YOUR AD HERE »

Snow does not deter local 4-H members

Benjamin Smith
Garfield County 4-H Council Reporter
John Jewell shears a sheep.
Benjamin Smith / Garfield County 4-H Council Reporter |

SILT — On the cold and snowy morning of April 15, young 4-H members were not deterred by weather conditions and came to pick their new lambs.

Letey Crownhart, 12, Kyra Reeds, 8, from Carbondale, and Rylyn Jacobs, 8, from Parachute, all came to the Jewell Sheep Farm in Silt. The Jewells are starting a catch-a-lamb project in Garfield County and these girls are the first to participate.

GeorgeAnn Jewell, the producer of these sheep, said, “I started this program because I want to see a white market lamb class in the county fair.”



This is the first catch-a-lamb project in Garfield County and the idea is already spreading to other species. GeorgeAnn said that she wants to continue this project with her sheep in future years.

Her ram that fathered these lambs came from Australia and is a white Suffolk. When asked about the ram she said, “I bought this ram wanting to see it put to good use.”



The mother is a dorper.

She chose to give the lambs to these three first-year lamb exhibitors.

“I wanted to get this lamb to get to show it and have a new learning experience,” Kyra commented.

All of these members were ecstatic to get these brand new lambs free of charge.

“I am excited and ready for a new adventure,” Rylyn expressed. “I am thankful because I am going to learn a lot.”

The Garfield County Director and 4-H Extension agent, Carla Farrand, responded with this when asked how she found out about this opportunity: “Ms. GeorgeAnn just called us and wanted to donate lambs to 4-H members.”

Each of these lambs is worth about $150 dollars and that is why Letey said, “I am thankful that I got a lamb donated because it will make things easier.”

Ashley Jewell, a five-year 4-H member and granddaughter of GeorgeAnn, helped these members learn how to take care of a lamb. This is some intense work these young 4-H members are taking on. They are supposed to worm the lambs once a month and feed each lamb 24 ounces of food in the morning and at night.

Some more advice to our young 4-H members is to keep the food buckets off the ground to get the lambs familiar with stretching their necks. These sheep need to be 85 pounds by the time the Garfield County Fair and Rodeo starts in August in order to be in the market class.

Ashley was so helpful and told the girls how to halter and walk their lambs. She gave them some feeding tips as well, such as putting corn in the food and adding 2cc to 6cc of wheat germ oil to fatten their lambs.

If you give your lambs some hay then it will help with their digestion, but not too much, and if your lamb does not have clean water, then it will not eat. Afterward, when Ashley was asked why she helped these new 4-H members she said, “it gives me more experience and it is fun to help others learn.”

After their picking of lambs and learning, the girls got to watch the Jewells shear some sheep. They watched John Jewell use the shears and take off an entire coat at once. After removing the wool, they spread it out and take the matted, belly wool away and package the rest for sale.

These sheep are officially the children’s and so “you can pick them up whenever,” GeorgeAnn said. The members even got their sheep tagged.

Kyra received tag 87; Rylyn received tag 85; and Letey received tag 88. These 4-H members might even get to go participate in a showmanship clinic on June 3 in conjunction with Hy-Way Feed of Silt at the Garfield County Fairgrounds, and they could go to EXPO June 13-14 in Eagle County.

These members are super happy and I wish them the best of luck.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.