…
…but Dona led Rick…
…willingly?
Doris was the recipient of the People’s Choice award.
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