BMjncMtar Fanning, Saturday. Novambar 20, 1993 Mother’s Advice LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Farming Staff BUCK (Lancaster Co.) —Jessi- ca Schmidt is 11 years old and a rising name in sheep show circles. Showing sheep is her passion, but it was only two years ago in prepa ration for her first show that Jessi ca sobbed, “I hate sheep. I don’t want to do this.” The sheep had knocked her down, ran over her, and when Jes sica stood upright, knocked her down again and put hoof prints across her back. It’s been many shows later with just about as many repeat perfor mances but Jessica no longer gets upset. She merely jumps up, brushes off the dust, and takes a firm hold on the sheep. What brought about this change “I will never sell Maggie. She's my first and favorite iamb,” Jessica said. The newest addition to the Schmidts’ melange of animals is this peacock chick, hatched in the incubator. This is the jrnthat.. five years to rebuild on their four-acre farm. of attitude? The credit needs to go to Jessi ca’s mom, Lauria, who told her, “All you need to do is show this one time. After that, you can drop out.” That was all it took—one show, one ribbon, one premium—Jessi- ca was hooked with show fever. Now her mother couldn’t stop her from showing if she wanted to do so. Lauria admitted that she was a bit wary that one show could per suade Jessica to pursue sheep rais ing, but Mom was counting on the advice she was given as a child when she showed horses. “If you fall off a horse, you must get back on immediately,” her instructor insisted. “If Mom wouldn’t have said that Spurs Children To Achieve In front of the Schmidt home, John stands with the scarecrow he made. Jessica and mom Laurla are seated. Although dad Pete missed the picture because he was at work, you can see some of his landscaping talents and the snake fence that he built around the property. I needed to do it one time, I would never have done it again,” said Jes sica, who has 16 Dorsets. Her 10-year-old brother John has three Montadales. The siblings also care for an assortment of other animals on the family’s four-acre farm a few miles from The Buck. There are 3 Indian Blue pea cocks. 2 pot belly pigs, 2 Holstein- Angus cross beef, S roosters, 2 dogs, 3 rabbits, cats, 1 goat, and 4 pigs. Lauria and her husband Pete purchased the property with only a house and a garage. They tore down a bam in Lititz and rebuilt it. “It took us five weeks to tear down and five years to put up the bam,” Laurie said. Pete, who worte in landscaping, also pro fusely landscaped the property with shrubbery and built a snake fence. The family got into sheep rais ing when they traded a pig for a sheep several years ago. “Maggie is my first and favorite. I will never sell her.” Jessica said of her special affinity with the aging sheep. The peacocks came when a store purchased them for a special event them Jessica and John admire one of the two pot-bellied pigs they raise in the bam not In the house. petting zoo and no longer wanted them. The peacocks roam free but hang around for food. At first, the Schmidts clipped the peacocks wings but recent sightings of foxes have made them decide to stop that practice. The peacocks lay eggs outside, which Lauria confiscates and puts into an incubator for 28 days. So far, they have only one successful hatch. A power outage earlier in the year resulted in only one of the four eggs surviving and producing a chick, which they raise in the house. wComesfpad, c H/cfes Lauria has lots of experience with using an incubator as she is a 4-H assistant for the Lancaster County 4-H program. She is in chaige of the embryology projects in schools throughout the county. She especially delights in working with city children who have no other contact with farm life. “They are always so amazed to see life inside an egg.” she said. Through some of these projects, the Schmidts have inherited some chickens and roosters that also roam free on the land. (Turn to Pago B 3)
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