Showing sheep takes skills, patience and, more often than not, sheer willpower.  

Kayla McConkey, 17, has shown sheep at the Northwest Montana Fair and Rodeo for three years through Kalispell FFA. In all that time, she has never had a well-behaved lamb. 

“He really likes to chew on things,” McConkey said of her current lamb, Clyde.  

At that very moment, Clyde had the paper tag from a folding chair clenched in his teeth. McConkey wedged her fingers between Clyde’s lips in an attempt to extricate the tag, but the lamb scrambled away from her grasp.  

The brief struggle attracted the attention of fellow FFA student, Dezaray Herman, a few stalls down inside the Trade Center at the Flathead County Fairgrounds.  

“OK, I have a really quick question for you,” she called to McConkey before launching into a description of her own sheep's antics.  

Herman explained how, just a few minutes ago, her lamb had nearly choked itself by getting tangled in the cord of a blow-dryer. This was Herman’s first year in FFA, and she wanted to know: was that normal?  

McConkey nodded in painful recognition. 

“It’s like leaving a toddler,” she said as Clyde made another lunge toward the canvas chair. 

At the outdoor grooming station ahead of the Aug. 12 competition, Hadlee Lau, 12, and her sheep, Betty, were engaged in their own battle of wills. The blue Hampshire ewe refused to step onto the raised grooming platform. She threw her head back and bleated every time Lau tugged on the lead. 

“She’s kind of an ornery lamb in general,” said Lau once she finally managed to leverage the animal onto the platform. “She’s a breeding ewe, and she has a mind of her own.” 

As a member of the Glacier View 4-H club, Lau has participated in plenty of pig shows, but this was her first foray into the ovine family. She quickly discovered that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Sheep, she said, are far tougher to handle than pigs. 

For advice, Lau often turned to Maddie Sutton, who showed sheep at the Northwest Montana Fair for eight years as a child and teenager, and now volunteers as a barn supervisor, assisting kids as they ready their sheep for competition. 

"The job at the beginning of the week is always stressful,” Sutton said. “But I’m so proud of these kids.” 

All of the sheep made weight on Sunday, which Sutton viewed as evidence of the hard work the contestants had put into their livestock this year. She said it was the first in years that there had been no underweight or overweight lambs. 

An hour before the showcase, Sutton directed Lau through the proper grooming protocols. After a quick spritz with the hose, Lau rubbed a microfiber cloth over Betty’s sheared body. She scraped a wire brush through the thick wool on Betty’s legs. After a final pass with the blow dryer, Betty was ready for her close-up with the judge. 

Inside the arena, the sheep shenanigans continued. There was no pulling the wool over the eyes of the judge, as she commanded each participant through a series of exercises to assess their showmanship abilities.  

The contestants made constant micro adjustments. Feet were repositioned. Heads were hoisted higher. More than one lamb rebelled under the ministrations of their handler, and a few even managed to break free and trapeze across the arena. 

“These kids had dance partners out here that may not have wanted to dance,” remarked judge Karly Hanson at the conclusion of the senior showmanship round.  

Despite the missteps, Hanson said she was thoroughly impressed by the contestants’ resilience and professionalism. 

At the end of the day, Dezaray Herman said the wild personalities and roguish antics are part of what makes showing sheep fun.  

“It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s definitely worth it at the end because you have a built-in best friend,” she said. 

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at 758-4433 or [email protected].