Sheep & Wool Skillathon at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival

Every year, the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival hosts a youth Sheep & Wool Skillathon. The Festival is always held the first full weekend in May. The skillathon is held in the rabbit building, near the entrance to the Festival grounds. Registration starts at 8 a.m. The skillathon starts at 9 a.m. Preliminary results will be announced at approximately 2 p.m.

Kaitlyn Fuss examines a sheep during the 2007 skillathon

A skillathon provides youth with the opportunity to blend knowledge and skills acquired in livestock judging, demonstrations, and care and exhibition of animals into a single activity. A skillathon competition consists of a series of stations where youth are tested on their knowledge and abilities related to livestock.

The Maryland Sheep and Wool Skillathon is open to any youth between the ages of 8 and 18. Individuals and teams (of 3 or 4) from any county, state, or province may compete. Youth ages 8 to 10 compete as juniors; youth ages 11 to 13 compete as intermediates; and youth 14 to 18 compete as seniors. Youth compete according to the 4-H age (age as of January 1 of the current year). Youth should being pencils and a clipboard to the skillathon.

The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival provides ribbons and premiums to the top ten individuals in each age division and Festival t-shirts to the members of the top three teams in each age division. The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is a committee of the Maryland Sheep Breeders Association. A copy of the new book, How to Raise Sheep," was presented to each of the three first place winners.

For more information or to register, contact Susan Schoenian at (301) 432-2767 x343 or sschoen@umd.edu.

The 2009 skillathon included the following stations:

• Equipment Identification
• Animal Health
• Forage and Feed Identification
• Breed Identification (half by pictures, half by wool)
• Meat Identification
• Fleece evaluation
• Sheep judging -- cancelled due to rain showers
• Hay judging
• Written tests (10 Qs for juniors, 15 Qs for intermediates, and 20 Qs for seniors).
• Senior team problem (calculating shrink, dressing percentage, and percent boneless, trimmed retail cuts)

2009 skillathon stations were sponsored by Sheepman Supply Company, George G. Ruppersberger & Sons, Inc., Dr. Les Vough, Baltimore County Sheep & Wool Producers, and the Frederick County Sheep Breeders Association.

 

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2008 Intermediate winner Savannah Cook from Montgomery County.

2009 contest winners

One hundred and two (102) youth from five states and ten Maryland counties braved the rain to compete for recognition in the 2009 Sheep & Wool Skillathon held on May 3 at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship.

Juniors (8-10)
Calvert County had the first place junior team. Members of the winning junior team were Jocelyn Abbott, Katie and Robert Burroughs, and Jaqueline Bowen. For the second year in a row, Katie Burroughs was the first place junior individual and Jocelyn Abbott was second. Kameron Dorsey placed third. The second place junior team was the Howard County team composed of Maggie Goodmuth, Rachel and Nicole King, and Jason Vanisko.

Intermediates (11-13)
Members of the winning Montgomery County intermediate team included Caroline and Suzanne Kimble and Savannah Cook. Calvert County had the second place intermediate team. Team members included Sarah and Josiah Manning and Will Jones. Doug McGee from Cecil County was the first place intermediate individual. Caroline Kimble from Montgomery County placed second. Ryan Hevner from Carroll County was third.

Seniors (14-18)
Ashley Blum from Baltimore County was the first place senior individual. Jeanne Herbert from Charles County placed second; Hannah Goodmuth from Howard County, third. The winning senior team was the Calvert/St. Mary's County team composed of Roger Arminger, Anne Marie Lewis, and Shelby Sasscer. The second place team was Washington County. Team members included Erin Canfield, Kaitlyn Corbett, Kandis Stoy, and Ryan Burker.

Congratulations to all the winners and everyone else who participated in the contest. The contest is very challenging.

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Study Resources for Skillathon Teams

Lamb Quiz Bowl Study Guide Livestock E-Quiz Oklahoma State University Sheep Breeds Sheep Breeds A-Z Equipment ID Purdue Forage Identification Pages Evaluating hay quality Calculating Adjusted Weaning Weights Sheep Evaluation, Selection and Judging learning module Scorecard for wool judging A Glossary of Wool Terms Grades and Lengths of Grease Wool Wool Grading Wool Judging for Beginners Judging wool and mohair Sheep Diseases A-Z Lamb cuts and what to do with them Lamb cuts and how to cook them [PDF]

Sheep Learning Laboratory Kit [Purchase] Sheep Resource Handbook [Purchase] How to Raise Sheep [Purchase] 2006 Junior written test 2006 Senior written test 2007 Test | 2008 Test 2009 Test: Junior | Intermediate | Senior 2008 Test Bank [online quiz] | Word file 2006 Senior team problem 2008 Senior team problem

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Thank you

Thanks to everyone who helped with the 2009 Skillathon: Chris Anderson, Jeff Semler, Bruce Bennett, Claire Bennett, Kate Bennett, Sheryl Bennett, Melanie Canfield, Anne DeMarsay, Kathy Gordon, David Gordon, Bonnie Boyden, Jordan Thomas, Dwayne Murphy, Shannon and Rhonda Uzelac, Les Vough, and Marilyn Schoenian.

Thanks to the Maryand Sheep & Wool Festival for hosting the event and providing ribbons, premiums, and t-shirts.
Thanks to Greene's Lamb for providing meal discount coupons.

The Sheep & Wool Skillathon is sponsored by University of Maryland Cooperative Extension and hosted by the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival and Maryland Sheep Breeders Association.

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This page was last updated 15-May-2009 by Susan Schoenian.           Return to Maryland Small Ruminant Page.