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young cowgirl running a horse through the pole bending pattern

State 4-H Rodeo Resources

View the documents and forms to participate in the State 4-H Rodeo.

a father and son inspecting a show goat in a competition.

Bringing Home Your 4-H Goat Project

Sales and transport is a stressful time for any animal. Reducing stress factors due to transitions start before the actual purchase of your new project. Managing proper nutrition and disease management are just a couple factors to help your project get off to a great start.

male 4-H youth showing a black beef cow

Why Tattoo Your 4-H Livestock?

Proper identification of animals helps create an honest record keeping system. With current DNA blood typing procedures animals can be identified through parentage, but when it comes to everyday practices on the farm or ranch a good tattoo can be a huge time saver in the event of a lost ear tag.

A flock of white sheep grazing in a small pasture.

Sheep Breeds

Everyone has heard the fairytale “Baa Baa Black Sheep Have You Any Wool?” but what about the double-coated California Red, the multi-colored Katahdin sheep with hair, or the East Friesian dairy ewe that produces over 1,100 pounds of milk a year? Sheep come in different shapes, sizes, and colors and all of them provide different functions and uses for producers. These can range from meat, wool, and milk production or a combination of characteristics.

small group of sheep standing in a pasture

National Sheep Improvement Program: Performance-based data you can rely on

Sheep producers continually look for opportunities to improve their flocks through the introduction of genetic traits that will contribute to both improve the performance and physical appearance of the offspring. For hundreds of years, producers used the phenotype or physical appearance traits to select replacement stock, followed by performance trials and wool testing to quantitatively define the traits a specific animal may possess.

Newborn lamb in lambing barn.

Lamb Birth Weights in Relation to Lamb Survivability

To increase survival, lamb birth weights cannot be overlooked. Learn some key management factors for optimizing birth weights this lambing season.

Man negotiating lamb purchase with female producer.

Direct Marketing Lamb: Selling to the Ethnic Market

The ethnic market plays a big role in the lamb industry. Learn some keys to success for taking advantage of seasonal demand and price fluctuations in this growing market, including when and where to sell.

Producer presenting frozen lamb meat products in a deep freezer.

Direct Marketing Lamb: Selling Direct to Consumer

The growing interest in food chain transparency has fostered the growth of direct marketing meat to consumers. Learn some of the challenges and opportunities this style of marketing offers lamb producers.

small group of sheep standing in a pasture

How to Trim Sheep and Goat Hooves

Guide on how to trim sheet and goat hooves

Rambouillet ram consigned to Dakota Ram Test.

2022-2023 Dakota Performance Ram Test results available

April 18, 2023

The results of the 2022-2023 Dakota Performance Ram Test are now available online for sheep producers.