Twelve-year-old champion Bailey Lake knows how to put on a show with her Sussex Hampshire cross lambs: Blend into the background and let the lamb take center stage.

The Open Horizon 4-H Club member from West Valley has been showing lambs for the past five years.

In July, she brought home two championships from the Montana State Fair — an uncommon feat for a Flathead Valley 4-H’er. Lake earned the champion market lamb and champion junior showman titles.

She adds these awards to another personally prized title — grand champion junior showman at the Pacific International Livestock Exposition in Oregon. This was the highest title she could get in her age group.

“I think that is the biggest show I’ve been to,” Lake said. “There were 100 market lambs and 30 junior showmen. It was really competitive. There were really good show lambs.”

Lake described the top winners at the exposition as “phenomenal.”

This year, Lake is raising eight lambs for show and estimates she is breeding a total of 16 sheep.

So what makes a champion lamb?

“[Judges] look for muscle, structure, making sure they’re square,” Lake said. “You’re going to have to train with them and work with them.”

For showmanship, Lake said judges look at how competitors present their lambs and who “does the best job at getting their lamb set up.”

Each competition provides a learning experience for Lake, whose ultimate goal is to show at the North American International Livestock Exposition in Kentucky.

“My biggest goal is to go there,” Lake said. “That’s like the biggest show there is in the nation.”  

She plans to get in a few more years of practice before entering. Lake works with her lambs twice a day and attends “lamb camps” in Oregon and Montana.

“Usually on Friday instructors will explain everything you need to know in a classroom setting. Saturday, you work with your lambs and they help you in showing, and then Sunday it’s a show,” Lake said.

There’s always room for improvement and every year she learns something new at camp. Even with all the training and practice, however, even champion lambs have off days.

“Last year at the lamb camp in Oregon I was working with a lamb who was really, really good, so I decided to show him. On Sunday [at the show] he was jumping and everything just fell apart. It was really frustrating,” Lake said.

 Lake is modest about her accomplishments and happy to share her knowledge and skills with other 4-H’ers. Recently, Lake and two other 4-H members, led lamb clinics.

“It’s really awesome to see their progress at shows,” Lake said of clinic participants — and it’s even better if they win, even if they are competitors.

“My goal is that everybody keeps improving in showmanship,” Lake said.

Lake decided to show lambs and breeding ewes as opposed to other livestock when she was around 5 years old.

“My sister, she showed hogs when I was 5. At 5, I thought pigs were kind of scary, so I wanted to do lambs,” Lake said with a laugh.

Lake plans to show lambs and ewes for a long time.

“Here in Flathead County you can only show until you’re 18, but there’s other shows around the country where you can show until 21. So I’ll probably show until 21.”

Lake’s next show will be at the Northwest Montana Fair next week.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.