Thank you to Nolan Hildebrand, Connors State College Livestock Judging Coach, for providing the official placings and reasons for this class of wether dams. Thank you to Hobbs Show Lambs and Morgan Meisenheimer for providing the pictures. To view more livestock judging classes click here.
I like the wether dams 1324. The overwhelming stoutness and power the white muzzled ewe brings to the table is hard to ignore, and coupled with her bold, round body shape and balanced, attractive look from the side makes her the true stud ewe of the class. Now from the side, the 3 ewe is hard to fault. The female that is more elevated in her chest relative to her flank, is shorter and smoother in the way her shoulder blends into her body and is also longer and leveler out of her hip. However, when compared to my powerful class winner, the slicked legged ewe simply cannot match the added stoutness of feature, width and squareness of skeleton and overwhelming mass and dimension.
There is some competition in the middle though, but I side with the added look, more athletic rib shape, and the length and extension through the front third of her skeleton I see in the 3 ewe. The ewe with the least prominent wool cap that resides in third is stouter structured and presents an easy keeping look with her basic build quality and added body. But when compared to the two ahead of her the shorter necked, deeper chested ewe plains up a nickel from the side.
However it is an easy quality sort on bottom as two is leveler and more parallel in her lines which allows her to be the more attractive profiling option. The big footed and boned ewe that rounds out the class does not forfeit any stoutness or rib shape to her contemporaries. But it is one look from the side, the flattest stifled ewe is too tight in her spine and needs to transition her neck into the top of her shoulder smoother, which consequently throws off her balance the most, she’s fourth.
Cuts 4-3-5
