By Travis Potter, Proud Pappa
The Potter kids showed their sheep at four shows this season, from April through September. This fair was the final State Fair in Washington. They competed against the best in the State that made it to that fair. It is a huge learning experience for the kids: it takes skill, endurance, heart, stamina, perserverance, and they are judged differently depending on “How the Judge thinks”. Ever very judge is different, so they have to change to meet what the judge is looking for. They do win prizes, trophies and ribbons, and sometimes money. At the county fair in their county of residence, they can sell their Market-ready lambs. This year the kids decided to keep their market lambs for breeding.
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They show in a couple of different categories:
1. Showmanship – It is kind of like salesmanship and marketing plus level of knowledge.They have to sell themselves, and present their sheep in a way that that sheep looks like it is the world’s finest sheep. They are compared to other kids in their specific age group.
2. Appearance & Conformation – They show the animal on its appearance either for conformation for breeding and wool quality, or for carcass quality and style of conformation.
3. Costume Class – Then it is taken to another level, the costume class, where they dress themselves and their sheep up, or they make some kind of garment for themselves and a matching garment for the sheep. This is called Lady n Lead or Lad n Lead. They then Write up a story about themselves, their garment and their sheep. They parade around the ring and are scored on how well it is all put together and how well the sheep leads with the child.
4. Mutton Bustin’ – Then in a totally different category you have ” Mutton Bustin” , this is for kids age 3 to 6. It is like Bull Riding for little kids. Most Rodeos have Mutton Bustin. The kids wear protective vests and helmets, then they get into the chute on top of the sheep. The sheep is let out of the pen and the kid stays on as long as they can, hopefully for at least 6 seconds. Bull Riding is 8 seconds. The kid is scored on how well they stayed on the sheep, how well centered they were positioned on the sheep, and how they dismounted the sheep. The sheep are 180- 300 lb ewes (Older Female Sheep) The kids have to be less than 60 lbs. Zane stayed on for well over 6 seconds, rode the sheep square on its back and dismounted onto his feet. Zane was one of 25 kids. He was champion of his round at the Washington State Fair.
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