Mutton but love for ewes

Tell us a little about yourself: My name is Hailey Dodge and I spend my summers in Newton since my dad is stationed in the military in Fort Hood, Texas. I am 14 years old and will be a sophomore in high school. I am also in the Sherman Sunbeams 4H group.

I started showing sheep when I was four. This will be my tenth year. I work my animals every day from May to the fair. In the spring for spring break I come up and help with lambing.

What is your favorite part of caring for them? My favorite part of caring for my sheep in my opinion is in the spring when I have to feed the bottle lambs. They seem all excited to get a bottle it makes me very happy.

How do you prepare them to show? To prepare my sheep to show I first start off with halter breaking them to lead so they can lead around the show ring with ease. The second step would be to wash the sheep close to the show date. I normally wash them about a week out so it give me time to fit the sheep out. The third step would be to fit them out so they can look there in the ring. All while feeding them the proper diet of course.

Do you have any funny stories with your animal? My first year of 4H I was showing in a junior showmanship. I was walking my yearling ewe around when she spooked and ran away dragging me around the ring. The funny thing about it is that the best first showman got a special award and there I was bawling my eyes out after getting drug around and I still somehow won the award.

What did it mean to you to be selected as queen? To me being sheep queen would be to fulfill in a family tradition because my mother and both my aunts where Jasper County Sheep Queens when they where about my age. It also means doing what I love, promoting the animal and the breed of sheep. I love to get more youth interested in showing sheep at the county fair.

What are you looking forward to at the Jasper County Fair? What I am looking forward to at the county fair most is to see all my friends and to make more memories with some of my favorite people and animals.

What would you tell other kids looking to get involved with animals or 4H/FFA? I would tell other people interested in getting involved that showing sheep and showing in 4H in general builds some necessary leadership skills and qualities that most people need and look for in jobs. I would also say that no matter what or how your animal places in a show it’s the fact that you took leadership and cared for that animal enough to train it feed it get it ready to show that counts. It shows the kind of person you are and the one you want to be in the future.