LITTLE ROCK — Imagine spending four days at the Arkansas State Fair with six children who don’t take any thrill rides or sample a single bite of midway food.
Only in the livestock quarters could one find a family capable of such restraint, and the Stettmeier family of Benton County is one.
Their interests lie elsewhere.
“My children have a love and a passion to show sheep,” Ken Stettmeier said. “They just love animals and they really thrive on the competition.”
Stettmeier, his wife, Debbie, and children David, 6, Joshua, 9,Bethany, 11, Bailey, 12, Howie, 14, and Brittany, 15, spent a long hard four days last week inside the sheep arena at the State Fair.
The Stettmeiers raise sheep on their 18-acre farm east ofPea Ridge in Benton County.
For mother Debbie it’s the ideal family pastime.
“It’s a team effort, everybody’s up there working. ... We can do it as a family and that’s one of the reasons we love to show sheep, and we’re so blessed ... because we’re together as a family in everything we do.”
Howie, 14, explains his lack of enthusiasm for fair food and the colorful midway: “We do all that at Silver Dollar City.”
This week, he says, his mind is on the sheep - all the time.
These kids, like many others, attend and compete at livestock shows year-round. Debbie Stettmeier says they have already attended eight to 10 events this year - standing in the livestock barn she cannot exactly recall how many.
The State Fair provides both first-rate competition as well as a chance to see friends they’ve made at previous shows.
Each child selects two or three lambs and raises them to adulthood, working daily to care for them and train them for the show ring, where they are judged onmuscle tone, structural correctness, rib covering, and eye appeal. In the showmanship category, the youths are judged on how they handle and present their animals.
At home they often hold mock shows - the siblings competing with one another in a round pen on their farm. Friday evening, sisters Brittany and Bailey met in real competition after each girl won her age bracket in commercial ewe showmanship. Brittany won the overall title.
The Stettmeier children are home-schooled, which affords the family flexibility to prepare for and attend livestock competitions.
“We work our time off around showing sheep,” Ken Stettmeier said.
The Stettmeiers’ show season doesn’t end with the State Fair. Later this month, they’ll pack into their 15-passenger van to compete at the American Royal Rodeo in Kansas City, Mo. In January it’s off to the National Western Stock Show in Denver.
Stettmeier believes that the lessons his children learn in the barn and the show ring will resonate into their adult lives.
“By doing these projects, they understand ... responsibility and what it takes to make that next step.”
Family, Pages 31 on 10/13/2010