Jayden O’Neal displays his awards after winning Grand Champion Market Lamb at the Hancock County 4-H Fair. Wednesday, June 28, 2023.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY — The barn boomed with baas and applause at the 4-H fair’s Sheep Show of Champions and Showmanship.
Kids of all ages brought in their best of the best ewes, lined them up and stood in position the best they could in hopes of getting a grand championship from the Supreme Drive.
Judge Evan Synder came all the way from Pennsylvania, originally growing up and showing livestock in Oklahoma. Synder, while picking which he believed to be the best, told the crowd of how he was impressed with the group shown that night.
“You can go to a lot of different state fairs and not find as many different breeds of sheep, let alone a county fair… and to have this flock of females and all the breeds… kudos to the exhibitors, breeders, parents, grandparents and whoever helped put this together,” Snyder said.
Out of a total of 19 ewes, Garrett Kennedy received ewe grand champion and Nash Arthur ewe reserve grand champion.
Garrett has been showing in 4-H for approximately three years and has been working with his ewe named Legacy for about two to three months. That entails working them outside and setting them up in preparation for the show.
“Everything I can possibly do to get a win,” Garrett said.
Garrett’s father, Steve Kennedy, also grew up involved in 4-H, and the family currently owns around 15 ewes, with about 30 babies a year. Steve said both his boys have been showing since they were three or four years old.
“It’s great. It teaches them a lot. They take good care of their animals, going out every morning and night, working and feeding. It teaches them a lot as far as responsibility and caring for something,” Steve said.
Jayden O’Neal was honored with lamb grand champion and Kadie Sparks with lamb reserve grand champion.
O’Neal’s family also owns and said that he had his lamb Freddie for just a few months. As far as training, O’Neal said he’d work with Freddie twice a day, morning and night, getting on the halter and walking, then bracing and repeating the process about three times.
“It shows all hard work pays off,” O’Neal said.
Nicole Mann has been a part of the Hancock County 4-H Agriculture Association board for approximately eight months and her two children competed in Wednesday night’s events. While she did not grow up showing, she finds joy watching her two children show their dorsets.
“It’s full of teachable moments and life lessons — from how to treat your animal to making friends and being there to help your friends,” Mann said. “It takes a lot of grit and stamina.”
The four divisions of showmanship included first year, junior, intermediate and senior. First year showmanship grand champion went to Eli Eck, and reserve grand champion to Eli Kennedy. For the breed division, Jase Mattox won junior division, Noah Mattox for the intermediate division, and for senior division, grand champion went to Brady Jordan.
The market division went to Owen Wooldridge, junior; Jayden O’Neal, intermediate; and Kolton Gilbreath, senior.
Other winners included the Rate to Gain category, which goes based on how much the animal weighs at the beginning of weigh-in versus final weigh. Ashley Edwards came in second with .857 pounds per day, and Braxton Green came in first, having the animal gain .897 pounds per day.
A moment was also taken to honor the 10-year 4-Her’s in the sheep project — Noah Day, Elizabeth Dodd, Brady Jordan, Kadie Sparks, Ryan Wickard and Ashley Edwards.
Michelle Anderson, once a 10-year 4-H’er herself, helps volunteer on the sheep committee and has been doing so for about four years. She helps organize and keep track of the documentation.
“I grew up in this community, so this is generations and generations involved, especially in the sheep project,” Anderson said. “I get the benefit of living through that, and having that with my family as well… but also showing my kids some of the experiences I had growing up outside of technology.”
