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.
Are you looking for solid advice to get the perfect brace from your lamb? In that case, my video today is exactly what you are looking for!
Today, I am talking about bracing your show lambs. I cover four key factors to getting a good brace. I don’t hide any of the secrets I learned showing livestock!
The first factor is trust. That one might sound odd, but its a big part of having a good calm lamb come show day. The second is that bracing has to be the lamb’s idea. Finally, third is head control, and fourth is leg placement.
Dive in, watch my brief video, and come back for more great tips soon!
Are you struggling to get your lamb to calm down on a halter? Does your lamb panic anytime you try tying him to the fence?
If so, I can help. Today I will break down halter training to show you step by step how to halter, tie, and train your club lamb.
Halter training is such an important first step when you get your lamb home. In order to succeed at every part of training, first you want to do this step well!
Are you struggling to get your goat to calm down on a halter? Does your goat panic anytime you try tying him to the fence?
If so, I can help. Today I will break down halter training to show you step by step how to halter, tie, and train your goat.
Halter training is such an important first step when you get your goat home. In order to succeed at every part of training, first you want to do this step well!
Are you worried about messing up trimming your lamb’s hoofs?
Do your sheep jump around making it impossible to hold them still?
You might be surprised that trimming hoofs can be extremely simple if you know what you are doing. In today’s video, I will take you through a super clear, step-by-step system on how to trim hoofs and to do it well.
Are you or your project kids overwhelmed thinking about housing your first market lamb?
If you want to learn the basics of housing show sheep or want to see actual footage of different types of structures, you won’t want to miss this video.
Today you will learn everything you need to be prepared to house your lambs without getting surprised when you bring your sheep home or when it rains.
Have you wondered how some showmen keep their bird’s so clean?
Housing your birds is important for showmanship because judges are always looking at how well you care for your birds.
Watch today’s video to learn some great tips today.
Housing your birds well and feeding them right can improve everything about your bird’s appearance. This means more eyes on your bird and greater possibility of consideration for awards.
Does your new show pig never calm down enough for you to catch up to him?
If so, you probably skipped a step or two. The first week you need to spend as much time with your pigs as possible. However, you must realize that you can’t move on to each new step until your pig is ready for it.
Today you will learn the importance of each step the first several weeks and how to do them right.
