This weekend we will be packing up and heading into Calgary for 4-H on Parade, the annual regional super-sized achievement day for 4-H members of many clubs with a wide range of projects. My brother will be showing his ewe lamb, yearling ewe and her lamb and showing and selling a pen of three market lambs this year. On Thursday night we will take in the lambs and get the stall area decorated, but the actual competitions don't start until Friday.
The sheep stalls and sheep show ring will be located in the Producers Tent which usually is home to Ag-tivity in the City during Stampede time. The market lamb sale will take place next door in the Agriculture Building's Pavillion.
Here is the schedule of events for the Sheep Show:
Friday June 1
2:00-3:00 Lamb Trimming Competition
3:30-4:30 Lamb Judging Competition
Also most of the members will be grooming their sheep in preparation for the show so if you want to see a lamb getting a bath this is the day to come!
Saturday June 2
9:00-10:00 Market Lamb Classes
10:15-11:45 Pen of Three Classes
1:15-3:00 Breeding Ewe Classes (ie. Ewe Lamb, Yearling Ewe, Mature Ewe and Breeding Flock)
3:30-4:30 Showmanship Classes (ie. Junior, Intermediate, Senior)
Sunday June 3
11:00 Market Lamb Sales followed by sale of the Charity Lamb
A complete schedule of events can be found at http://ag.calgarystampede.com/events/509-4-h-on-parade.html#schedule.
I encourage everyone to come down to Stampede Park to see this event especially on Saturday because this is the day when most of the shows involving animals happen (sheep, beef, dairy, heavy and light horse) and the lifeskills projects will also be on display. 4-H on Parade is great for those who are interested in learning about agriculture but missed out on Aggie Days or don't enjoy how busy the grounds can get during Stampede. If you do stop by make sure to come over to the smaller white Producers Tent to see/pet the sheep and ask the members questions about their projects.
Today I sold two of my ram lambs. Before leaving we completed a manifest and tagged them with the yellow CSIP tags required for transportation and gave them a dose of dewormer. We loaded the boys in the trailer and took them to their temporary new home where they will be eating grass in their own pasture until the breeder is ready to let them out with his ewes in late summer/early fall.
The buyer likes the Suffolk breed so we made sure we saved some good ram lambs that had Suffolk bloodlines. Both rams were from our mainly Suffolk commercial strain of ewes but one was out of a Hampshire ram and the other a Suffolk so there was a little bit of a difference in their appearance in terms of wool covering. We noticed there was also a bit of a size difference as one ram was tagged 1Z (our first lamb born) and 53Z (our fifty-third lamb born), in this case the lamb born earlier was larger than the lamb born later.
We also hauled the five older rams over to my grandmas to be put on pasture. All five are purebred Hampshires and three of them are for sale. We also have purebred Hamp ram lambs at home still that are also for sale, pictures coming soon!
This past week we have seen a lot of rain. It is kind of depressing to look out the window and see dark, cloudy skies and not be able to do much outside but the rain is great for all types of plant life that we rely on to feed our animals. The rainfall that comes during the spring, summer and early fall waters our pastures, crops and land for hay; directly allowing us to produce feed for our animals to eat year-round.
During a break in the showers we loaded up my small cow herd and hauled them to my grandmas where their pasture is. We don't have enough pasture land at our place for the sheep flock and cow herd to graze on all summer so most of our animals spend their summer at my grandmas farm where there is plenty of grass. We spend quite a substantial amount of time there too rotating animals around between the pens, watering and making sure that they are all happy and healthy.
In a few weeks some of our sheep will go over there to be let out on pasture too. First the cull ewes, wether and some of the ewe lambs will be sorted out of the flock and be sold. Then on May 12 the remaining ewes, rams and 4-H lambs will be shorn for summer and upcoming shows. Sometime after that we will give all the lambs still on the farm their second round of vaccinations (boost) and their CSIP tags that are required for transport so they are able to go join their cow friends where the grass is truly greener than at home.
