Ad
Cowboy Country 2024
Long-lasting lessons in 4-H
Published
Modified
Every day is leg day for Marshmallow the sheep.
Whether it’s a walk down the road with his owner, Cameron Chavez, 9, having his leg hair washed and conditioned so it’s nice and “spiky” (or fluffy, depending on who you ask) or putting in time on the treadmill, Marshmallow is getting ready for show.
Yes, the treadmill. Every other day, the lamb does about seven minutes walking backwards on a tread mill to help build muscles in his back legs. Cameron also walks him regularly for conditioning and makes sure he is washed and groomed.
Feeding and watering the lamb, as well as taking time to play with Marshmallow in the family’s Belen yard, are all part of raising the animal for the upcoming competition at the Valencia County Fair.
Cameron is a member of the Win, Place or Show 4-H Club, and this will be his second year competing with the club.
When asked why he joined, Cameron says, “Because my parents told me to.”
Catherine and Joseph Chavez have a chuckle at the response.
“He wanted to start raising lambs and he did that for a year or two before he started showing,” Catherine explains. “Then, when he became of age, I told my husband we should see if he wants to enter them in 4-H.”
Joseph said when Cameron expressed an interest in sheep, they started slowly, breeding animals they had, so he could “learn the process with what we already had. We explained we wanted to do that before we go out and start buying show lines and stuff.”
When asked how his animals did at the fair last year, Cameron thinks for a moment.
Ad
“Probably not that good. They were never behaving,” he says.
They actually did fairly well, Catherine said, with his breeding ewe taking reserve and the other placing fifth.
“Both made it to sale,” she said. “He did a great job. Last year was a little rough. There was a lot of, ‘Oh, I don’t know if they’re going to make weight’ or if they were show quality. We wanted to get in some practice and see if this was something he was really interested in.”
Preparing for this year, Joseph said they brought in a “4-H guy,” Josh Pena, who has helped direct Cameron on what he needed to work on with Marshmallow for this year’s coming competition.
When they were younger, both Catherine and Joseph showed animals — her in 4-H and FFA and him in high school showing pigs.
Download PDF
Raising and training Marshmallow for competition are mainly Cameron’s responsibilities, but Joseph says it has become a family project.
“We’re all trying to learn and grow from his 4-H project and everyone has a job. I mean with his legs, after we wash him, we gotta rinse everything out really well every other day and then we gotta use the treadmill to work his muscles every other day,” he said.
Even younger sister, ShirleyAnn, 7, helps with the washing, grooming and training, as well as the treats and relaxing.
Raising a lamb has taught Cameron responsibility and dedication to a living creature, his father said.
Catherine adds it has also taught him independence.
“We can tell him to go do something and he can go do what he needs to do,” she said. “If he needs help, he’ll ask us.
“It’s also taught him the cycle of life. He’s seen them birth, seen brand new ones, seen some almost not make it. We’ve had sick ones that we had to make better. They go to show, then to sale.”
The process has been a learning experience for the whole family, Joseph said.
“When he told us he was interested, we just started from scratch. Something as simple as ear tagging was like, ‘Wow, we need to learn how to do this.’ Vaccinations, insect control. He’s learned a lot of stuff out here you just can’t teach on a computer,” he said.
Saying that Cameron “bonds pretty close with them,” Catherine said watching the sheep walk away after they make sale is a little bit rough.
Last year, a sheep named Rascal was kind of special, Cameron said.
“He behaved a little bit better than the other one,” the 9 year old said.
While sale day is the saddest day, “everything else is the most fun,” he adds.
