Showing livestock is one of the great traditions here at the Iowa state fair.
And the young people who participate, they really devote themselves to these projects.
Let's head over to the sheep barns to see the results of their hard work.
PAUL YEAGER: Housed in the Sheep Barn on the Iowa State Fairgrounds, the 4H Market Lamb Show was in
full swing this year. 4H kids from all across Iowa entered their sheep for consideration,
each hoping to come away with the title of grand champion.
Jordan Amburgey from Mount Sterling, Kentucky was this year's sheep judge.
JORDAN AMBURGEY: So I have been around sheep all my life. It's my career. It's my passion.
I work with small remnants daily, got sheep at home. It's just something that
at this point in my life, it's what it's all about.
You know, I think sheep are unique because sheep and goats, I should say because we actually get to
put our hands on them and evaluate their muscle and carcus traits whereas pigs, it's all on
emotion, and cattle, we really don't emphasize that up to a high degree. So I think sheep, if
your hands meet your eyes, you can judge a lot in terms of what you actually feel with your hands.
I like the elite ones. I like the ones that internally make me smile.
I guess what those look like are the ones that just have that presence that look like a champion.
They come out and they know they're good, but still they're basic in terms
of having some muscle, having something about them, but still most importantly,
they're sound and athletic. We got to take a picture at the end of the day, so they got
to look like a champion. Once I establish if they have enough muscle or they don't,
then we can start basing things on the quality, aesthetics, the build, and combine that with
the proper muscle organization and find the elite ones that are your blue ribbon winners.
Everyone's different. I like them built as flawless as possible.
I like to watch their feet and legs motor in the right way. I like them
tall shouldered, shallow chested and neat shoulder. Once we put all those little unique
things in one package, at the end of the day, that's what my champion is going to look like.
PAUL: The competition was stiff as the show saw 492 entries across 22 classes.
The top two selections from each class advanced to the finals.
JORDAN: What I love most about judging is working with the kids is awesome. And I hope it's a good
experience for them because what I've seen when I was showing many moons ago is the numbers of
kids are dwindling it seems like, so I just try to make it a positive experience for all these
kids to bring them back next year and increase our numbers and increase agricultural awareness.
The most difficult part about judging is there can only be one winner, and when you get
these challenging and competitive state and national shows like the Iowa State Fair,
there's going to be 15 that deserve to be at the backdrop later today, but ultimately,
I can only slap one my champion. That's the difficult part is just people understanding
that, hey, I might like 15 or 20 of these things, but landing on one is a challenge.
PAUL: The Grand Champion Market Lamb Award for 2022 went to Sam Schmillen from Marcus.
Congrats to Sam and all the runner ups.