I found 1 to be the most complete ewe lamb in the class as she combines style,balance, and power.  From the profile I would like to clean her up a little at the points and not make them as round, however, when you find sheep with the thickness and  massiveness of this ewe lamb you can expect to find a little roundness at the points.  Sure, I would like to raise her up a notch at the dock , however, she more than compensates for this slight flaw with her desirable rib shape and fullness of rear flank.  Also, I have to appreciate the extended neck set square on top of the shoulder.  From the rear she demonstrates fullness and width over the rack and loin, extreme depth of twist and power in her  lower  third, especially through the stifle area.   She has massive bone standing correctly on her feet and legs.

For the middle pair, 3 and 4, I’m selecting 3 over 4 basically for one reason, she is more correct in her top line which is long and level, and she is long and level in her hip.  She has the long neck properly placed on top of the shoulder.  She is shallow through her chest, however, she does show evidence of some spring of rib, and, she is acceptable in her rear flank, although I would appreciate her more if it was fuller.  She is extremely clean at the points.  From the rear I would like to see more evidence of width over the rack and loin, however, she is medium plus in frame and will show more thickness in these areas as she grows and matures.  I would call her average in depth of twist and moderate in the amount of lower third muscle.  She stands correct on her feet and legs, has moderate bone dimension and, if matched up with a power type ram, she could stamp the profile with added muscle from the sire and produce competitive lambs.

In placing 4 third in the class and over the Down, I found this to be an easy placing.  4 will get your attention especially if you like Naturals.  Her main weakness is the slope to the hip, and, she also appears short in hip measurement.  Sloping hips are hard to correct in a breeding program.  She is clean in the front, shows spring of rib and some fullness in the rear flank.  From the rear she shows some evidence of thickness over the rack and loin and is moderate in depth of twist with more than adequate muscle in the lower third.  She is very correct on her feet and legs with adequate dimension of bone.  To level her offspring out in the hip I would suggest breeding her to a power type Hamp ram.

The little Down ewe in the 4th. spot does have some positive traits, however, the short sloping hip makes her an easy placing for the bottom of the class.  She does have a long neck correctly placed on top of the shoulder and I believe she has acceptable width over the rack and loin.  She needs to be bred to a power  Down ram that is extremely correct in his hip.

 

Again, I placed the class 1, 3, 4, 2 with cuts of 5, 1, 3.

 

Your comments are welcomed and appreciated .  Actually, if we did not receive feed back from you participants, this contest could become boring.  OG