Livestock measures up at the fair

Ed Craig has been studying sheep in the show ring for about 40 years.

As Craig prepared to judge a class of adult ewes at the SEMO District Fair on Wednesday, he said his vocation as a judge began with showing sheep himself.

"People see you showing and think you know what you're doing, then after the show, they decide maybe you didn't know what you were doing," he said, laughing.

Craig tells contestants to never change their breeding program because of what a judge tells them.

As a livestock judge, Craig said he looks for structural soundness, a long loin, a lot of lower leg muscle in the sheep and goats he judges.

He also measures how well the contestant is able to handle the animal, "showmanship" in other words.

It's obvious when a youngster is showing an animal he does not care for and handle on a regular basis, he said.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.com With her family support behind her, Hope Massey, 9, of Marble Hill, Mo., right, waits to show her sheep, Nutterbutter, on Wednesday at the SEMO District Fair. It is Massey's first year with 4-H.

Dorothy Stack, a 4-H director, said she tells children showing livestock to remember that they won't all be able to win blue ribbons.

"It's just one person's opinion," she said.

Jera Madison Kranawetter, an 8-year-old from Fruitland, said she has to have her "game face" on before taking her Corriedale sheep in the show ring for the showmanship class.

"I think he's going to do pretty well, but he's shy around people," she said of Elmer, the sheep she's showing this year.

Her brother, Clayton Kranawetter, 14, said he thinks the hardest part of the competition is getting the animal to behave properly in the ring.

Minutes later, Jera struggled with a sheep named Lexie nearly the same size as she is, as the animal danced in circles during the judging, at one point stepping on her toes, protected by bright red cowboy boots.

"I'm still betting on the little girl; she's going to be grand champion," Craig said, after judging the class and remarking on the sheep's rowdy behavior.

Kelly Kranawetter, mother of Clayton and Jera, said at one point her daughter was naming all of her sheep after her friends at school, hence Lexie.

Across the fair in the swine judging ring, three competitors used long crops to urge their pigs — each weighing between 242 and 248 pounds — to move in the right direction and avoid any collisions as the judge studied them.

"The judge looks for what he thinks the meat industry is looking for," said Dennis James, superintendent of the 4-H swine division.

Before the beef cattle judging classes started, Nathan Miller, 13, of Anapolis, Mo., said he expects to improve upon his last place finish last year with his Black Angus cow, Taffy.

"She's three times the size she was last year. She was too skinny last time," Miller said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245

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