We went to the fair with Teen Son’s FFA. We all met in a parking lot at 8:30 and moved our trailer to our sight at the horses stables at the fair grounds at 9:30. By 10: we were set up and ready for Darling Husband and Teen Son to go home. The youngest 2 and I spent the night at the fairgrounds. The next morning Teen Son was up at 5:am to help load animals onto the stock trailer to bring them to the fair and was back at the fair grounds at 7:am with all the FFA animals.
The day of Market Judging (judging to see if we had an animal
that was market worthy and eligible for auction) arrived. We thought we had Penelope
perfectly trained. I sat in the stands
to and watched Teen Son and his sheep enjoying each other and posing in the proper
positions for judging. I was so proud so
many of the sheep were jumping and stressed out, Penelope just stood there calmly
as Teen Son scratched her.
Then the judge said Penelope had too much "that needed to be trimmed off" – meaning she is fat. FAT!!! As soon as they left the ring a FFA parent and grandparent came up to me and asked me if Teen Son had been given lessons on how to show his sheep. I said no just how to position her. It turns out you want an animal that is tense when the judge touches it so the judge can feel her muscles. It isn’t about just standing and posing your animal. We also decided that Penelope needed to be sheared again Poor Girl! The next time the judge saw Teen Son and Penelope in the show ring the Judge told Teen Son he had made great improvements and Penelope should have done much better in the Market Judging.
Then the judge said Penelope had too much "that needed to be trimmed off" – meaning she is fat. FAT!!! As soon as they left the ring a FFA parent and grandparent came up to me and asked me if Teen Son had been given lessons on how to show his sheep. I said no just how to position her. It turns out you want an animal that is tense when the judge touches it so the judge can feel her muscles. It isn’t about just standing and posing your animal. We also decided that Penelope needed to be sheared again Poor Girl! The next time the judge saw Teen Son and Penelope in the show ring the Judge told Teen Son he had made great improvements and Penelope should have done much better in the Market Judging.
The kids with animals at the fair are up at 6:am to clean the pen, clean the animal, feed the animal, and make sure every thing is ok. Then they get to come back to our camping area and have breakfast. While the fair is open groups of kids are in charge of keeping the animal’s area clean. The kids who are showing cattle wash and blow dry their steer or heifer’s coat making it nice and fluffy every day. All the animals need some exercise every day. Since Teen Son had heard that Penelope was fat he ran her every night, and practiced with her every day. The animals are fed again in the early evening, we would have a meeting at 9:pm, then they would check on the animals one last time before bed.
We sold Penelope at auction and bought ½ a pig,
Black Ops, at the fair. We picked him up
at the butcher 2 weeks after the fair and he is delicious.
We had an amazing time getting to know a lot of the other FFA families. It was very nice having a trailer at the fair. We could go and walk around then when we were
tired we would go to the trailer for a snack and nap, but 10 Days is a long
time to be at the fair. Next year Teen
Son is hoping to do a lamb and a turkey.
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