My name is Tara Jayne Schnetz and I am the author of a series of books on livestock showmanship! Three of my passions are working with livestock, writing books, and teaching youth. I grew up with ten brothers and one sister. I am a Christian and was homeschooled in California. With livestock, I spent my first several years learning and winning one blue ribbon here and there. 2010 was my breakthrough year! I won first place in Rally Obedience with my dog, first place in Intermediate Showmanship with my chicken, Supreme Champion Market Lamb, and first place Intermediate and Senior Sheep Showmanship. From there I won four more years in sheep showmanship, three more in dog showmanship, three in swine showmanship, and two in horse showmanship. Poultry and market goat, I showed in the county and at state shows winning a total of three market goat showmanship classes and six poultry showmanship classes. I have also shown in Master Showmanship where I have won twice at the county level in small animal masters and twice in large animal masters. Which adds up to an exciting total of 27 showmanship wins, not including any of my market or breed shows. I enjoyed showing and couldn’t have done any of it without the grace of God and am grateful for every success I have accomplished. Because I showed so many times at so many levels, I have actually lost many more competitions than I have won. I could have started out with the information you have and done much better, but of course I didn’t have a book to read. I want to encourage you to take advantage of the knowledge I have shared and to share it with others. I would be thrilled if more people started sharing their knowledge with others and strengthening the foundation for their success. My goal is to give showmen a foundation of how to do things correctly at a county level so they can focus on learning the next level when they get out and go to shows. My hope is also that anyone who learned something from my knowledge and research will move on to always show with humility and with integrity.
Today I want you to master a key showmanship tecnique that you will need in dairy goats, market goats, and sheep. All three species are constantly using this move. I took this segment directly from my dairy goat showmanship book so that you can get some of the great tips there for free. Even if […]
Hi everyone, I thought I would dive into some dairy goat manuevering today. I took this segment directly from my dairy goat showmanship book so that you can get some of the great tips there for free. Even if you are a showman interested in master showmanship or round robin. Understanding the show ring is […]
One of the first things the judge will notice when he is looking for a good lamb showman is how they make their lamb look. The profile of your lamb is so important. In many judge’s opinion, the lamb is the whole reason for showmanship. If you can’t make your lamb look good, they don’t […]
In this last blog of the cattle selection series, I wanted to look at the two biggest components of market cattle. Having these two things are critical to win at your next show. So understanding them will help you to pick a calf that fits the judges and is popular whenever you are showing. Lets […]
Lets dive into three components of selecting a show calf that will help you win at your next show. Three characteristics that you want to understand are depth of body, frame size, and length of body. In general, all three of these come and go with the style of the day. So understanding them will […]
When evaluating a show calf, a key feature to evaluate is the front end. In showmanship this can be particularly important to consider. But how exactly do you tell if a calf has a good front? Let’s break it down. Up fronted Cattle that are clean and tall fronted are the eye-catchers of the show […]
When evaluating a show calf, one of the most important features to consider is the topline. This is the easiest part of the animal to assess, and it’s something every cattle exhibitor should learn to recognize early on. But how exactly do you evaluate the topline? Let’s break it down. What is the Topline? The […]
Show cattle selection is a very difficult skill to master. Showmen are notorious for selecting the less desirable calf in a pen of two. It takes a lot of exposure to cattle to be able to identify a great animal in a group of average club calves. One thing kids do is pick a heavy […]
You are going to begin your training with your lamb’s on the halter so that you can tie them and work them easily at a show. You can also transport them easier and walk multiple lamb’s at once. But you need to transition off of the halter quickly. I suggest that you leave the halter […]
Sheep, goat, cattle, and swine showmanship aren’t about getting good and staying there. Showmanship is about getting good enough to win and still continuing to improve. To win you have to improve every year. This means working hard with your animals and collecting new information. It also takes being humble enough to listen to someone […]
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