By Maryellen Gibson
Another year has come to an end for the Wild n’ Woolly 4-H Sheep Club. The club had 12 members from the Erskine area with some members from Lacombe, Bashaw and Delburne. Each month the club held a meeting at the home of one of its members where they could see their sheep operation and learn about how they raise their sheep and lambs.
Some of the topics covered in workshops were: preparing for lambing held at the Gibson farm and parasite control in sheep at the Nibourg farm. A Christmas sledding party was held at the Sorenson’s, and an Easter egg hunt at the Knapp farm. In May, the members met at the Sorensons’ were the club members planted trees on Ducks Unlimited land for a community service project.
All the members had a lot of fun planting the trees and look forward to seeing if they all are growing next year. Weigh-in day was held at the Nibourg farm in June where the members brought their market and ewe lambs to be sheared and weighed. For a communication activity, each member researched and spoke on different breeds of sheep. Morgan Sorenson went to the district competition with his presentation on Solving the Rubik’s Cube Puzzle. After the scheduled highway cleanup was cancelled twice in the Stettler area, the members participated in cleaning county road ditches as a fund- raiser for their awards night.
On Aug. 15, the members brought their lambs to the Ponoka Country Fair for visitors to see. Senior member Julie Knapp, demonstrated to the members and the public on how to card and trim a sheep with hand trimmers. Then all members participated in a trimming competition judged by Edith Williams.
Two workshops followed, one learning the parts of a market lamb and judging terminology, and another on showmanship in preparation of Achievement Day.
Maryellen Gibson organized a sheep relay race where all the members ran with their sheep through an obstacle course. Everyone enjoyed their day at the fair and would like to go again next year. Achievement Day was held at the Bashaw Fair Grounds, where the members participated in judging, showmanship, and confirmation classes.
Following a very entertaining costume class where both members and their lambs dressed in very creative costumes, the members auctioned their market lambs. The club members would like to thank Mr. Merle Dickie of Olds for being the judge for the day, all the people who purchased their lambs, and the many sponsors who helped make the day a success.
The end of a busy year was celebrated at an awards event where members received their awards and gifts for all their hard work. Julie Knapp and Justina Nibourg received gold awards of excellence and Alicia Nibourg received a Bronze.
The Wild n’ Woolly Sheep Club will be starting its new year on Nov. 21 at the Waverly Club Room in Erskine at 2 p.m. Anyone interested in joining our 4-H sheep club can phone one of the club leaders, Lorna at 403-788-2883, Dan at 403-747-2848, or the Nibourgs at 403-742-8536.