Aubrianna Schaldach’s first time around a sheep show ring included a free ride. One she didn’t expect.
Aubri, then just four years old, stepped onto the show floor, ready to display her first sheep armed with simple advice from her sister, Marisa - ‘don’t let go.’
The younger Schaldach gripped the rope of her animal and prepared to lead it around the ring.
The sheep had other plans.
Kicking up sawdust and dirt, it ran amok in the showpen, dragging Schaldach behind. Through it all, Aubri held fast to her sister’s advice and didn’t let go of her four-legged friend.
“The biggest tip her sister ever gave her was ‘don’t let go’,” said mom, Donna. “‘You’re not allowed to let go’...so she didn’t.”
“When they finally stopped the sheep, she was still holding on,” said Donna. “She got a round of applause. She got back in line, and stood there with her sheep.”
That bumpy ride around the ring didn’t faze the young showman and she continues to hold on to the thrill of showing sheep at the Monroe County Fair each year as a member of the Jolly Joiners 4-H club.
Schaldach, now in her 11th year of showing sheep at the fair, has over 25 sheep projects under her belt. The first-time hard knocks she encountered have given way to a bevy of showing succcess.
For the last three years, she has racked up consecutive grand champions. Two of her most recent titles were won with a ram named ‘Puddles’, who first won the 2022 Grand Champion Ram title as a “baby” at five months old, and then the next year as a yearling. Her first trophy came from a grand champion ewe named ‘Tulip’, and the next was with a ram named ‘Buckeye’. The streak would have been longer, but in 2020, there was no fair. Schaldach earned a grand champion title with a ram named ‘Silver’ in 2019. All the sheep she works with are Suffolk/Hampshire crosses.
“Puddles, because he was such a good ram, got to meet with one of the Fairest of the Fairs, so he got to do a lovely interview,” said Aubri, who is the only member of her 4-H club to bring sheep to the county fair.
But this year will look a little different for first-year senior showman.
Last year she brought five sheep, and the two years prior to that she brought four both times. Knowing she had a busy summer ahead, Aubri made the choice to take care of only two sheep this year – Robin and Roo.
“It’s easier to take two out at a time instead of taking two, coming back, getting the other two and walking around,” said Aubri. “We have a very busy schedule, so it’s just what fits into it”
Robin and Roo will be shown together as a ‘pair of lambs’, which is a category where sheep are judged based on how alike they look. They are also both market lambs, and will be judged separately to determine if they’ll be a part of the junior livestock auction, a highly-coveted honor. If one of them makes the cut, Schaldach stands a chance at making a chunk of change for the work she puts into the care of each animal.
“Time is the hardest thing and a big part of the reason why she went to two, because it’s hard to even work with two some days,” said Donna.
The pair of sheep are owned by and live on the Chris and Kori Blank farm in Cashton, along with a handful of other sheep that will be shown at the fair by Cashton FFA kids. Kori (Trescher) Blank is the Future Farmers of America (FFA) advisor, agriculture teacher at Cashton, as well as the superintendent for the sheep department at the Monroe County Fair.
The Blanks have been providing sheep for Aubri for as long as she’s been showing at the fair.
“Aubri is definitely very dedicated to it. She gets up in the morning, walks her sheep every day, and is very involved with them,” said Kori. “She’s been very involved with every aspect of it.”
“We have our own sheep, but we don’t have little sheep,” said Donna. “So we come and we borrow. Chris and Kori Blank have been amazing in the fact that they have always wanted Aubri to come and show, and they like having their animals out there.”
The youngest Schaldach’s interest in sheep started when she was helping her older sister Marisa, who started showing sheep when she was a junior in high school in 2013. Marisa’s road to sheep showmanship began when she and Kori became lifelong friends after participating in the Miss Cashton royalty competition, with Kori crowned as the ‘miss’ and Marisa as ‘junior miss’.
At the time, Kori’s parents, Steve and Annette Trescher, housed the show sheep.
“Marisa would come to walk her sheep and Aubri would go with her and, of course, the Trescher family was like ‘you need to join 4-H,’ said Donna.
After coaxing from Annette, who has been a part of 4-H her whole life, the Schaldachs
gave in.
Seven years later, Aubri has expanded her role from just showing sheep.
This year, her eighth, Aubri will take the reins as the newly-elected president. During this term, she’d like to see a boost in numbers, as the Jolly Joiners club currently sits at 25 members.
“I tell people ‘it’s one hour, of one day, once a month’,” said Aubri.
“It’s really a shame that there aren’t more kids locally right now that are in this program because there’s so many great life lessons that come along with showing up to each of these meetings,” said Donna. “The ultimate prize at the end is being able to show off what you learned at the fair.”
