Big Wins at the CA State Fair – 2016

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Robin

We interrupt this blog series…

I am not even half way through sharing photos and stories about our recent Road Trip, but for the last four days I have been at the State Fair and I have to share that experience.

Every year I wonder if it’s really worth the time and effort to go to the fair. My friends and I go to Black Sheep Gathering because…hmmm…why do we go? It’s a Road Trip With Sheep. I just bring sheep, look at fiber, and hang around with my friends. That can’t be said for the California State Fair. Although it’s close to home, it’s a lot of work. I set up a big display booth and my Farm Club friends and I staff it all day. It’s hot (105 this year), dusty, and I stay every night until about 8:30 because there are so many people still in the barn. We are under pressure to keep the area spotless and be nice to everyone because we are in contention for a couple of major awards for the display.

For Farm Club member, Mary, who is also a new farm owner, this was a new experience. She has been here before but it’s different when you have your own sheep. Before we can put the sheep in the barn they are checked by the veterinarians.

Once the sheep are settled in their pens we start with the display.

There is prestige and a good monetary award at stake for the Marketing Program that “should be directed at potential customers and show case the exhibitors Breeding Program and Operation”. Here is the scorecard:

20% Display. Clearly demonstrates it’s purpose, message and/or image.
20% Effective use of display materials. Paper, wood, metal, plastic, plants, etc.
20% Use of color and signage. Graphics and signage to create impact and storyline, QR codes
5% Special Effects. Movement, sound, audio visual, participatory element
20% Effective Use of Handout Materials. Flyers, pamphlets, business cards, recipes, children’s materials, etc.
15% Craftsmanship. Well constructed, balanced and has an overall finished, artistic, visual appeal.

Here is the finished display.

I’m glad that I had the last minute thought to provide a Touching Table. That came to me when I was looking for something else in the barn and came across these horns. We’ll expand on this next year. I was especially glad I thought about this when I realized that I had forgotten to bring the A-frame that holds some of our other interactive display material.

In addition to the Marketing Program, there are Herdsman awards that are offered “to encourage attractive, educational, and high quality presentations of all livestock exhibits”. The Herdsman Award is judged on :

65% General Appearance
1. 25% Neatness/cleanliness of bedding and aisle
2. 10% Signage, banners, QR codes
3. 10% Creative use of plants and special exhibit materials
4. 20% Condition/cleanliness of animals
5. 10% Educational material, marketing, breed promotion)
25% Feed Alleys/Tack Pen
1. 15% Free of debris, not obstructed
2. 10% Tack storage
10% Conduct
1. 5% Exhibitor sportsmanship and cooperation with other exhibitors and staff
2. 5% Public interaction and accessibility

In addition there is Best Educational Presentation over all the species entered in the three week run of the fair.

Farm Club members help to set up the display and come each day to staff the area and answer endless questions.

This is the crew that was at the fair on Friday.

I think they worry that I will forget to eat. On $2 Sample Thursday (all the fair food booths have to include a $2 item on their menus) they returned with this treat for me. I have a good photo of all of them eating their selections but they wouldn’t let me use it.

Other faces in the barn include:

This Lincoln across the aisle from us.

Suffolk ram that was just down the aisle.

Longhorn steer at the other end of the barn.

This is one of Mary’s new lambs who seemed delighted with the attention.

The yearling ram, Meridian Rotor, standing behind the “DO NOT PET THE RAMS” sign.

We spent the four days answering questions

Q: Is he normal? A: Yes, Jacob sheep can have 2 or 4 horns. (And that info is on the other sign right in front of the ram.)
Q: Where are the pigs? A: Out there (pointing).
Q: How do you get get it from this (wool in bucket) to this (carded sliver that I’m spinning)? A: We explain. Next year I will include the carders and carded batts, etc to more easily explain that.
Q: What happens if it breaks (fiber I’m spinning)?. A: Demonstrate how to join it.
Q: Where are the cows? A: Longhorns are at the other end of the barn. The dairy cows were here last week.

I spun three skeins of singles yarn while I was there.

But it’s really supposed to be all about the sheep show.

Mary and Russ practicing with their sheep.

Dona, Mary, and Amy prepping sheep for the show. We don’t do all the fitting that other breeds do. That morning I had taken each sheep to the wash stall to clean their legs and feet. We wiped their noses and cleaned the grime off the eartags. Then we pretty much just brushed off the straw and were ready to go.

The show started with yearling rams and I was thrilled when Rotor was placed first in his class and then awarded Champion Ram of the Primitive Breeds Division. The judge was not as happy with the rest of my sheep and they were interspersed with or at the end of the line-up of Shetland and Karakul sheep that were also in our division. Even Honey, who was champion Jacob ewe at Black Sheep Gathering, was placed last in her class.

The breed show was Saturday. On Sunday champions from all 14 Divisions compete for the award of Supreme Champion. Rotor lo0ks pretty small in that line-up. (Some of those smaller sheep ahead of him are ram lambs that won their divisions.) As the judge went down the line he stopped and scrutinized him more than the others.

He was one of four rams pulled out of the line-up to be in contention for the award.

Thanks to Dona who got these great photos of us in the ring. In this photo the judge is discussing the four rams and said that although he wouldn’t ever want a Jacob (at least I think I heard that) he was very impressed with Rotor.

He awarded Rotor Supreme Champion Ram of the State Fair!!!

Here is me right after with all my loot.

Oh yeah, some of that is for the Herdsman and Marketing awards. Usually that is the highlight for me because I don’t expect to win with my sheep.

IMG_3211-2

From right to left: Supreme Champion Ram (banner and buckle); Best Educational Presentation (Herdsman); Best Program (Marketing); Third Best Educational Presentation over all the species for the three weeks of the fair; Second in Herdsman; Best Marketing Program.

IMG_3220-2

Of all the years showing in 4-H and later with our dairy and then with sheep, I’ve never had a belt buckle! I guess I need some Wranglers to go with it. And maybe some boots. I realized after the show that I hadn’t even changed into my (work) boots for the show and I was wearing those sandals through the whole thing. The excuse is that it the show was at 5 p.m. in the afternoon of a 105 degree day. (I was wearing jeans though. This picture was taken later at home.)

More Sheep View at BSG

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Robin

Sheep aren’t the only fiber animals at Black Sheep Gathering. Angora show

The Angora goat show was on Saturday. But it’s mostly about sheep.

Romney

It’s not always easy to get a good photo of sheep when they are in small pens.

Shetland ram 2

This is a Shetland ram.

BFL-2

Blue-faced Leicester.

This sheep posed nicely.

Here is a Jacob look-alike, at least from the spots. No Jacob has ears that big.

The Young Flock competition is on Saturday at the end of all the other shows and there is a special prize for the best Young Flock of the whole show. A young flock is made up of two ewe lambs and one ram lamb from a single breeder.

I had the Jacob young flock in the competition.

Sheep seen in the vendor hall.

Navajo-churro wool

Look at these beautiful curls on a Navajo-churro lamb fleece.

Teeswater wool

Speaking of curls, this spectacular 12″ fleece is on this…

Teeswater

…Teeswater sheep.

Black Sheep Gathering 2016

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Robin

Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon is an event I always look forward to. I don’t go as a vendor so it’s not work. It’s more like a road trip with sheep. Usually friends and Farm Club members (who are friends too) carpool but this year we were all on different schedules and instead we met up once we were in Oregon.

Loaded and ready to go. I took ten sheep, five of which were going to a new home. Fortunately only two were yearlings and the rest were lambs or I wouldn’t have had room. That was Thursday. It was a long day because I just couldn’t seem to stay awake for the drive. I left the house at 6:30 a.m. but stopped at several rest stops to take short naps and finally pulled into the fairgrounds about 4:30.

Black Sheep Gathering opened Friday morning with too many choices. What is a fiber fanatic to do? Watch the wool show? Watch the sheep show? Go to class? Shop?

Several friends participated in the Sheep-to-Shawl competition on Friday in which teams have five hours to prep fiber, spin yarn, and weave a shawl.

They spent many hours prior to the event dyeing and spinning the warp yarn, warping the loom, and sampling…

…to determine how they would use this beautiful fiber to spin the weft yarn.

Weaver, Gynna, wove a beautiful shawl (but I didn’t get a photo when it was finished).

Walking back to the barn to get ready for the Jacob sheep show I saw… Shetland ram

…this Shetland ram displaying his ribbon.

Time to take the sheep to the show ring.

Even though we had spent time working with the sheep they were not always cooperative. That is ram lambs, Marv and Meyer.

A friend who lives in Davis helped me show. That’s the judge inspecting Meyer’s fleece.

Checking Marv’s fleece.

This is Lauren, one of the yearling ewes. I hadn’t planned to sell her but she stayed in Oregon as a trade for another yearling. (That will be another story.)

Meridian Marv (Meridian Rotor x Meridian Marilyn) won Champion Jacob Ram… 15031 Honey-BSG

…and yearling, Meridian Honey (Meridian Alex x Meridian Hot Lips), was Champion Jacob Ewe.

It’s fun to win ribbons and trophies, but there were only two of us exhibiting sheep and I was the lucky one this year. In other years they have won the ribbons. The other breeder has beautiful sheep too and I brought three of them home with me.

This is one of them and she will be introduced formally in another post.

State Fair 2015

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Robin

I missed the State Fair last year because I was in Texas waiting for a grandbaby to be born. Coming back to the fair this year I decided that I wanted to change my display. The fair offers Marketing Awards for each species for those who put some effort into the displays that are with their livestock. I put a lot of thought and effort into this and Farm Club members also helped with some of the behind the scenes stuff as well as being there every day of the fair.This is what the main part of the display looked like. I used rusty tin (and I didn’t have to do the DIY TV shows’ trick of using acid on perfectly new tin to make it look that way) for the background as well as additional signage over the sheep pens. I focused on Farm Club and the idea of local marketing of wool, lamb and promoting consumer education while many of the other sheep exhibitors primarily promote marketing breeding stock.

I created a Jacob sheep puppet as a craft project for kids to take home and came up with a crossword puzzle unique to our farm.

Part of marketing is using social media and the award description even specified use of QR codes. There is this blog, Rusty’s blog, a Meridian Jacobs Facebook page, MJ Ravelry group, a MJ YouTube channel and even Pinterest and Instagram (which I didn’t put on the sign). This is the fifth or sixth year that I have provided pregnant ewes for the Nursery that is managed by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. This doesn’t have anything to do with the Marketing Award, but the people at the vet school are so appreciative of this that I continue to do it.Isadora, one of the new mom’s would probably rather be home, but she really has it rather nice at the fair–always plenty of food and a blowing fan when it is getting very hot.

I think our CA State Fair has a lot going for it. I did not do my regular pre-sheep-show visit to the fair because of our trip to Texas and the work to get ready, but I looked at a few other parts while I was there. At the other end of the barn there are the longhorns. I am afraid that this is a dying breed–not the cattle, but the people who bring them to the fair. There are only a few exhibitors left now and I hope that someone else will choose to show them because they are always fun to see.Same with sheep, right?I always like to see the part they call the Farm. We have modeled some of our garden ideas from what we have seen here. No reason to throw out tires when they can be used to grow vegies. They had a stack of three for potatoes which I thought was very clever. At harvest time just pull off the tires.I took this photo for my husband. In the Counties Exhibit Hall I saw this cycling jersey promoting the Tour de Manure.Back at the barn, I love to see the beautiful Clydesdales. They make my yearling ram look rather small.

The fair runs for three weeks and the sheep are in the nursery for the whole time. But the sheep show is only four days. Good thing because it is exhausting talking to so many people. The moderate weather for the last week of the fair contributed to record crowds. I had to bring additional panels to “protect” the rams from people being too close and not reading the “Do not pet rams. Do not grab horns.” sign.

Of course the point of going to the fair is to show sheep although my focus is on the marketing award because it’s hard to compete in classes with many breeds of sheep. Those are my two yearling rams.

I was pleased that Meridian Crosby won Reserve Champion ram in the Heritage Breeds Division. He was not cooperative for the photo but hopefully the official photographer got one.

Both rams were happy to get back in their pen after the ordeal of the show ring.

The work paid off.

I won the Marketing Award as well as Herdsman and Best Program directed at the General Public. I found out later that I also won the Marketing Award over all the livestock species for the full run of the fair! I can’t say thank you enough to Farm Club and a couple of other friends who helped at the fair. I couldn’t do this without you.A successful few days, but all of us were glad to go home.

Black Sheep Gathering 2

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Robin

BSG is at least a two-post event. Here is the first. On Saturday I took a class. I sell the Clemes & Clemes blending board but had never watched the expert work with it. Gwen Powell is the person who worked with Henry and Roy Clemes to design and refine their blending board and she taught an all-day class. This was a full class. Everyone brought their wheels in order to spin samples during any down time. Here is one set of rolags made from two boards-full. This is another in which Wensleydale locks are blended into another wool and can be spun with the locks hanging out but well secured.Here are all the rolags I created. A lot of fun spinning coming up! Later that afternoon two friends practiced leading the ram lambs in preparation for the Spinner’s Lead contest that evening. This is Cindy and Beth with Nash and Marvin after the competition. They are wearing their handspun, handknit Jacob garments. Here was a huge crowd pleaser. This is Terri Mendenhall with her spotted ram. Take a look at his mane and tail! He carried Merino samples for all in his saddle bags.Thanks to Dona for the two photos above.

On Sunday I had free time.

I talked to Terri about sheep coats and came home with a few. I’ll experiment with sizes and get a few more. The purpose of these coats is to keep the fleeces clean from vegetable matter and dirt. To coat sheep all year you need at least three sizes so that you can change the coat as the wool grows. I don’t know if I’ll coat all year or mostly the last half of the year when the grasses get taller and have more impact on the fleeces.

I browsed the Fiber Arts competition.

This is a gorgeous felt in 3-D made by my friend Shannon of Kenleigh Acres. She takes orders for her felt pups but has about a year waiting list.

Here is another felt piece I admired.

This one too. Of course it’s not just about felting and there were plenty of knitted pieces as well. I just didn’t get any photos.

The Fiber Arts competition is in the vendor hall. It’s not hard to find Dona and Mary where there is shopping. That’s Kathleen too, talking to Sally Fox in her booth. Other Farm Club members who were at BSG this year were Peggy, Gynna (working at the Clemes & Clemes booth, but took time to help me show), Tina (FC emeritus, now living in Portland), Stephanie (on a post job-quitting tour of the northwest), and Chris (who isn’t FC but a friend anyway and my roommate for the week).

This is me with Nash outside the barn. Thanks, Shannon, for the photo.The sheep are released at 4 p.m. on Sunday and my goal is to get on the road as quickly as possible and get out of the mountains before dark. I left the fairgrounds at 4:17. At one of my stops I took a look in the back and thought that maybe I should have bought a coat for Nash. Not looking good. 1599 Bea Here is bide a wee Bea, who just happened to get in the truck with the other sheep when I left. Mavin stayed behind to take her place at the bide a wee farm.It’s always good to come around the last mountain in Oregon and see Mt. Shasta. However, the lack of snow on this 14,000+ foot mountain is very discouraging. But that’s a thought for another time. It was nice to be with my friends and other sheep enthusiasts and forget the rest of the world’s problems for a few days.

Black Sheep Gathering

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Robin

Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon is an annual event but I usually get there every other year. When I go I take sheep. Estelle ready for her first road trip.

When we get there everyone is ready to get out of the truck. Farm Club members and other friends also drove to BSG. They were always ready to help with the sheep.After the truck ride the sheep need some touching up. They don’t get a full bath but we scrub the feet and legs.

The Jacob sheep show was Friday morning. It was a relatively small show this year with three farms represented.Nevertheless, I was pleased to win Champion Jacob ram with my ram lamb, Meridian Nash and… …Reserve Champion Jacob ewe with my yearling ewe, Meridian Jean.

Black Sheep Gathering is a great place to see a variety of breeds of sheep.My friends tried to talk me into bringing one of these BFL lambs home.

I don’t think that this yearling ram would have even fit in my truck.

There are great shopping opportunities in the vendor hall and in the barn. Dona shared her fabulous photos of wares for sale at BSG and the Eugene Farmers’ Market in the Meridian Jacobs Ravelry group here. I saw these in the vendor area: By the way, I’m planning my second annual estate sale for sometime in August!Seen in the parking lot.

Seen near the Farm Club chairs and spinning wheels. Dona and Mary said that they put on their 8th grade sleep-over hats for this shopping trip.

Farm Club at BSG For us Black Sheep Gathering isn’t just about the sheep and the shopping and the food. It’s also about spending time with friends.

Spring Shearing in a Big Way

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Robin

A couple of friends and I went to see shearing on a commercial sheep ranch about 30 miles south of here. We got there in just enough time to see the last part of shearing 3000 sheep in 2 1/2 days.The original flock was made up of Corriedale sheep and over the years was crossed with Targhee and other commercial white-faced sheep. Sheep going into shearing trailer The sheep are gathered at the back of a trailer that is hauled from ranch to ranch with all the gear. They go up the chute with the encouragement of……Border Collies as well as people.Here is a view from the other end of the trailer. That sheep in front hangs out for awhile in that position because the other sheep are more likely to go forward if they see a sheep in front of them. Notice how the sheep walk on a raised alleyway while the freshly shorn fleeces are shoved out of the trailer below them.Here is a photo of the inside of the trailer. There are seven shearers at work. The sheep walk forward on the raised alley. Fleeces are pushed out beneath.When the shearer is ready for the next sheep he pulls the door down with his foot and flips the sheep off the alleyway into position for shearing.

After the sheep are shorn they are sent out the doors on the other side of the trailer.

The fleeces are scooped from the trailer and quickly examined by a sorter/classer who determines where they end up. The fleeces are thrown into the appropriate pile. My friends who owns the ranch had requested that the finer fleeces shorn on that day be put aside for us to look at. It turns out that even the not-so-fine fleeces seemed just as nice to us. Last year’s core samples indicated that most of this flock’s wool graded in the mid-20’s (microns) and the finer fleeces were in the low 20’s. For reference Jacob fleece ranges from about 25-35 microns and most of mine is probably about 28 to 29 microns. So all of this wool is finer than what I am used to using. The fine fleece pile is the one nearest the table. The pile to the left are tender fleeces (fleeces that have a weak place usually due to nutritional stress or illness). The pile just barely visible behind the plywood is the “not as fine” pile. We chose our fleeces (all of the fine pile and a lot of the one behind the plywood) and the remaining wool was quickly baled. The wool is shoved into this wool press…

…and compacted… …and sealed into bales that are marked with the pertinent information. I forgot to ask how much these weigh but on-line sources say they would hold 240 to 450 pounds each. Before we left the shearing trailer was pulling out and everyone was getting ready to go to the next job.Freshly shorn sheep turned out to graze.

In about six months I hope to have blankets woven from this wool. They will be available at the Artery and the Fibershed Marketplace.

Black Sheep Gathering – Road Trip with Friends & Sheep

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Robin

Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon is a favorite event for my friends and me. We gathered here on Thursday morning, loaded sheep, and were on the road only a little behind schedule. We made it to Eugene in about 8 1/2 hours, settled the sheep into their pens, and found our motel. Some years I camp, but this year a motel sounded good.

Friday was show day for the Jacob sheep.I showed ram lambs, ewe lambs, and yearling ewes. My ewe lambs took first and third place in the ewe lamb class. 2-DSC_1639Fandango My yearling ewe, Fandango, took first place in her class and was awarded Champion Jacob Ewe.

Besides showing sheep, what else is there to do at BSG? Admire several hundred sheep in the barn. This is a Bluefaced Leicester from the farm where I got my ram, Faulkner. Admire wool. Watch the wool show judging. These are the fleeces to be judged. After two days of judging the fleeces are for sale and dozens of spinners line up to be first in the door.

Shop! My friends are very good at that!Watch sheep dog demos by my friend, Shannon and her amazing dog, Kate.Take classes. Mary and Dona made these scarves in a nuno felting class.Relax with friends. Farm Club member, Tina, who moved to Portland last year, came to visit along with 10-week old puppy, Ragu. It has become tradition now to eat dinner at La Oficina. On Saturday afternoon all the breed champions are shown together and the judge chooses one to be Supreme Champion. Look at all those different sheep! It was a fun four days, but it’s always good to get back to California. That’s Mt. Shasta in the distance.

CA State Fair

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Robin

The sheep show is during the last 4 days of the CA State Fair although my ewes with lambs were there for the whole three weeks.

Mary is a 5-time veteran of the Livestock Nursery.

My main focus of the sheep week is the award given for the Marketing Program. This is a stiff competition that is awarded for the display in the sheep barn. I didn’t change last year’s display very much but I tightened up some things that I wasn’t happy with last year. I also learned to make a DVD with several of the videos that I’ve been working on (some of which are on YouTube) so I had a 45 minute loop that included lambing, lambs playing, and Farm Club.

I wasn’t sure how people would react to the lambing video but it certainly caught their attention and most people were in awe.

My friends and I demonstrated spinning and drum carding and that meant that we had a crowd around the exhibit most of the time. In fact this year we were given an area where we could expand into the wide alley.

The real reason to be at the fair is the sheep show. I gave Fogerty to my husband to show because that ram is so strong and I didn’t want to risk him getting away from me. However, Sullivan didn’t cooperate too well. We switched places and Sullivan followed Fogerty without trouble. Fogerty placed 3rd in this class that included Shetlands and St. Croix sheep.

The best placing of the day was my young ram who placed first in his class…

…and then Champion Ram of the Primitive Breeds show.

The most exciting awards for me were presented at the end of the four days.

I finally won the 1st place Marketing Award (that’s one of the leather banners) and Best Educational Presentatation in the Sheep Show and overall for all the livestock divisions at the fair! Should I retire while I’m ahead?

But that’s not all there is to the fair. Here are some other photos I like:

Farm Club members, Mary and Dona, cutting up temporary tattoos for give away.

Here is how the tattoos look in use.

There were other animals with horns in the barn.

And other animals with nice fiber.

Animals that combined horns and fiber.

But look at the Supreme Champion Merino ram owned by Terry Mendanhall…

…and see his fantastic fleece.

Ladies in Waiting

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Robin

It’s that time of year again.

We’re off to the CA State Fair Livestock Nursery.

Mary is a veteran of the fair. This will be her fifth time lambing here. Don’t worry Mary. It’s just the camera angle that makes your rear look so big.

Mary brought novices with her. That’s a yearling ewe, Toffee, lying down and a three year old ewe, Shelby, standing. Shelby is one of the ewes that we “rescued” from a foreclosure last year. (Yes, it’s still camera angle, Shelby.)

The State Fair opens tomorrow and runs through the last weekend of July. That’s when I’ll have more sheep there for the sheep show. In the meantime these three ewes will be well taken care of by the staff and students of the UC Davis VMTH (Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital). We look forward to lambs in the next couple of weeks.

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