Page 16 - Flathead Beacon // 8.17.16

NEWS
FEATURE
Bailey Lake’s lambs have won many awards this year, including First in Class at the Montana State Fair. Lake is seen holding one of her lambs at her
family’s home in West Valley.
JUSTIN FRANZ | FLATHEAD BEACON.
W Bailey’s Little Lambs
EST VALLEY – IN JANUARY, Local teen hopes to add intermediate showman. Filer, Idaho saw Bailey Lake had a little lamb, her win third overall and win interme- whose eece was white as the diate showman, and Bailey was the class
snow blanketing the valley.
Then, 13-year-old Bailey pulled on
her boots and got to work.
Everywhere that Bailey went, the
lamb was sure to go, because the teen- ager spent the next nine months hand-rearing the small, rambunctious, bleating creature. It was nine months of 6:30 a.m. wakeups regardless of the day of the week, nine months of feeding twice a day, of training in a ring, of grow- ing and shearing and growing again.
Now Bailey’s little lamb is not so lit- tle, looking pleasantly plump and weigh- ing in at about 150 pounds. His ear tag reads 539 but his name is AJ, short for Average Joe, though he’s anything but: AJ is aiming to be the top lamb at the Northwest Montana Fair, and if Bailey’s record is any indication, his chances are better than good.
Last week during a rare August down- pour, Bailey and her parents, Kevin and Inga Lake, spent time prepping lambs to show at the upcoming Northwest Mon- tana Fair, which runs Aug. 17-21, with the livestock showings beginning a day
another champion lamb to her already impressive roster
BY MOLLY PRIDDY
winner at the Paci c International Live- stock Show in Prineville, Oregon.
In Montana, her lambs earned cham- pion awards in the market category at the state fair, along with fth place over- all and champion junior showman. She won Reserve Champion and the mar- ket lamb category at the Montana Royal Livestock Show in Kalispell.
“It’s incredible,” her dad Kevin said. “That’s why we do it. She puts in a tre- mendous amount of e ort.”
The two barn structures on the fam- ily’s West Valley property were built for the lambs, especially after Bailey branched out and started breeding her own.
“I think we all fell in love with the sheep project,” Inga said. “It’s the best part of the day.”
She has a couple of ewes that she bred in her elds, and she’s expecting a new ram from Oklahoma.
The winning lambs, though – AJ and another stocky male named Dre – came from Boatman Club Lambs in Oregon. The Lake family has worked closely with
early on Aug. 16. Bailey won grand mar- ket champion awards at last year’s fair, and intends on making another domi- nating showing.
AJ the Su olk-Hampshire lamb stood still on a grooming pedestal, his freshly shorn coat now a short, soft pelt of eece. Bailey and her dad sprayed his ne coat with a solution to help him recover the natural oils removed through shearing.
“This will be my sixth lamb that I’ll take to the fair,” Bailey said.
She started her career with local 4H after her older sister got involved with the pig-raising program. Neither of her parents came from an agricultural background, so they learned with their daughters.
When she was younger, Bailey was smaller and feared the pigs and their squeals. The then-8-year-old girl decided she would show less-fearsome lambs and won a blue ribbon in her competition. Her goal at the time, Bai- ley said, was not to lose the lamb in the ring while showing for the judges.
The lambs are judged on a variety of characteristics, from coat to muscula- ture to structure. The 4H kids handling the animals are also judged, earning points for control and presence.
Already this year, Bailey has traveled to several out-of-state competitions to bolster her banner year at Montana events. In Spokane, she and her lamb won market and showman awards; in Riverton, Wyoming, she won champion
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AUGUST 17, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM