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Just as athletes train for compe
-wT -a j xv- i t i n it a . t* tition, Burrell’s lambs scale a
York 4-H Meats Judge Equally At Hotne ramptogomand-outofthebarn.
• - -••-v * -. t , ”-- '■ , ■r • * ■ often playing head-butting games
with one another over claiming
the top of the ramp.
They stand up on blocks to
reach their feed trough and seem
to enjoy the hurdles provided for
in the lot jumping for additional
exercise.
Such attention to details has
paid off handsomely for Burrell,
both in the lineup of awards his
lambs have won and the bank ac
count he socks his winnings into
toward pre-vet college studies at
Penn State.
In 1995, Burrell champion
junior market Suffolk wether set a
new York Fair price record of $8
per pound. Purchaser Russell
Horn Sr., gave the lamb back to
Burrell. Named “Champ,” the
tame pet now just “hangs out”
with the flock.
At last summer’s 4-H, Burrell
took reserve champion honors
with another Suffolk wether.
His grandparents formed a buy
ing “syndicate,” B & N Enterpris
es. to purchase the pink ribbon
winner at $5.45 per pound.
Burrell won die York Fair’s
junior market lamb show again
last fall, with a Suffolk ewe.
Again, a price record was set
when Eric Glass’s Oak Ridge
Farm in Maryland was the win
ning bidder at $lO per pound.
Glass also returned the ewe to
Burrell, who plans to breed her to
Turbo.
(ContiniMd from Pag* A 39)
couraged Burrell early in his 4-H
career to become involved in
meats judging. So. as a second
year 4-H member, long before he
was old enough even to be on the
team,' Burrell began attending
meats judging practices.
By 1992, he was old enough to
enter his first 4-H meats judging
competition in York County.
He won, besting much more
veteran competitors.
For the last two years, he was
first place meats judge at 4-H
State Days at Penn Slate. And, in
both 1995 and 1996, his meats and
livestock judging skills helped
him win the Stockmen’s Contest
at the Keystone International
Livestock Exhibition at Harris
buig.
Named high individual overall
at the Kansas City national con
test, Burrell also won the meats
identification portion and was sec
ond in reasons.
Meats identification included
accurately identifying 30 cuts of
meats and species of origin, the lo
cation of the cut in the carcass and
the proper method of cooking
each cut
Entrants also had to place beef
and pork carcass classes as well as
a class each of hams, rounds, pork
chops and rib steaks.
A total of 84 individuals and 21
teams took part in the national
competition, with the York team
placing ninth.
Other team members included
Amy Disc, Seven Valleys, Drew
Bankert, Winterstown and Mindy
Albright, Glen Rock.
Coaches for the team are Joan
Grim, Thomasville. Mike Bank-
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ert, Winterstown and Scott Shell,
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Extension livestock and dairy
agent Tim Beck also helped with
some team coaching. Frequent
hosts for practice sessions were
Bankert’s Meats, Nell’s Market
and Richard Beck’s meat market
A regular Pennsylvania Farm
Show competitor, Burrell is now
making final preparations to ex
hibit his remaining Suffolk market
wether in the junior show. Earlier,
the wether topped its lightweight
division at the York Fair.
Burrell expects to compete as
well in the Shepherd’s Contest
which he won in 1993. Entrants in
the Shepherd’s Contest take a quiz
on the sheep and wool industry,
identify feedstuffs and equipment
judge classes of sheep and wool,
and shear and fit a sheep just off
the pasture in a given amount of
time.
”1 like the wooly ones. When
you have more wool to work with,
you can do more with them,” said
Burrell, who thrives on such chal
lenges to his shepherding skills.
Burrell credits his shepherding
abilities to 4-H leader Carolyn
Kem and her daughter, Julie, who
taught him how to fit sheep and
shear his animals. Now he does all
his own shearing, to the delight of
his dad who disliked the chore.
Show preparations actually be
gin the year before, when Burrell
breeds his ewes for lambing early
in the year.
. Some of the ewes may be bred
to his herd sire, ‘Turbo,” and
others crossed out to other blood
lines. While Turbo himself is not a
show animal, he does sire winning
lambs.
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It is not unusual for the earliest
lamb to arrive during Farm Show
week, when the family is also
traveling to and from Harrisburg.
Checking the ewes close to
lambing is the last thing Burrell
does before going to bed at night
“You can pretty much tell if
they’re close and going to lamb
soon,” he said of a shepherd's
need to know the animals and their
behaviors.
By May, when weigh-in and
tagging for 4-H projects is sched
uled, Burrell must select his lambs
for show use. A member of the
Dover FFA, he also tags a few for
vo-ag projects.
Heavier lambs are earmarked
for the late summer 4-H roundup,
while lighter ones are tagged for
the York Fair and Farm Show.
Because his flock is a relatively
small one, Burrell often separates
and hand feeds each animal ac
cording to its growth and body fin
ish in relationship to upcoming
shows and sales.
“Some grow fast and can get
wasty if they are overfed," he ex
plained. A fairly-high protein ra
tion of alfalfa pellets and barley is
a favored feed, but not fattening,
for animals already in good condi
tion.
To keep them lean and muscled,
Burrell’s lambs also have a sort of
jungle-gym exercise area outside
the farm’s small bam.
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Just for diversity. Burrell began
raising and showing pigs for 4-H a
few years ago. While he usually
gets only three, Ust year Jip went
"whole hog” and acquired eight
“That waa just too many.” he
admitted, noting that their facili
ties were not large enough for
eight grown pigs. “It’s just fun to
show pigs; lots of the same people
that show sheep also show pigs.”
With sheep judging the begin
ning of the fair, and hogs exhib
ited during the second half of the
fair, his dad schedules vacation for
the entire week to help Mike and
other junior exhibitors with their
show strings.
With both show and auction
ring honors, plus a national meats
judging title, to his name, Burrell
now plans to focus on livestock
judging. He has had plenty of
practice in the last two years, and
won the junior competition both
times he has entered the Southeast
Regional contest He also won the
junior division at the York County
contest in 1996.
His Dover FFA advisors are en
couraging Burrell to help organize
an FFA meats judging team. That
contest is somewhat different
from the 4-H version, with no rea
sons given.
"Instead, competitors are re
quired to do some mixing of meat
products, such as formulating
hamburger blends.
Whatever he tackles. Burrell
will do it with that slow, wide
grin, his penchant for details and a
desire to do his very best.
Field Representative
Daniel Vosburg • n*w Holland, pa
(717) 354-5562