By London Bishop – [email protected]
XENIA – Now, as a sheep appearance at the Greene County Fair, Wyatt Percival has learned one thing from his experience: never give up.
The young man said so after completing a long night at the sheep and breeding exhibition of the country on Tuesday. He and the 4-H members exhibited rams and sheep for about two hours, and young exhibitors and boys exhibited in various categories with few or no pauses.
At the end of the night, Percival would earn the name Great Champion of the breeding ram.
Although he had a wife who helped him in the arena, fighting a ram required a lot of perseverance that Percival described, especially when the award-winning ram was bigger than him. At one point, the sheep became frightened, resisted and crossed the exhibition grounds, causing Percival to lose. This threw him away a little before the adults caught him, but despite everything, Percival never let go.
The winning ram is a 6-month-old Shropshire. Percival said he had raised the lamb since he was born. She has reveled in the breeding of lambs because her favorite sheep, Tubby, lived with them in the circle of the family home while it was still bottled.
As many other families offer at the fair, sheep breeding is a family business for the Percivals. Percival’s father and grandfather have been raising sheep for years. Senior Percival said he was proud of his grandson’s expansion year after year.
“You want a big lamb and a wonderful showman. You can have a smart lamb, but with a bad showman, without going anywhere,” he says.
Grimme added that the idea of hosting the county fair this tricky year was important, especially for all the young people who appear animals this weekend.
“Winning trophies is great, but it’s friendships that last forever,” he said. “I take my hat off to the parents and organizers who had to make all those adjustments in 72 hours.”
By London Bishop
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