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Click on any picture to get larger image.
The first thing I saw when walking into the entrance of the
Thirtieth Annual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival -2003 (Website:
sheepandwool.org) was a stand used for performing sheep maintenance.
 I won't get into the things that you need to maintain on a sheep.
I suggest you read magazines such as Sheep (sheepmagazine@citynet.net)
for the details. I knew that the rest of the booths would
have other items for sale I had glanced through the 182 page
catalog that the Maryland Sheep Breeders Associations had
produced for the show. I was looking forward to the sheep
dog and sheep shearing demonstrations, as well as the music.
The Festival fills the Howard County (MD) fairgrounds with
sheep, sheep products, products for sheep, and related products.
 It has the air of a state fair
that ignores other livestock, although a few Angora rabbits
and several llamas sneak in. It occurs the first weekend in
May. On Friday, the vendors and the sheep arrive. On Saturday,
the crowds arrive to buy up everything from yarn for knitting
to sheep covers (for protecting the wool while it is growing
on the sheep). On Sunday, the crowds are still present, but
in lesser numbers. If you raise sheep, shear them; spin with
wool, knit with it, or make sheep cheese, then you may already
know about the Festival. If you'd like to learn any of the
previous or how to eat them, then it's the place to be. 
There are plenty of sheep on display. Sheep judging covers
both days of the festival. You have to opportunity to buy
a sheep - from a miniature for a pet to a full grown one for
the wool. If you're confused by the variety of sheep, the
parade of breeds shows and explains the differences between
the English Rambouillet, Romney, Black Romney, Cotswold, Corriedale,
and thirty other breeds including ones from other countries
such as the Spanish Marino.
The working sheepdog demonstration showed how man and Border
Collie interact to herd sheep. The dogs respond to the human's
verbal commands and whistles. They circle around the sheep
and then come up to  pressure
them in the desired direction. They can herd them into pens,
through gates, and in figure eights. An eight-month-old Collie
in the beginning of training was shown. He was a little too
anxious and managed to run one of the sheep out of the arena.
An older more experienced Collie was called upon to retrieve
it.
You may have seen a sheep sheared with electric cutters -
clippers that are a large version of the ones barbers use
to give crewcuts. The old fashioned way to shear a sheep is
with scissors. Not your ordinary house scissors, but something
that looks more like grass trimmers. The wool isn't cut as
close to the skin as with electrical clippers. But the wool
that is left will be there next year. The demonstrator, Kevin
Ford can sheer about 180 sheep a day with hand shears versus
300 a day for the mechanically aided.
The vendors sell some finished products, but the emphasis
is on the raw material so you can do it yourself. You can
start with the raw fleece, just as it was sheared off the
sheep. It runs around $10 to $12 a pound with 12 pounds or
so in a fleece. However, that includes the weight of the lanolin
(grease), which is usually washed off before using the wool.
You can buy roving (thins rolls of wool) for spinning or batting
(flat hanks of wool) for felting). Dyed wool from single color
to rainbow is available for the both the spinner and the knitter.
And if you're not craft minded, you can purchase sheepskins
for your car seats.
    
If you think of sheep in terms of a rack of lamb, then you would be interested in the Carcass Contest. The
live sheep arrive early in the week and are judged on their appearance. Then they are butchered and judged on
their meat. When you come on the weekend, you see before and after pictures of the sheep. The Grand Champion,
Reserve Champion, second, third, and fourth places become property of the Festival. You're welcome to eat some
of the winners - it's truly a dinner of champions.
And if you need a basket to hold your wool or a broom to sweep up the barn, they are also made on site.
  
So if you give a baah about sheep in any form, then check out the Sheep and Wool Festival.
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