[Jacob-list] Ready for show

[Tina Bowman]

Dear Friends,

We just recently competed in our first show , which I happily bragged about
last week....

The advise from a veteran shower was to not wash the wool, cut off the tags
on the rear and legs, wash the face and legs and clean the ears. We were
competing in wool classes only, and the judge wants to be able to judge the
wool as is. The judge kept making comments about the winners like: I could
sheer this one right now and start spinning, she wanted everything as
natural as possible, which is how it is in the business. You don't wash
your sheep prior to sheering , so the wool one gets is filled with the
lanolin and stays moist until they do their preferred cleaning technique.

We tried to pick all the hay and straw out, but the one that got the
champion ribbon was actually the most dirty one, I had him all cleaned up
nice then he decided to roll in the hay and it got all in his neck area. I
noticed many shepherds working themselves silly doing fitting chores, but
the ones who took home the ribbons were the most natural.

Except for this one set of sheep, they were a cross breed and were huge,
they are kept in a barn and blanketed with little jackets to protect their
wool, how disgusting is that. Animals were running wild before we got here
and it is not fair to keep them pinned. My only restraints to my animals
are their fencing and when they are ready for birthing, we put them in a
special maternity ward we constructed with it own little pasture, but
that's it, I would never want an animal that must be kept in a barn and not
allowed to roam. The pinning of something wild is why there is a high crime
rate in the city areas, the humans have no where to run free so they become
enraged.

Back to the showing, we had their hooves trimmed a few days before, we
vaccinated at that time also. I also mixed some fly spray and took with me
to do two things, to keep them down and to try to prevent any lice and
ticks from moving from one flock to the other in the show pens.

As soon as this old dog can learn a new trick and get my scanner to work so
I can post some pictures , I;'ll show you what a blue ribbon jacob looks
like during the show.

Thanks for letting me bleat,

Tina Bowman
Azalea Farms