Lead Line

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So I spent my last weekend as a single girl doing something I absolutely love, well Friday night anyway… Basically short version, when I turned 15 I joined FFA where I took up showing sheep. I knew nothing about sheep at that time… NOTHING! I learned a lot in the 7 years that I showed, sometimes the hard way!

2 years before my FFA showing career was over I had a friend who asked to borrow one of my sheep for Lead Line at the state fair. Now Lead Line is fun and a different type of showing. You don’t have to show sheep to be in the Lead Line contest, all you have to do is find someone to borrow a sheep from, you dress in 25% wool outfit or more and you walk around and get judged. That year, my ewe (female sheep) didn’t cooperate and she’d stop walking and then leap. One of the areas you get judged on: Sheep Presentation… That wasn’t good.

So I asked her what I had to do to make it up to her. Well her family had been trying to convince me to do sheep Lead Line for years so you guessed it, I had to participate in Lead Line at their county fair. Then to make matters worse, I won my division. Hahaha!

So after I had been out of the showing circuit for a couple years I got asked to come back and be a judge. I had so much fun judging it but boy was it difficult. The friend who made me participate, Anya, was old enough she was out of the showing circuit as well, she collected our score cards and took them to the tally person. It was great because that night I wrote her jokes and stories and had her laughing up a storm. Her mother is in charge of the contest and watched us wondering what in the world we were up to. haha!

This year I ran into Anya’s mother again and she said she didn’t want to ask me because it was so close to the wedding but I told her I always had time so PC and I headed to the fair to judge Lead Line.

Here was a quick snap shot of the score card. There are 4 categories they are scored on worth 25 points a piece for a total of 100 points.

PC was in charge of pictures. I forgot to give him my camera so he was using his phone. The other 2 judges wore yellow shirts. I didn’t get that memo 🙁

The kids dress in 25% Wool outfits or more. You also put decorations on your sheep (scrunchies, flowers, etc. Sometimes you claim the sheep is wearing her 100% Wool coat.. haha)

they parade everyone in so the judges can get a once look at each contestant.

Then they all exit and come in one at a time. The announcer reads the write up about them. It includes, their name, age, parents, favorite thing about the fair, relation to the sheep industry, school sports, just things to get to know the child. Then they take their sheep to the gate where a family member takes it and they line up in the middle to wait for the rest to go through.

The 1st place winner always wins Wool.
Second place gets some sort of an award whether a gift certificate or stuffed animal or money or something.
Most all I’ve been to have a 3rd Place winner also.

It’s a lot of fun to go and watch and see the outfits put together.

The age groups are usually Tiny Tots:2-7, Junior, Intermediate, and Senior so you compete against kids relatively your age. It’s a lot of fun so if you have a fair roll around near you, Check it out sometime!

It was so much fun being back in the place I grew up basically for 7 years, the Sheep Barn! Although I felt like an old Fart 😉 because I didn’t know hardly any of the kids showing anymore. It’s fun to see how the kids cycle through!

Peace, Love & Wool in August

6 thoughts on “Lead Line

  1. So fun!!! I can't wait to watch some shows like this, this weekend at our annual town fair, The Shawville Fair, woo hoo! xo

  2. My husband's family were sheep people and his dad and grandpa were wool buyers. I love sheep. I also loved the “sheep” humor in your post. Only us country girls would appreciate it maybe…I thought it hilarious. You were a cute little judge in your BLUE shirt. (How rude they didn't send you the memo.) So this is the week, huh? Good luck with everything.

  3. i love this. you are so down to earth and i love it!! this sounds like a perfect last weekend of singledom 🙂

  4. That was really interesting. We don't have FFA here but we have 4-H and we've been leaders a 4-H light horse club. I wish every kid could learn what they do when they have to be responsible for their own livestock. Makes them turn out good like you.

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