ill— Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, Hov«mb«r 21,1911
Says Anne of her daughter, Barbie, "She just loves these
sheep, especially the lambs.” Here she lambsits a little
Dorset as a favor at the “Big E" in Massachusetts.
4-H project
becomes family affair
BY DEBBIE KOONTZ
LANCASTER When first you
enter the little dirt lane leading to
the farm of the Robert Rohrer
family in Quarryville, you get a
sense of beauty and simplicity a
warm, comfortable home flanked
by your regular aged barn and a
few lazy sheep grazing in the
pasture.
It’s only after you enter the home
that you realize what an active and
accomplished family you’re
dealing with.
One step inside the door will
offer you a room-full of trophies,
ribbons, plaques and banners all
deservmgly displayed by the two
Rohrer children, Gerald, 15, and
Barbie, 10, who won them.
Gerald, in his fifth year of
showing Southdown sheep, and
Barbie, m her second year, have
established quite a name and
reputation for themselves not only
at local round-ups, but at im
pressive shows such as the Eastern
States Exposition in
Massachusetts.
Gerald’s and Barbie’s lengthy
list of awards this year alone,
includes premier exhibitor,
champion ewe, and seven first
places from the Maryland State
Fair in August; all four top awards
in the Southdown breed (champion
and reserve champion ram and
ewe) and premier exhibitor at the
Eastern National Livestock Show
m Tunomum, Md; and premier
exhibitor, champion ram,
champion and reserve champion
ewe, and B first places out of ten
classes they entered at the Eastern
States Exposition.
In addition to these honors,
Gerald and Barbie received
champion ram and champion and
reserve champion ewes in the
ihrers make sheep a family project, a
must they say if a child is to learn and benefit
from an experience. Here, the Rohrers sit in
adult competition at the 1081 Farm
Show. They won first place in
every class they entered in the
show.
But getting the Rohrer children
to talk about their ac
complishments is as hard as
counting the number of awards
they have received in their years of
4-H. Instead, it is their mother and
father, Anne and Robert, who
boast, justifiably, about their
children.
Anne attributes part of their
successful record to the meticulous
and patient manner in which
Gerald and Barbie work with their
sheep. “Gerald, especially, is
really a perfectionist in his
trimming. He’ll take as much as up
to six hours to shear a sheep
sometimes. He just keeps at it until
he’s satisfied. Many times when
we’re at shows, I’ll have to tell him
to relax and get some sleep.
Otherwise, he'd just keep
working,” Anne relates.
She says she feels this per
fectionism and dedication is often
the key to their success. “Many
national, professional judges
comment on his ability to trim so
well for his age. They really notice
how much tune Gerald puts on his
sheep.”
And what about Barbie’s at
titude? “She just loves these
sheep," says Mom. "She's really
good with the sheep, especially the
lambs.”
Another positive factor behind
the Rohrer success streak is that
they have developed their own
good show string through close,
controlled breeding selecting
the outstanding traits of homebred
ewes and rams.
They now have ten head on their
show string, plus six others: a stud
their Quarryville home, and in the
background 7 What else 7 More trophies.
Gerald and Barbie stand beside their P* ace ' n eight of the 10 classes they entered,
champion Southdown ewe of the Southdown P |us premier exhibitor, champion ram and
Regional Show at the Eastern States Ex- reserve champion ewe.
position in Massachusetts. They took first
Here the Rohrer children stand beside just a a
few of the trophies, banners, and ribbons awar^s
they’ve won in their years of 4-H. To their left
ram and 5 bred ewes.
Out ot the nine sheep they show,
seven have been champions or
reserve champions at various state
and national shows.
Robert Rohrer is quick to em
phasize that Gerald and Barbie do
all the work when it comes to
showing and caring for their sheep.
“They take care of them,
themselves. 1 made sure they knew
what they were getting into when
we bought them,” he said.
However he did stress that a
project will work only if it has the
cooperation of the whole family.
‘A lot of people buy their kids a
lamb as a project and never want
to get involved That doesn’t
work ”
Anne adds, "You can’t just buy -
your child a lamb and expect them
to know everything to do ”
She says they attended 4-H
meetings with Gerald and Barbie
and at least one parent always
accompanies the young twosome
at showing time “This helps in
their showing knowing that their
lang many, many more
parents are backing them ”
Parental support and teaching is
as important in 4-H projects as it is
in other day-to-day situations
which children encounter, ac
cording to the Rohrers.
“We’ve taught them to be very
efficient in the showring. Also to
watch when the sheep eat and see
that they eat very well. When
sheep get sick, they don't give you
much warning. The work these
children do would be tiring for
some adults,” Anne said.
“As far as I’m .concerned, if
you’re going to compete, you may
as well go all out,” Robert says.
"The family has to work
together.”
Anne couldn’t be more pleased in
their family involvement in the
world of sheep
"They’re so pretty That’s one
reason we picked the Southdown
breed, because we liked how they
looked. They provide such a
beautiful relationship between our
love ot tending sheep and that of
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