4-H Lamb Club Rules & Regulations
1. Animals entered in this project must be (a) owned by the club member, (b) owned jointly by the club member and parents, or (c) in possession of the club member under some lease by the date of the May retinal scanning and eartagging.
2. All market lambs and commercial breeding animals shown in the fair must be nose printed and/or retinal scanned and eartagged during the designated days in May, at a fee of $2.00 per head for the scanning due at the time of scanning. Registered breeding animals to be shown in the fair must also be nose printed and/or retinal scanned during the nose printing/retinal scanning days in May.
3. Members of the 4-H Lamb Club should attend at least 4 activities, pay $5.00 dues, and pen rental of $2.00 per head to be eligible to show. To be eligible for any lamb club achievement awards each member must work at least two shifts and ONE PARENT PER CHILD MUST WORK IN THE LAMBBOOTH AT LEAST ONE TIME during fair week. We strongly encourage all members and their parents to work at least their shifts in the lamb booth. This is the largest fund raiser provided by the club for the club. We consider your participation of working in the booth as your commitment to being an active member in our club.
4. Judging of 4-H sheep will start promptly at 7:45 am, Tuesday July 22. the meeting prior to the show will begin at 7:30 am, with the show starting at 7:45 am.
5. Market Lambs must be born after January 1, 2014. Animals may be commercial or purebred. Again, for the 2013 year, all market lambs will be shown by breed. Classes will be available for all recognized breeds with no minimum number to make a class.
6. Market lambs must arrive slick shorn. All sheep exhibited will be unloaded and presented without blankets for close inspection by an Advisory Board Representative or chosen delegate. Elkhart County 4-H Fair reserves the right to dismiss any animal not meeting health requirements.
7. All market lambs must be completely shorn after July 13 and free of all blankets before entering the barn. The natural color of the market lamb is not to be changed, this includes painting, while preparing the animal for the 4-H show.
8. There will be no wet lambs weighed in.
9. When market lambs are weighed in the 4-H member must designate which lambs will be shown as singles and those to be shown as a pen of two. A pen of two consists of 2 lambs of any breed owned by a single 4-H member. Members may choose to move the heaviest lamb up to the next class if the two lambs are in the same weight class. In the event that the two lambs weigh the same, the highest numbered eartag will be moved up to the next class.
10. Members must do own showing with such help as needed. In case of illness or absenteeism, another Elkhart County 4-H Lamb Club member may show the animals for them.
Starting with the SATURDAY July 25, 2015 check-in at 6:00 p.m. until the completion of the 4-H Show Day, Tuesday, July 28, 2015 Elkhart County Lamb show exhibitors may receive shearing and showing preparation assistance only from their family who are no more than 2 generations removed from the exhibitor; which is defined as a father, mother, step father/mother, legal guardian, brother, sister, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, uncle, first cousin, or from another current Elkhart County 4-H Lamb Club exhibitor. Guardianships granted on a temporary basis for the purpose of circumventing these rules will not be recognized. This rule is effective as of the Saturday evening weigh-in. Violation of rules needs to be reported to a 4-H Lamb Club Leader or Advisory Board Member prior to the violator showing their animal. Violators may be disqualified from showing their animal. Any animal not shown during the 4-H Lamb Show will not be allowed to sell in the 4-H Lamb Auction. Flagrant violators of county rules may be barred from exhibiting in the Elkhart County 4-H Lamb Club for up to 3 years. (Completion of you 4-H year is dependent upon submitting a completed record book or completing the comparative required projects only. Showing animals is not a requirement.)
11. For the Showmanship contest, each 4-H'er must show their own lamb. Alumni contestants may continue to show any borrowed 4-H'ers lamb.
12. For the 2014 auction, each specie will continue to follow their 1995 rules regarding the number of transactions per specie. Two market lambs may be sold in the 4-H Auction on Friday unless circumstances occur which pertain to the new 2003 ruling as to the terminal sale of lambs listed in rule number 18. There is a limit of 3 transactions per 4-H’er. The 4-H’er will decide which three (3) transactions he or she will sell with exception to circumstances in rule 19. NOTE: A transaction is defined as the sale of 1 beef steer, 1 gallon of milk,1 dairy feeder calf, 1 diary goat, 1 hog, 1 lamb, or 1 meat pen (3 rabbits), 1 pen of broilers, 1 roaster, or 1 waterfowl.
**Animals to be sold must be shown in the judging on Tuesday. The weight at weigh-in will be the selling weight for the auction. Lambs must be of good quality as set forth by the auction committee. Any lamb under 75 lbs will not be allowed to show in the 4-H show and therefore not sold through the auction, this lamb will be excused from the barn and not allowed to stay. Any lamb weighing over 145 lbs can be shown in the 4-H show but will not be allowed to sell in the auction.
13. Ewe lambs shown as market lambs can be shown again in the appropriate breeding classes with the exception of a ewe lamb that is chose as the Grand Champion, Reserve Grand Champion Market Lamb, Grand Champion Pen of Two or Reserve Grand Champion Pen of Two. Animals shown in the breeding classes cannot be sold in the 4-H Auction. All animals not sold in the 4-H Auction may be released after noon on Thursday. Pre-registered STATE FAIR lambs have the option to leave 1 hour after the 4-H show on Tuesday. These lambs must be released by Lamb Club leaders and have ID verified with state fair papers.
14. Exhibitors must furnish certificates of registry for all the purebred sheep and furnish certificates of transfer if not bred by the exhibitor. Identification tags or tattoos must be in the ear of all sheep. The club leader or other authorized person designated by the leader will check certificates and identification of sheep. If you plan to show a ewe lamb in the purebred market lamb class, you must have registration papers to show as a purebred ewe lamb in the breeding class. The ewe cannot show as a purebred market lamb and a commercial ewe lamb. If you double enter a ewe lamb as market and breeding with no registration papers the animal must show in both divisions as a commercial lamb.
15. The family of the Grand Champions and the Reserve Grand Champions of both Singles and Pen of Two will be asked to help with the decorations and setting up for the Achievement dinner.
16. All club members eligible for awards should attend the Achievement Dinner or have representatives to accept for them.
17. The Elkhart County Sheep Breeders will be offering a scholarship to an eligible 4-H Lamb Club member. A copy of the rules, stipulations and application is available upon request from your leaders or a sheep breeder officer.
18. The Elkhart County 4-H Lamb Club Advisory Board will rule on problems that arise at the 4-H show and their decision will be final.
19. The 2014 Elkhart County 4-H Lamb Show and Sale will be a TERMINAL SALE. This means that the Grand Champion Single, the Reserve Grand Champion Single, the Grand Champion Pen of Two, and the Reserve Grand Champion Pen of Two will be harvested, with no exceptions.
The buyer will have the option of making arrangements to pick up the meat at the designated processing center, or accept the support price of the animals the day of the 4-H Auction, and receive the support price check from the processing center selected.
If any of the above champions include a ewe lamb, and the member happens to have her entered as both a market and breeding, she must be pulled from the breeding show as she is part of the mandatory terminal sale. There will be no exceptions to this rule.
In the event that a single lamb club member would be fortunate to have the Grand Champion Single, Reserve Grand Champion Single, and either the Grand Champion or Reserve Grand Champion Pen of Two, in addition to a Grand Champion or Reserve Grand Champion in another livestock club, that member would have the right to choose which Champions they would sell in the 4-H auction to make up their 3 sale transactions. However, if they did not sell all their Champion Lambs through the 4-H Auction those animals will still be harvested and the owner will receive market support price for those animals, from the processing center or have the option to pick up the meat.
ENTRY PROCEDURE
The following procedure will be used to pen all 4-H market lambs. This will facilitate locating animals quickly and efficiently if the need arises and following the auction on Friday.
1. All pens will have pen numbers assigned to them.
2. All pens will have animals numbers assigned to them also. There will be three animal numbers assigned to each pen in the two outside rows of pens (north and south sides of the barn). There will be four animal numbers assigned to each pen in the center three rows of pens.
3. No lambs will be weighed and numbered until they have first been entered and had both a pen number and an animal number assigned to them.
4. *****NEW RULE: 2011 AND 2012 with revision for 2017
Penning times for lambs will be Friday, July 21, 6:00 am until 8:00 pm, with all 4-H animals being penned by Friday, July 21 at 8:00 pm. Weigh in times Saturday 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, Sunday 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm with trial weigh times Saturday and Sunday 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm. 4-H members will have the option to use open show weights or to reweigh. Each lamb is entitled only one trip across the scale during official weigh in times. IT MUST BE DECLARED BEFORE THE LAMB ENTERS THE SCALE IF THE MEMBER IS USING THEIR OPEN SHOW WEIGHT OR CHOOSING TO REWEIGH THE LAMB FOR THE 4-H SHOW. IF THE MEMBER CHOOSES TO REWEIGH THE LAMB AND NOT USE THE OPEN SHOW WEIGHT THEY ARE CHOOSING TO FORFEIT THE WEIGHT FROM THE OPEN SHOW, ONCE THE LAMB STEPS ONTO THE SCALES THAT WEIGHT WILL BE USED IN EH 4-h AUCTION. IF THE LAMB WEIGHS OVER THE 145 POUND LIMIT IT WILL NOT BE SOLD IN THE AUCTION.
** New for 2016 ** 4A. All lambs weighing over 145 lbs. regardless of breed will be shown in a separate overweight class. The lambs showing in this class cannot participate in any championship drive, Grand Championship Drive or Reserve Grand Championship Drive. Overweight lambs cannot participate in any other market classes including Pen of Two.
5. Lamb club members will choose their pens at the June or July 4-H meeting. This will be done by years in the club starting with the 10 year members in alphabetical order then 9 year, 8 year etc. Pens may not be reserved by other club members. If there are families that need to share pens for tack or animals those members should have a designated member to pick the pens for the total needed. Tack can be brought into the barn on the Thursday evening just prior to fair starting on Friday.
6. Club members will be assigned a pen or area for their equipment. However, the equipment area may have to be shared between two club members. This decision will be made by the Advisory Board.
7. Before the auction on Friday all lamb back numbers should be checked and re-painted if necessary. All lambs are to be returned to their original pens after they are auctioned. The barn will be closed during the auction.
NO LAMBS ARE TO BE REMOVED FROM THE BARN AFTER THE AUCTION UNTIL EARTAG NUMBERS/BACK TAG NUMBERS ARE CHECKED OFF WITH JANE, KELLY, OR JIM.
MARKET LAMB CLASSES: Classes will be established and shown by breed and weight. There will be no minimum number of animals to make a class. Classes will be available for all recognized breeds. a classifier will be hired to determine the breed of animals at time of entry into the fair. This classifiers decision will be final.
Class 1: Single Market Lambs (exhibitor may show 3 animals)
Class 2: Pen of Two Market Lambs, regardless of breed.
The lambs show in either of the two classes above may be ewe lambs or wether lambs.
BREEDING CLASSES: The breeding classes will include black-faced commercials, white-faced & speckled-faced commercials, and registered purebred breeds, Columbias, Corriedales, Dorsets, Hampshires, Jacobs, Montadales, Oxford, Rambouillets, Shropshires, South-downs, Suffolks, etc.
Class 3: Ewe lambs, born after September 1, 2013 (exhibitor may show 2)
Class 4: Pair of ewe lambs
Class 5: Yearling ewe (exhibitor may show 2 animals)
Class 6: Pair of Yearling ewes
Class 7: Ram lam, born after September 1, 2011
Class 8: Pair of ram lambs, born after September 1, 2011
Class 9: Flock: A flock consists of one ram lamb, two ewe lambs, and two yearling ewes.
Class 10: Supreme Ewe
Class 11: Supreme Ram
Class 12: Supreme Flock
Note: Animals entered in each class shall be owned by a single 4-H member.
SHOW ORDER OF BREEDING CLASSES: Black-faced commercials, white-faced & speckled-faced commercials, and registered purebred breeds.
SHOWMANSHIP CLASSES
Senior Showmanship 10th grade-12th grade
Junior Showmanship 7th grade-9th grade
Beginner Showmanship 5th grade-6th grade
Greenhand Showmanship 3rd grade - 4th grade
Alumni Showmanship two classes, broken by age
All showmanship contestants will use their own lamb. Members who have won their showmanship class may move up to the next class the following year regardless of grade. Our representative to the Round Robin Contest will be the champion Senior Showman. If the winner of the Senior Showman does not want to participate, the next placed winner will be our representative.
2. All market lambs and commercial breeding animals shown in the fair must be nose printed and/or retinal scanned and eartagged during the designated days in May, at a fee of $2.00 per head for the scanning due at the time of scanning. Registered breeding animals to be shown in the fair must also be nose printed and/or retinal scanned during the nose printing/retinal scanning days in May.
3. Members of the 4-H Lamb Club should attend at least 4 activities, pay $5.00 dues, and pen rental of $2.00 per head to be eligible to show. To be eligible for any lamb club achievement awards each member must work at least two shifts and ONE PARENT PER CHILD MUST WORK IN THE LAMBBOOTH AT LEAST ONE TIME during fair week. We strongly encourage all members and their parents to work at least their shifts in the lamb booth. This is the largest fund raiser provided by the club for the club. We consider your participation of working in the booth as your commitment to being an active member in our club.
4. Judging of 4-H sheep will start promptly at 7:45 am, Tuesday July 22. the meeting prior to the show will begin at 7:30 am, with the show starting at 7:45 am.
5. Market Lambs must be born after January 1, 2014. Animals may be commercial or purebred. Again, for the 2013 year, all market lambs will be shown by breed. Classes will be available for all recognized breeds with no minimum number to make a class.
6. Market lambs must arrive slick shorn. All sheep exhibited will be unloaded and presented without blankets for close inspection by an Advisory Board Representative or chosen delegate. Elkhart County 4-H Fair reserves the right to dismiss any animal not meeting health requirements.
7. All market lambs must be completely shorn after July 13 and free of all blankets before entering the barn. The natural color of the market lamb is not to be changed, this includes painting, while preparing the animal for the 4-H show.
8. There will be no wet lambs weighed in.
9. When market lambs are weighed in the 4-H member must designate which lambs will be shown as singles and those to be shown as a pen of two. A pen of two consists of 2 lambs of any breed owned by a single 4-H member. Members may choose to move the heaviest lamb up to the next class if the two lambs are in the same weight class. In the event that the two lambs weigh the same, the highest numbered eartag will be moved up to the next class.
10. Members must do own showing with such help as needed. In case of illness or absenteeism, another Elkhart County 4-H Lamb Club member may show the animals for them.
Starting with the SATURDAY July 25, 2015 check-in at 6:00 p.m. until the completion of the 4-H Show Day, Tuesday, July 28, 2015 Elkhart County Lamb show exhibitors may receive shearing and showing preparation assistance only from their family who are no more than 2 generations removed from the exhibitor; which is defined as a father, mother, step father/mother, legal guardian, brother, sister, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, uncle, first cousin, or from another current Elkhart County 4-H Lamb Club exhibitor. Guardianships granted on a temporary basis for the purpose of circumventing these rules will not be recognized. This rule is effective as of the Saturday evening weigh-in. Violation of rules needs to be reported to a 4-H Lamb Club Leader or Advisory Board Member prior to the violator showing their animal. Violators may be disqualified from showing their animal. Any animal not shown during the 4-H Lamb Show will not be allowed to sell in the 4-H Lamb Auction. Flagrant violators of county rules may be barred from exhibiting in the Elkhart County 4-H Lamb Club for up to 3 years. (Completion of you 4-H year is dependent upon submitting a completed record book or completing the comparative required projects only. Showing animals is not a requirement.)
11. For the Showmanship contest, each 4-H'er must show their own lamb. Alumni contestants may continue to show any borrowed 4-H'ers lamb.
12. For the 2014 auction, each specie will continue to follow their 1995 rules regarding the number of transactions per specie. Two market lambs may be sold in the 4-H Auction on Friday unless circumstances occur which pertain to the new 2003 ruling as to the terminal sale of lambs listed in rule number 18. There is a limit of 3 transactions per 4-H’er. The 4-H’er will decide which three (3) transactions he or she will sell with exception to circumstances in rule 19. NOTE: A transaction is defined as the sale of 1 beef steer, 1 gallon of milk,1 dairy feeder calf, 1 diary goat, 1 hog, 1 lamb, or 1 meat pen (3 rabbits), 1 pen of broilers, 1 roaster, or 1 waterfowl.
**Animals to be sold must be shown in the judging on Tuesday. The weight at weigh-in will be the selling weight for the auction. Lambs must be of good quality as set forth by the auction committee. Any lamb under 75 lbs will not be allowed to show in the 4-H show and therefore not sold through the auction, this lamb will be excused from the barn and not allowed to stay. Any lamb weighing over 145 lbs can be shown in the 4-H show but will not be allowed to sell in the auction.
13. Ewe lambs shown as market lambs can be shown again in the appropriate breeding classes with the exception of a ewe lamb that is chose as the Grand Champion, Reserve Grand Champion Market Lamb, Grand Champion Pen of Two or Reserve Grand Champion Pen of Two. Animals shown in the breeding classes cannot be sold in the 4-H Auction. All animals not sold in the 4-H Auction may be released after noon on Thursday. Pre-registered STATE FAIR lambs have the option to leave 1 hour after the 4-H show on Tuesday. These lambs must be released by Lamb Club leaders and have ID verified with state fair papers.
14. Exhibitors must furnish certificates of registry for all the purebred sheep and furnish certificates of transfer if not bred by the exhibitor. Identification tags or tattoos must be in the ear of all sheep. The club leader or other authorized person designated by the leader will check certificates and identification of sheep. If you plan to show a ewe lamb in the purebred market lamb class, you must have registration papers to show as a purebred ewe lamb in the breeding class. The ewe cannot show as a purebred market lamb and a commercial ewe lamb. If you double enter a ewe lamb as market and breeding with no registration papers the animal must show in both divisions as a commercial lamb.
15. The family of the Grand Champions and the Reserve Grand Champions of both Singles and Pen of Two will be asked to help with the decorations and setting up for the Achievement dinner.
16. All club members eligible for awards should attend the Achievement Dinner or have representatives to accept for them.
17. The Elkhart County Sheep Breeders will be offering a scholarship to an eligible 4-H Lamb Club member. A copy of the rules, stipulations and application is available upon request from your leaders or a sheep breeder officer.
18. The Elkhart County 4-H Lamb Club Advisory Board will rule on problems that arise at the 4-H show and their decision will be final.
19. The 2014 Elkhart County 4-H Lamb Show and Sale will be a TERMINAL SALE. This means that the Grand Champion Single, the Reserve Grand Champion Single, the Grand Champion Pen of Two, and the Reserve Grand Champion Pen of Two will be harvested, with no exceptions.
The buyer will have the option of making arrangements to pick up the meat at the designated processing center, or accept the support price of the animals the day of the 4-H Auction, and receive the support price check from the processing center selected.
If any of the above champions include a ewe lamb, and the member happens to have her entered as both a market and breeding, she must be pulled from the breeding show as she is part of the mandatory terminal sale. There will be no exceptions to this rule.
In the event that a single lamb club member would be fortunate to have the Grand Champion Single, Reserve Grand Champion Single, and either the Grand Champion or Reserve Grand Champion Pen of Two, in addition to a Grand Champion or Reserve Grand Champion in another livestock club, that member would have the right to choose which Champions they would sell in the 4-H auction to make up their 3 sale transactions. However, if they did not sell all their Champion Lambs through the 4-H Auction those animals will still be harvested and the owner will receive market support price for those animals, from the processing center or have the option to pick up the meat.
ENTRY PROCEDURE
The following procedure will be used to pen all 4-H market lambs. This will facilitate locating animals quickly and efficiently if the need arises and following the auction on Friday.
1. All pens will have pen numbers assigned to them.
2. All pens will have animals numbers assigned to them also. There will be three animal numbers assigned to each pen in the two outside rows of pens (north and south sides of the barn). There will be four animal numbers assigned to each pen in the center three rows of pens.
3. No lambs will be weighed and numbered until they have first been entered and had both a pen number and an animal number assigned to them.
4. *****NEW RULE: 2011 AND 2012 with revision for 2017
Penning times for lambs will be Friday, July 21, 6:00 am until 8:00 pm, with all 4-H animals being penned by Friday, July 21 at 8:00 pm. Weigh in times Saturday 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, Sunday 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm with trial weigh times Saturday and Sunday 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm. 4-H members will have the option to use open show weights or to reweigh. Each lamb is entitled only one trip across the scale during official weigh in times. IT MUST BE DECLARED BEFORE THE LAMB ENTERS THE SCALE IF THE MEMBER IS USING THEIR OPEN SHOW WEIGHT OR CHOOSING TO REWEIGH THE LAMB FOR THE 4-H SHOW. IF THE MEMBER CHOOSES TO REWEIGH THE LAMB AND NOT USE THE OPEN SHOW WEIGHT THEY ARE CHOOSING TO FORFEIT THE WEIGHT FROM THE OPEN SHOW, ONCE THE LAMB STEPS ONTO THE SCALES THAT WEIGHT WILL BE USED IN EH 4-h AUCTION. IF THE LAMB WEIGHS OVER THE 145 POUND LIMIT IT WILL NOT BE SOLD IN THE AUCTION.
** New for 2016 ** 4A. All lambs weighing over 145 lbs. regardless of breed will be shown in a separate overweight class. The lambs showing in this class cannot participate in any championship drive, Grand Championship Drive or Reserve Grand Championship Drive. Overweight lambs cannot participate in any other market classes including Pen of Two.
5. Lamb club members will choose their pens at the June or July 4-H meeting. This will be done by years in the club starting with the 10 year members in alphabetical order then 9 year, 8 year etc. Pens may not be reserved by other club members. If there are families that need to share pens for tack or animals those members should have a designated member to pick the pens for the total needed. Tack can be brought into the barn on the Thursday evening just prior to fair starting on Friday.
6. Club members will be assigned a pen or area for their equipment. However, the equipment area may have to be shared between two club members. This decision will be made by the Advisory Board.
7. Before the auction on Friday all lamb back numbers should be checked and re-painted if necessary. All lambs are to be returned to their original pens after they are auctioned. The barn will be closed during the auction.
NO LAMBS ARE TO BE REMOVED FROM THE BARN AFTER THE AUCTION UNTIL EARTAG NUMBERS/BACK TAG NUMBERS ARE CHECKED OFF WITH JANE, KELLY, OR JIM.
MARKET LAMB CLASSES: Classes will be established and shown by breed and weight. There will be no minimum number of animals to make a class. Classes will be available for all recognized breeds. a classifier will be hired to determine the breed of animals at time of entry into the fair. This classifiers decision will be final.
Class 1: Single Market Lambs (exhibitor may show 3 animals)
Class 2: Pen of Two Market Lambs, regardless of breed.
The lambs show in either of the two classes above may be ewe lambs or wether lambs.
BREEDING CLASSES: The breeding classes will include black-faced commercials, white-faced & speckled-faced commercials, and registered purebred breeds, Columbias, Corriedales, Dorsets, Hampshires, Jacobs, Montadales, Oxford, Rambouillets, Shropshires, South-downs, Suffolks, etc.
Class 3: Ewe lambs, born after September 1, 2013 (exhibitor may show 2)
Class 4: Pair of ewe lambs
Class 5: Yearling ewe (exhibitor may show 2 animals)
Class 6: Pair of Yearling ewes
Class 7: Ram lam, born after September 1, 2011
Class 8: Pair of ram lambs, born after September 1, 2011
Class 9: Flock: A flock consists of one ram lamb, two ewe lambs, and two yearling ewes.
Class 10: Supreme Ewe
Class 11: Supreme Ram
Class 12: Supreme Flock
Note: Animals entered in each class shall be owned by a single 4-H member.
SHOW ORDER OF BREEDING CLASSES: Black-faced commercials, white-faced & speckled-faced commercials, and registered purebred breeds.
SHOWMANSHIP CLASSES
Senior Showmanship 10th grade-12th grade
Junior Showmanship 7th grade-9th grade
Beginner Showmanship 5th grade-6th grade
Greenhand Showmanship 3rd grade - 4th grade
Alumni Showmanship two classes, broken by age
All showmanship contestants will use their own lamb. Members who have won their showmanship class may move up to the next class the following year regardless of grade. Our representative to the Round Robin Contest will be the champion Senior Showman. If the winner of the Senior Showman does not want to participate, the next placed winner will be our representative.
