Where to get your project animal?

• Home Raised

  • May be cheaper than purchasing your project

  • Must have good ewe base and nutrition to produce fast growing lambs/goats

  • Need to have good management

  • Ewes need to be bred to lamb after January 1st

• Purchase from a producer
  • Make sure you can trust the producer
  • Good producers will help you throughout the year with your project if you have questions of if issues arise.
  • Prices can vary from $100-$2,000+
  • There are many producers locally and statewide
• Purchase from an auction
  • Know what you want to spend before you get there

What breed should I get?

• Purebred Sheep

  • Dorset, Columbia, Rambouillet, Suffolk, Hampshire, Southdown, & others

• Commercial
  • Crossbred or non registered purebred

What to look for when selecting a project animal

• Remember that you want to produce an animal with a high quality, lean, muscular carcass that it within your budget.

• Market lambs

  • A market lamb should be slaughtered between 110-140 lbs.

  • Appropriate size at fair is between 115-135 lbs

  • Final weight varies depending on breed, frame size, and nutrition.

  • Lamb should weigh between 40-70 lbs at the spring weigh in

  • Must be born January 1 or later

  • Can be a wether (castrated male) or ewe (female)

• Selecting a Breeding Ewe
  • Appropriate size at fair 120-160 lbs (ewe lamb)
  • Ewe lamb born after January 1
  • Yearling ewe born after January 1 the year before

Adequate muscle

• Firm, hard, muscle tone in leg, loin, top

• Large outside leg muscle

• Must be proportionate

  • Should walk and stand wide

• Muscle on the inside of the leg
• Wide muscular top
• Large rib cage=lots of capacity
• Length
  • Hind saddle (from the last rib back) should be equal to or longer than the front portion of the back
  • Too long of lamb will have a weak top and may break behind the shoulder and/or hip/loin junction
• Shoulder/shank
  • Smooth shape muscle

Structural Correctness

• Correct skeletal or bone structure

• Neck should be erect & extend out of the top of the shoulder

• Top line should be long, level and straight

• Legs should have a large bone

• Strong pasterns to support the body

• Stand with feet and legs wide apart

• Long, smooth steps, with a wide track while walking

  • Animals should not limp

• Good mouth-bottom teeth should line up with the upper dental pad

  • No overbite (parrot mouth) or underbite

Style and Balance

• Clean fronted

• Blend together

  • Don’t want a huge front end with a tiny hind leg

• Overall smooth outline (level top and square rump)

  • Don’t want a weak top or steep rump

• Want a well rounded complete project (don’t pick based on one particular trait).

Potential

• Lamb/goat that has growth potential

• Frame size

  • Very large or very small framed animals will finish are weights that are less than ideal

• Long body
• Thick loin

What is fitting and grooming?

Fitting is an important part of your sheep project that begins well before fair. This includes all the hard work and many hours that go into your project such as training and exercising your lambs. Fitting is everything you do to make your animal look it’s best for the show. Grooming is normally done at home prior to taking your lamb to the fair. This includes washing, shearing/clipping, and trimming hooves. Remember that a successful project is a lot of hard work, but is also very rewarding when that hard work pays off!

Training & Exercising Your Lamb

• You need to train your lamb to lead on and off the halter and to brace and set up easily.

• To teach an animal to lead on the halter, start first by tying it up for a short time each day. When lambs are first tied up, they will show some resistance to the halter. Let them work it out on their own. Once they learn to calmly stand tied up and not fight the halter, start taking them on short walks. It is important to always remember to provide release for any positive progress. For example, if your lamb takes a step forward when you ask it to, give them a little slack in the rope for a few seconds. This is creating a positive learning environment for your lamb.

• Your lamb must also learn to walk off the halter. If your lamb decides not to move, apply pressure on the dock (tail) to move the lamb forward.

• Bracing is when your lamb is flexing his muscles so he will handle better to the judge. Further exercising gets your lamb in shape and fit.

  • Can be a simple 15 minute walk and/or bracing your lamb

  • A very simple exercise to help build muscle (especially in the leg and loin) is to find a hill/incline that is about 45 degrees. Place the front legs on level ground and gently place the lamb’s hind legs such that he is facing uphill. Make sure the lamb is not overly stretched. Use your hand to apply pressure to the brisket and have your lamb brace against you. Allow the head to drop a little, as this will work the muscles more. Hold for a count of 5-10 seconds and let the lamb rest. Try 5-10 “sets” of this activity. On the final set, let the lamb climb up to the top of the hill/incline.

  • Increase the duration of each set and decrease the number of sets. After a couple of weeks, your lamb should be able to hold that position for a minute or more and you should only be doing 4-5 sets. This is just a guideline!!

• Can also elevate feeders so the lamb has to stand with front legs on blocks to reach feed

Grooming Supplies

Grooming supplies can be very expensive. We recommend for first year members finding used cheap supplies or borrowing from other producers until you know for sure you are going to continue showing. Not all grooming supplies are a necessity, but some are rather handy.

• Clipper and shearer

  • Wahl Lister /Premier

    • Blades: typically use a surgical blade

    • Shearmaster

      • Blades: comb and cutter: typically use a 23 tooth comb

• Hoof trimmers
• Bathing supplies
  • Hose, soap, brush, rags
• Blankets or Slinkies
• Grooming Stand

Clipping/Shearing your market lamb/commercial ewe

• It is best to have your lambs sheared off prior to or after weigh in

  • A sheared lamb will grow better in the warm summer months

• If you are using a Lister or Premier type clipper, it works well to wash your lamb prior to clipping.
• If you are using a Shearmaster type shearer, it is best to have your lamb dry prior to clipping.
• Steps in clipping/shearing your lamb
  • Clip in long smooth strokes along the direction of the arrows in the picture below
  • Clip/shear parallel to the length of the body makes the lambs appear balances and longer
  • Do NOT clip below the knees and hocks-you want your lamb to appear to have an ample amount of bone
    • Clip the entire head as well to complete a uniform look from head to tail
• On breeds of lambs that have wool on the lower legs (Dorsets and Hampshires are examples), you will want to comb the hair/wool up and lightly spray with adhesive. This is called “boning” the legs to make your animal look more massive. Make sure you blend the area at the hock and knee so that there is no obvious transition from where you stopped clipping. You can use the small clippers to clip any areas that need it at this time.

Fitting your breeding sheep

• To get started you'll need a good set or two of sharp hand shears (it’s nice to have a long pair and a short pair), at least 2 cards, a curry comb, a grooming stand, and a lot of patience. To begin with start carding out the fibers by pushing the teeth of the card straight into the wool and lifting up and forward. This should make the wool stand up. It takes a while to get the motion just right but after a lot of practice you will be able to move the card in the way that works best for you. Card out the whole body, it will take some time, but it's the first step to a good fitting job.
• Once you have carded the whole body start with the top line of the animal and with the hand shears carefully clip small amounts of wool away starting at the front and moving to the back to make the back a nice, even, straight line. Work down the shoulder and then back towards the hip. Square the animal up and then carefully round the corners where the back blends into the side. When you get to the rear flank, clean out the wool there a little bit, but not take off so much as to make it look like the stomach is separate from the hip, just make a little definition between the parts.
• When you get around to the rear of the animal try not to trim too much off the hindquarter because that is an important part of the animal. At the base of the open area under the tail there is a line going down under the twist of the animal where the wool naturally separates. Card out the wool around this very well and then separate the wool on the line. To make the animal look wider, clip the wool on an angle so that the wool angles into the part or split. Try and trim some wool between the hind legs to widen the appearance, but if the animal lacks width on each leg don't trim it down much.
• Work around the other side of the animal, trying to achieve the same look as you created on the first side. Remember that the more carding you do the smoother the finished product will be.
• The front end of the animal is kind of tricky because it can drastically change the look of the animal both for better and for worse depending on how it's treated. If the animal has a heavy neck, try to take off more wool (especially if it's a ewe). Always blend the body parts together carefully, leaving a distinction but not making the animal look like a bunch of parts thrown together. Depending on the breed you may have some wool on the face to work with, in breeding animals generally shave the face of a Suffolk or other open faced breeds, but carefully fit the wool cap on a Hampshire or other wool cap breeds. Trim most of the hair off the ears to show a cleaner look. On breeds that have wool on the legs it is nice to carefully clean and card the wool and shape it to make the legs look uniformly well boned and straight.

Trimming your lamb’s hooves

• Securely hold the leg of the sheep
• Inspect the hoof and remove any mud, manure, or small stones between the walls of the hoof
• A rotten smell is usually indicative of foot rot
• Begin trimming around the perimeter of the hoof
• Avoid cutting off large chunks of hoof
• Stop at the first sign of pinkness
• A pink color means you are getting close to the foot blood supply
• The foot should be trimmed from the heel to the toe to remove excess growth of the "horny" portion of the hoof

Nutrition

It’s not the brand name that is important, but the protein, fat, fiber content of the feed, as well as palatability. Five basic nutrients are required for feeding show lambs as well as all livestock. They are water, protein, carbohydrates and fats or energy, minerals and vitamins. There are commercial lamb feed rations or you can mix your own.

Water

Water is the most important nutrient. It is essential to keep the body functioning properly. Keep plenty of clean fresh water available at all times.

Protein

Protein requirements for lambs vary depending on their stage of development. Young, fast-growing lambs need rations with protein levels of 16 to 18 percent. This is important for development of the proper muscle mass. When lambs are getting fat and close to market, protein levels can be as low as 11 to 12 percent.

Lambs that are fed more protein than they need convert it to energy. This is very expensive, so only feed the lamb the protein requirements it needs for its stage of development.

Carbohydrates and Fats (Energy)

The body needs energy for necessary bodily functions. Grain and protein supplements are high in energy, while hay contains less carbohydrates and fats (energy).

Minerals

Salt (sodium chloride), calcium and phosphorus are important minerals. Have free choice loose salt, and loose trace minerals available at all times. Calcium and phosphorus are essential for proper growth and development. A ration should be 2.5 parts calcium to 1 part phosphorus.

Be cautious of the copper level in sheep rations. Sheep can’t handle the levels of copper that cattle can and too much copper can kill them. Sheep can become sensitive to copper toxicity at 15ppm. Ideal copper range for a sheep ration is 7-11ppm.

Vitamins

Lambs require very small amounts of vitamins. If lambs are receiving alfalfa hay or pellets in their diet, vitamin A should not be a problem.

Key points of nutrition management

• Be sure bedding in the stalls is clean and dry.

• Make clean, fresh water available at all times. In cold weather, break any ice on water buckets.

• To encourage lambs to gain weight at a desired rate, feed them a balanced ration. Avoid overfeeding or underfeeding lambs. Overfed lambs may carry too much condition by show time.

• Keep the feed and water troughs clean. Do not allow old feeds to get moldy or water to become dirty, warm, or stale.

• Be sure feeds are mixed thoroughly. Use fresh feed ingredients.

• Feed lambs on a regular schedule.

• Avoid sudden changes in the ration. Introduce new feed gradually over a period of days or weeks rather than at one feeding.

• Avoid feeding lambs on the ground.

• Only use sheep feed; other feeds may contain high copper levels that may cause toxicity in lambs.

• Remember to include minerals and vitamins in a balanced ration. These nutrients are required in small amounts, but failure to provide them will reduce the performance of lambs. You may offer free choice minerals.

• Determine the competitive weight and finish you want for your lambs. Many judges prefer to have a market lamb with 0.1 to 0.2 inches of back fat thickness.

• Learn how to estimate back fat thickness and what a correctly finished lamb feels like
  • If you can easily feel ribs and backbone when handling a lamb, it is too thin and has around 0.05 inches of fat thickness.
  • If it’s hard for you to feel ribs and back bone, the lamb is likely over- conditioned and has a back fat thickness more than 0.2 inches.
    
    
• Be aware that the following factors may affect feed requirements:
  • Cold weather can increase feed requirements.
  • A freshly shorn lamb needs more feed, especially during cold weather.
  • Lambs that are exercised regularly need more feed.