Prospect/Feeder Lambs

Judge:   Sam Funk

Judging Contest Winners: 

Under 15:  Fflick2, hcls

15-18:  kingfridgevii, PTCClublambs

Over 18:  calleann

Official Placing:  1, 2, 3, 4

Cuts:  1, 1, 2

Analyzing the Class

A class where you are necessarily projecting forward can be difficult.  Frankly, you’d never see a class with this much disparity in ages in a show that was set up for a judging contest.  If you did, you are not at a big-league contest.  In most instances, you are to assume that all the animals are the same age.  This is OBVIOUSLY NOT the case here. 

We have a baby in this group.  Lambs can change a great deal from this age forward.  While I don’t expect them to have all that muscle bloom yet, I do expect they have the width of structure and base to put down muscle. 

1 has a great deal of age advantage on these lambs if I had to guess.  This lamb is showing us pretty well where it is headed.  I think we could reset those back legs a little further and level out that top.  Sure wish we had some more bone under this lamb and some straighter legs.  I’m not a strict one for perfect pasterns on my market lambs, but I’ve seen lambs lose a class because that was the “biggest” difference a judge could find between two lambs.  I’m not convinced that the hip-loin juncture would make me happy either. 

2, as we’ve said, is just a baby.  I really like the profile look to this lamb.  I might already want to see some more width of base when viewing this lamb from behind.  Nothing here that I don’t think MIGHT change for the better as this lamb grows, but there are some questions in my mind for some of the slightly more exaggerated shoulder and hip shape I see here.  We are playing roulette with this baby. 

3 is a level topped animal.  One that appeals to me almost everywhere.  It is the appearance of a less shapely lower leg and an odd turn to the back leg that gives me concern.  This may be a great example of something that may not be true but that looks that way in a photo.  If indeed that leg is straight and there is more shape to the lower leg, you need to show it in a photo that you send of an animal.  For a judging class, but especially if you are showing someone your lambs for sale.  We can only see what you submit, you want it to accurately show that lamb. 

4 is a lamb that just doesn’t have the “it factor.”  There is a bulging muscle shape to the leg, but if you’ve paid attention to my preferences, you must have base width to show me with that rear shot.  The legs are straight down and that tells me this lamb really is more narrow from behind.  Add in the muscle already developed and I don’t feel this lamb would be my choice to grow out on feed for show.  Did anyone notice the tail head on this lamb?  It probably was docked a little longer than ideal for most of the large shows.  It provides a little more exaggeration of the slope through the hindsaddle of this lamb.

Reasons

In a more difficult class to place for challenges of age differences, I chose the alignment of 1, 2, 3, 4 in this class of prospect lambs.  1 starts as he is the lamb I feel has the expression of muscle and width of structure to go forward as a competitive market lamb.  I would like to see more bone and length in our class winner, but the differences in this class provide me with the opportunity to start with him and credit others with advantages.