Mastering Your Show Lamb Lift and Set

Lifting can be used to compact or stretch out a lamb after the rear legs are set. Lifting is so valuable since you can move your lamb into a position where that animal looks its best in seconds.

This technique is a must know to get that five-second set. In order for this to work for you, you want to do it exactly right every time. This skill will drastically improve how quickly you get your lamb into a position. The only downside to lifting your lamb into position is size. If you are an extremely young or small showman, you may not be able to use this technique.

Let’s get into how it is done. Start by getting a strong brace. Have your hands on either side of his head mostly under the ears, but using the back of his neck for leverage as needed.

Next, lift the lamb’s front using your legs as well as the lamb’s head and neck. You should be able to do this when you are equally using your hands and your legs, as long as you have a good brace. When you get it right, you will be able to pick the lamb’s front end off the ground, and set it straight back down.

The key is to get a strong brace first. Once you have a brace and you can feel the lamb pushing into you well, use your hands on his neck to lift him off the ground. The brace and your legs will support this so that all his weight is not on his neck or your hands.

If it didn’t work, it might just be that you need to practice more but there are a few more things for you to consider. First, the lamb must be pushing forward into you for it to work. Don’t even try lifting up until you have a good strong brace. Second, some showmen grab their lamb and try to hoist him up by pulling forward on the lamb’s neck. This is completely uncomfortable for the lamb and only causes him to jump at you or pull back more. This generally happens when the lamb isn’t bracing to begin with. If you actually have a brace before you begin, it will feel like the lamb is lifting himself up or you are lifting him with your legs and not your hands. If you don’t have a brace, it will be like dead weight and your lamb will learn to hate the pulling up on his head. When done right, it makes your lamb look amazing and it helps you get him set in seconds.

Another tip: Do not take a step back up when you lift your lamb. This discourages the lamb from bracing the next time you go to lift him.  It also ruins the profile of the lamb if you overstretch him. Unless the lamb needs to be stretched out some, you should never back up at all.

When you lift your lamb, be sure to set him back down immediately; never hold him off the ground for longer than necessary. Because a large number of showmen have done this, some fairs have now made rules against lifting.

You are going to want to learn to lift your lamb without lifting very far off the ground so you can keep it subtle. After setting the lamb down, check your lamb’s legs again. If your lamb steps out of the correct position, you will need to readjust his feet.

Keep practicing until you master this skill. Once you’ve practiced and are comfortable with lifting, it will only get easier from here. If you are a younger showman, you can continue to set your lamb fully by hand, but you will want to learn to lift your lamb as soon as you are able to do it so that you can get a five-second set.

Once you really have this down, you can lift your lamb to get a better brace when the judge comes to touch them. You must get a hard brace every time the judge comes to touch your lamb. If you use lifting, it encourages the lamb to brace correctly and hard.