By Lindsey Rowland
lrowland@wbcowqel.com
Mary may have had a little lamb, but little Livia Leonhart has a grand champion.
Monday evening in the show ring of the Crawford County Fair was full of the hustle and bustle of the annual Sheep and Market Lamb Show, where 4-H participants from a myriad of different clubs came out to showcase their hard work.
The events began with the 2015 Junior Sheep Breeding Show. In the ram category, which included Yearling Ram and Ram Lamb, Gunner Christman was named Grand Champion and Jack Reed took reserve. In the ewe section, showcasing Yearling Ewe and Ewe Lamb, Garrett Billings took both Grand and Reserve Champion.
This year’s showmanship awards were given out next, with Jessica Millenbaugh being named Senior Showmanship Champion, with Grace Cornell standing in reserve. For Intermediate Showmanship, Alan Leonhardt was the Champion, with Emily Rudd coming in as the Reserve Champion. Finally, Garrett Billings was named the Junior Showmanship Champion, and Nicole Flock took home the title in reserve.
Next up was the 2015 Market Lamb Show, during which the judge couldn’t commend Crawford County enough for the excellent group of animals that was brought out to be judged. It was stated that many of them could have gone on to compete at the Ohio State Fair, but only a few could be chosen.
In the Lightweight Division, Emily Rudd was named Grand Champion, and Alan Leonhardt took Reserve. In the Middleweight section, Emily Rudd took a second top title, while Jessica Millenbaugh earned Reserve Champion. Lastly, in the Heavyweight Class, Livia Leonhart and Alan Leonhardt took Grand and Reserve Champion, respectively.
And then, it was Leonhart and Leonhardt who took the same honors in the overall competition. Livia Leonhart earned the title of Grand Champion Overall, and Alan Leonhardt was crowned Reserve Grand Champion.
Livia is a 9-year-old member of the Sulphur Spring Star Farmers and, after a few nerves and a lot of excitement pre-show, she says it feels great to win. Raising a prize-winning lamb isn’t easy, though, and took a lot of dedication.
“Every day…I always went into the barn and walked them and braced them and kept working with them.”
Livia said that she is looking forward to trying her hand at winning the upcoming goat show as well.
Reserve champion Alan, while of no relation to Livia, is also a Sulphur Springs Star Farmer who worked hard every day to get his lambs show-ready. This was his first year bringing lambs, and was so excited to win. Alan also looks forward to showing his pigs later in the week.
Finally, the evening wrapped up with both Peewee Showmanship and the Pen of Two division, in which Garrett Billings took Grand Champion and Sydney Harris won Reserve.