Fitting sheep for the show ring is a hard problem, considering the kind of weather we are having this year. Show sheep need all the succulent feed they can consume in this hot weather to help keep them cool. If you have no good pasture to turn them out on at night you should feed some substitute succulent feed to take the place of pasture - such as beet pulp or beets. It is a mistake to feed too much grain in this weather. I think it is a big mistake to feed corn for summer shows. We all know you can fatten sheep this way, but you can also ruin a lot of good breeding animals by getting them too fat. Of course, some of our judges seem to judge on flesh quite a lot, which I believe is wrong. I like type in a breeding animal. You can take the worst scrub in the country and fatten him up if you feed him long enough, but the flesh won't put the type in that we are looking for in breeding animals.

Trimming sheep for the shows is a very important task. There are not many good trimmers in the country. Some people seem to think that if they have a lot of wool on their sheep they are all right, but I don't like too much wool. I prefer just enough wool to cut sheep into shape, if they are not the shape you want them, and there are not many like that. If sheep have five or six months growth of wool they have plenty. Some breeds should not have that much. I like all new wool, and do not want a lot of old wool left on a sheep because you can never get that fleece to look like anything worth while.

Sheep should be dipped about a month or six weeks before showing. I like to back down before I dip. One of the best I have used for leaving a fleece in nice condition is Cooper's fluid dip. To get a sheep's fleece in good shape it should be trimmed three or four times - before you make your first show, and then for every fair. This is rather hard work for some of the breeders who have three or four breeds on exhibit.

To have the fleece look good, it must be clean and broken up with a card. Of course, there are some fleeces which won't stand much carding. I like damping the fleece first, and then rake it with a curry comb. Then use a piece of flannel rag and rub them good. After this, touch them up with the card and get them ready for trimming. After you have gotten a face on your fleece don't rake it with a curry comb any more. Just use your brush, rag and card. The best cards you can use are Howard Brush Cards.

Never trim a sheep's head too much - rams especially - for they are always rubbing or fighting, and in this way get the wool off. Now there are some fleeces which won't stand much dampening for trimming, and there are others which will stand a lot. The thin, white, silky fleeces won't stand much moistening.

Last, but not least, a thing that is very often forgotten is the trimming of the sheep's feet. A lot of good sheep have been turned down through the fault of the shepherd. Another thing that should be seen to is snigs on ram lambs. Almost all ram lambs have them, and they should be taken out.

Never use soap on a sheep's fleece.