By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com
Wynford eighth grader Emily Rudd captured top prize at the 2014 Market Lamb Show of the Crawford County Fair. Emily, and her lamb Nattie, won the overall grand champion title after winning the middle weight division.
Competing from the Sulphur Springs Star Farmers 4-H group, this is Rudd’s fifth Fair of showing, and her first Grand Champion title.
“Every year getting new lambs and learning what they’re about,” said Rudd, highlighting her favorite part of the process. “Each one of them is different.”
The Senior Showmanship winner was Taylor Delarber from Buckeye Central and the Buckeye Stars 4-H group. Taylor is a senior this year and competing in her 10th and final fair. By securing this honor, Taylor gets to extend her competition to Friday’s Showman of Showmen event, where all the top showmen will compete to see who is the best showman at the Crawford County Fair.
Extending her competition was clearly important to Taylor, and she reflected on a little of what she would miss when all of this is over. Her family raises lambs, so watching them grow up from babes to adulthood is part of her everyday life, but there is still something a little bit different about training them yourself.
“You work with them every day in the summer,” Delarber continued, “It’ll be weird when you don’t have that anymore.”
The Cornell sisters of Sarah and Grace saw their names sprinkled all over various leaderboards for the show, with Grace winning the light weight division, and Sarah taking Reserve in the heavyweight division. The sisters attend Mansfield St. Pete’s and are members of the North Robinson Blue Ribbons. Grace is entering her freshman year, and Sarah her senior year. They compete at various open shows around the state as well, and also show rabbits here at the Crawford County Fair.
Sarah has been doing these events since the third grade, and said her favorite part is “Spending every day with them and watching them grow.”
Here are the full results from the show:
2014 Market Lamb Show
Grand Champion: Emily Rudd
Reserve Champion: Alan Leonhardt
Light Weight Division Winner: Grace Cornell
Reserve: Nicole Flock
Middle Weight Division Winner: Emily Rudd
Reserve: Nicole Flock
Heavy Weight Division Winner: Alan Leonhardt
Reserve: Sara Cornell
Pen of Two Grand Champion: Garrett Billings
Reserve: Sydney Harris
2014 Sheep Breeding Show
Grand Champion Ram: Gunner Christman
Reserve: Jack Reed
Grand Champion Ewe: Garrett Billings
Reserve: Jack Reed
Senior Showmanship Champion: Taylor Delarber
Reserve: Cheyenne Johnson
Intermediate Showmanship Champion: Michelle Flock
Reserve: Emily Rudd
Junior Showmanship Champion: Nicole Flock
Reserve: Carson Heinlen