[Jacob-list] AGM

Tue Jun 20 18:17:25 EDT 2006

OK, I'll be the first to report! (Am I the first to get home?)

My 18 year old daughter, Katie, and I made this into a combined event--"senior trip", visit relatives, AGM, Mom-Daughter "bonding" before she leaves for college. We left home last Saturday and made it to Fort Collins on Sunday afternoon (about 20 hours driving). Mickey graciously agreed to sheep-sit for us so that we could go on to Colorado Springs. My in-laws wouldn't have been too happy having my sheep in their driveway for several days. Even without sheep, I could smell the truck (not that I minded, but you know city people). Katie got a chance to spend time with her cousins, ages 12, 18, and 20 and I caught up with my sisters-in-law. We did the tourist thing--Olympic Training Center, top of Pikes Peak via the Cog Railroad, Garden of the Gods, Mountain Zoo, and a movie. 

We headed back to Fort Collins on Thursday to get the sheep and got to Estes Park in the afternoon. The East Coast contingent (Royal, Bob, Brandon) was already there so we unloaded sheep and visited awhile. I had made reservations at Rocky Mountain National Park for 3 nights. The campground was only about 15 minutes from the fairgrounds. Except for the inconvenience of no showers and no beds it was a good choice. The Park is spectacular. We drove the Trail Ridge Road--the highest continuous paved road in the U.S. The high point is over 12,000 feet. It was a beautiful drive, if cold. It was in the low 30's up at the top and the wind chill made it much colder. But we saw lots of elk and marmots up in the alpine country. We also saw 7 bighorn sheep--rams--and watched them wander down past us, cross the road, and bed down just below the road in the tundra. They are big! I have lots of photos! The next day Katie and I took a 4-hour horseback ride in the park. I thought I'd be sore after not riding in years, but it wasn't too bad. It was a nice way to see some of the country--and the weather. For the most part the weather was great, but we found ourselves putting on the yellow slickers during the ride when it started raining harder. It just made us appreciate the warm sun when it came out during the end of the ride.

Oh, you asked about AGM!!! I got carried away because I haven't written to anyone yet. 

It was sure fun to see the sheep from all over the country and put faces to names. Mickey organized the JSBA booth which filled several tables. There was a lot of logo things for sale as well as products from several members. The sheep tent was crowded with spectators each day--the Estes Park Wool Market has quite a following.

 After the general meeting on Saturday we had two presentations. Lorraine Perry discussed and demonstrated how to fit and show a sheep. (By the way, Peg presented the new Judge's Packet. This is available to distribute to judges at any fair where you will be showing Jacob sheep and will be a great tool.) Lorraine demonstrated with a very tame ewe who might even "sit" and "fetch" if asked to. (That's a joke--no offense, please). The next presentation was about scrapie by a veterinarian that Mickey knows. She presented the material in a very clear and understandable way and answered a lot of questions. 
Dinner was great, followed by presentation of thank you gifts to Lorraine, Mickey, and Diane and a special award to Ingrid Painter for her selfless dedication to the Jacob breed. A lot of us stayed around and talked for a couple of hours.

Sunday was the sheep show. I'm not sure how many were entered, but there were enough so that we had our own show. Brandon Woolley of Maine showed the Champion Jacob ram--a beautiful 4-horn ram in full fleece. I can't remember the name, but was he an Unzicker sheep? OhOh, my mind fails me. I think that the Champion ewe was shown by Denny Shultz of Washington. I can picture his first place adult ewe and I'm pretty sure she was made champion.  Someone else can correct me and fill in details of all the others. I know that Royal won several of the group classes.  The judge didn't like my sheep as much as I do--but that's OK. I am very happy with my fleeces, and I know that some of my sheep are not as straight-legged as the judge wanted. From listening to his reasons, I think that he had read the new scorecard--30% wool, 30% conformation, 30% breed character, 10% "showmanship". He also stated that leg and feet structure is at the top of his list. Oh well! I have a few sheep at home with nice straight legs. It's fun to show anyway. I thought it was interesting to see the diversity of Jacob sheep in the show. Congratulations to the winners! 

After the show, most of us that had traveled a distance were a bit anxious to get on the road. Katie and I were finally loaded up and left about 3:00. I left home with 7 sheep and only returned with 5 (2 traded and 2 sold) so that's not too bad. We made it home by 7:30 Monday evening. The weather is turning hot here and my new sheep from the east coast aren't too happy about it. Actually none of the returning sheep are too happy. Welcome back to the Sacramento Valley!

Robin Lynde
Meridian Jacobs
Vacaville, CA 
www.meridianjacobs.com 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Betty Berlenbach 
  To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 2:11 PM
  Subject: [Jacob-list] AGM

  Okay, folks, those who went, we need reports, in detail...if you please????

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