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Sheep
What is it all about?
The sheep project introduces you to a wide variety of fun and challenging activities including identifying parts of a sheep, selecting a project lamb, preparing for lambing season, identification of lamb meat products and feeding and showing sheep.
Grow in Your Project
Beginner
- Identify different breeds
- Locate and name parts of sheep
- Learn about sheep health and proper care
- Learn what you need to show your animals
- Develop a management plan
Intermediate
- Learn about lamb yield grades
- Judge and present your sheep
- Understand the digestive process
- Read a feed tag to recognize nutrients needed for sheep
- Learn breeding and reproduction best practices
Advanced
- Develop your own breeding program
- Learn about lamb docking and castration
- Balance a feed ration
- Keep production and expense records
- Identify and research sheep industry issues
Member Resources
Sheep Project Curriculum
3 levels (grades 3-12)
At the Interface between Livestock and Predators Curriculum
1 level (grades 3-12)
Free Downloads
Project Leader Resources
Sheep Project Helper’s Guide
3 levels (grades 3-12)
PYD Media Collection
Many educational resources, including several skillathons and learning lab kit.
Free Downloads
Statewide Events and Opportunities
4-H Livestock Quiz Bowl & Skillathon
Livestock Bowl is a quiz competition where all the questions are about beef, sheep, swine, and meat goat topics and students use a buzzer in order to answer the questions. Teams compete in a double elimination format by giving oral answers to questions posed by a moderator. Each match has both an individual and toss-up question round. The winning 4-H senior team will represent Wisconsin at the National 4-H Livestock Quiz Bowl competition.
Audience: Grades 3-13
Area Animal Science Days
Area Animal Science Days is a series of day-long events held around the state in June where youth in the beef, dairy, horse, sheep, and swine projects increase their decision-making skills and knowledge of animals through judging and grading experiences. Events include dairy cattle evaluation; livestock (beef, sheep, swine, & meat goats) evaluation; oral reasons contests for senior members; and dairy showmanship contests . In addition, each site may offer a variety of workshops like poster and photography contests or horse judging activities.
Audience: Grades 3-13
Meats Judging Contest
This contest tests the knowledge of youth in the placement of carcass and retail cut classes, carcass grading, and retail cut identification. Top teams earn the opportunity to compete at regional and national competitions.
Audience: Grades 3-13
State Livestock Judging
Teams that placed well at Area Animal Science Days are invited to the state contest. This contest usually occurs at the end of July and is the contest that selects our State winners for National Competition. The top senior teams have an opportunity to represent WI 4-H and compete at national level 4-H contests.
Audience: Age 14-18
Take Your Project Further!
- Tour a sheep farm
- Attend a sheep show and observe the judges and their techniques
- Design a business plan to market lamb meat directly to retailers, restaurants or private customers
- Write an educational article about some aspect of sheep production for your local newspaper
- Plan or participate in a sheep skill-a-thon
- Organize a sheep showmanship contest
- Attend a national conference
- Job shadow a local veterinarian to learn about animal health
- Learn about the different uses for sheep
- Research sheep by-product
- Be part of your county Livestock Judging team and participate in the State 4-H Livestock Judging Contest
- Participate in the Livestock skill-a-thon
- Participate in the State 4-H Meat Judging Contest
Applying Project Skills to Life
Enhance Your Communication Skills
- Design a poster on parts of the sheep and present this topic to others
- Participate in a judging contest giving oral reasons
- Give a shearing demonstration
Get Involved in Citizenship and Service
- Volunteer your lamb for a community petting zoo
- Develop a recipe book of lamb recipes too share at local grocery stores
- Do a food taste testing at a local grocery store
Learn about Leadership
- Lead a demonstration with your lamb at a local elementary class
- Teach others how to safely handle sheep
- Recruit younger members to join the sheep project
Showing What You’ve Learned
- Show your lamb at the fair
- Poster on the nutritive value of lamb
- Display of meat cuts and proper preparation
- Poster on feeding rations
- Poste on preventative vaccinations
- Notebook of photos of different breeds
- Presentation on developing a breeding herd
- Best care techniques for newborns
- Medical show kit
- Poster on understanding carcass grading in lamb carcasses
- Video on how to train your lamb to lead
- Display of proper exercising techniques
- Poster of feed additives
- Make a blanket or tube for your sheep
- Make a sheep fitting stand
Adapted with permission from Wyoming State 4-H, Project Information Sheet, Sheep. Retrieved from: https://www.uwyo.edu/4-h/projects/animal-science/sheep.html.
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