Judge knows how to evaluate sheep, engage kids, delight crowd

It?s been said that you can?t judge a book by its cover. Ask Doug Mounce, and he?ll tell you that you can, however, judge market sheep by their muscling and fat cover.

In spite of temperatures that reached almost 100 Thursday, Mounce was calm and cool as he judged sheep at the Greater Jefferson County Fair. Part livestock expert, part school teacher and part stand-up comic, Mounce knows how to evaluate sheep, engage children and delight a crowd.

After asking two young Clover Kids members who were showing for the first time Thursday what they named their bottle-fed lambs, Mounce said, ?You know what I called all of my sheep at home? Idiots.? He paused and added, ?But one time I hollered for them, and my neighbor?s wife came running so I had to quit calling them that so loudly.?

With the kids giggling and the audience roaring, Mounce then turned to the business at hand: critiquing the animals.

?It depends on what class we are judging as to what we look for in sheep,? he said. ?With breeding sheep, we emphasize structure correctness and potential longevity in the flock. We look at how long they will be productive as females.

In market sheep, we look at muscling and fat cover,? he explained. ?We also look at those from a structure standpoint, as well, and we look at how well they are designed for their purpose.?

Even after talking to him only briefly, it?s clear that when it comes to judging livestock, Mounce knows his stuff. He should. At 65, Mounce has been participating in 4-H and FFA in some capacity for 55 years. He became a 4-H member at the age of 10 and participated as long as he was eligible. After college, he taught vocational agriculture at Seymour High School for eight years. He then accepted a position at Kirkwood Community College where he taught ag-related courses and coached the livestock judging team for 25 years. He began judging at county fairs prior to his retirement, but after he left teaching, he began judging much more frequently. He has now been judging for 30 years and travels from his home in Corydon to fairs across the Midwest.

?I?ve been in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin,? Mounce said, ticking off the states so that he wouldn?t miss one.

When asked what the draw is, he doesn?t hesitate before answering, ?It?s about the kids.?

?I think the bottom line is that you like working with kids. Although you are evaluating animals, it gives you a chance to work with and see kids in a different light,? Mounce said.

Peggy Mounce accompanies her husband to almost every livestock show he judges for similar reasons.

?I just really enjoy watching him with the kids,? she said, smiling.

Mounce said he?s excited when kids enroll in 4-H and FFA because the benefits to children who participate in the clubs are numerous. 4-H, he said, shapes lives.

?I was in 4-H, and it is an essential ingredient in who I am today. My now-grown daughters were in 4-H and they, too, would tell you that it?s an experience that they are real thankful they had,? he said.

?In 4-H, kids learn responsibility, it helps them learn that competition is good, and most importantly, I think, it helps them develop a work ethic,? he continued. ?These kids come out here and they?re working. They?re working hard. They work, they get dirty, they smell like the animals they are showing, but what?s important is what they are learning, and that is that if you do something you love to do, it no longer feels like work or something that is painful. When you do something you love, work is fun.?

It?s for that same reason that for Mounce, judging livestock, even in extreme heat, is no sweat.