The Boys and Their Lambs…

It’s always a busy time of the year when the kids pick out their fair lambs in April.  The next 4 1/2 months are busy spent training, walking, washing, shearing, their lambs.  This year they went to a 3 day camp in Bozeman to learn more about showmanship, lamb care, shearing with a jackpot on the last day.    IMG_9114 IMG_8894 IMG_8846 IMG_8834 IMG_8828 IMG_8824 IMG_8816-2 IMG_8743 IMG_3727

Kids walking their lambs…IMG_3676

Garrett shearing his own lamb…IMG_3655

Garrett helping some kids with showmanship…IMG_3732

Getting ready for fair…IMG_3731 IMG_3728

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Thank goodness for grandmas who will stop and feed the starving kids on her way home from work.  The first couple days of fair are extremely busy and we generally eat really late but grammy had pity on us and fed us.IMG_3736

Practicing with his lamb…IMG_3735

Then show day!

Waiting for his turn to show…IMG_3808

This year at fair they worked very hard and Garrett and Hayden ended up being in the final round for showmanshipIMG_3805 IMG_3790

Even, Teigen did very well in showmanship for his first year.IMG_3785 IMG_3782 IMG_3780 IMG_3777 IMG_3771

Waiting for the “market” portion of fair.IMG_3767 IMG_3764 IMG_3746 IMG_3742 IMG_3739

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Hayden even won a purple ribbon in market placing in the top 8 out of 60 lambs for market.  🙂IMG_3820 IMG_3771 IMG_3764 IMG_3750 IMG_3741

Then comes the last day of fair, the last day of the project.  They have sold their lambs to local businesses and they have to load their lambs up on the trailer that is headed to the processor.  There are generally lots of tears and sadness but the kids understand where their food comes from and have a deeper appreciation because of it.  Something that is lacking in todays culture..

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Peaceful Summer Evening…

The flock peacefully grazing as a storm moves in this evening….

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The kids (on the right side of the pic. below) coming back from their nightly walk with their fair lambs….

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Practicing with their fair animals…

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Linking up with friends at:

 

  Homestead Barn Hop,The Backyard Farming Connection,

   Our World TuesdayTuesdays with a Twist

 

Rurality Blog Hop #20

The Chicken Chick

Shooting Sports Invitationals

On Saturday, Sawyer, Victoria, Madeline and Garrett participated in the Flathead Shooting Sports Invitationals.  The kids did wonderful!

Sawyer shooting Olympic Recurve…

The boys started things out in archery, Sawyer shooting olympic recurve and Garrett shooting barebow.  This was Sawyer’s first year shooting in this discipline and Garrett’s second.

Garrett received a silver medal in his age group and Sawyer placed 6th in his.

Garrett in barebow

Then the boys went on to shoot in air pistol…

Setting up targets

Shooting

Garrett won an amazing “Over-All” trophy for his age group with a score of 313 out of 400.  His first year shooting air pistol and his first competition!

Garrett receiving his trophy!

Sawyer received a bronze medal in his age division!

Sawyer receiving his medal

We had to do a little entertaining with Em…

Em watching dad's Iphone...

Then it was on to archery again with the girls shooting barebow and Sawyer shooting primitive.

Tori shooting barebow

One of Maddie's targets...

Sawyer shooting in barebow...

The day did have a few hiccups though, Maddie’s bow broke 2 days before the competition and she had to use a bow that she had never shot with.  So she didn’t shoot real well and ended up not placing.  Sawyer pinched his shooting finger in his bow the day before while stringing it and split the finger wide open.  It made for a bit of frustration on his part dealing with a hurt finger.

The kids did very well though, even Emma…

Emmalynn hanging out with momma.

Tori ended up placing 2nd and receiving a silver medal in her age bracket, only loosing 1st place by 2 points!

Tori receiving her medal

Sawyer ended up placing first and received a gold medal in primitive.

Sawyer with his shooting buddies that he went to Nationals with.

Garrett and his winnings...

Tori with her medal

Maddie showing off her form... 🙂

Emmalynn taking a bit of a nap...

They still have the Club Match and State is right around the corner!

Our Shooting Sports Season…

Another fun-filled season of 4-H shooting sports ended months ago but the fun continues here as Sawyer practices for Nationals in San Antonio, Texas.  He placed high enough at the state competition to represent Montana in both air pistol and small bore pistol.  He had to choose between the two disciplines and has decided to go with air pistol and hopefully place high enough next year to go to Nationals again in small bore.  He leaves in just 3 1/2 weeks and is getting very excited!

All of the kids did very well this year and had bunches of fun.  4-H Shooting Sports is such a great program for kids; they learn about gun and bow safety, they have lots of practices with great coaches to give them confidence in their disciplines, they are able to compete against others and learn how to deal with all that comes with competitions, they have made new friends and get to travel to new places and *can* even pay your way to higher education.  One of the girls that shoots in air pistol with Sawyer has made the Junior Olympic team and is shooting in Europe this year as well as receiving a full ride scholarship to college!

Some pictures of the past season…

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Tori's target

Air Pistol

Going to State

Sawyer shooting primitive bow

Tori shooting barebow

Sawyer shooting the Bearcat for smallbore.

Montana's first competition for smallbore shooters!

The line up...

Shooting air pistol

The trip home in the Bus of fun!