Dusty Rincker was raised on his family's sheep farm and is familiar with physical qualities a sheep should exhibit. He must compare multiple entries and determine the best representative of a breed or the overall winner in a category.

Judging everything but the... baaaa [August 06, 2011]  This year's judge for the 4-H and Department H Junior Sheep and the Department F Sheep show was Dusty Rincker, of Stewardson, which is about 10 miles from Effingham. Rincker's family has been raising sheep since 1964, before he was born.

Rincker's family raises purebreds and currently has 75 head of a combination of Border Cheviots and Southdowns. They sell stock to other sheep farmers to improve stock lines and maintain the quality of the breeds.

But they also show their sheep, and now that the sheep shows are over at the Logan County Fair, he will return to the family farm and prepare to take animals on the road.

"My brother is in Wisconsin now, and we'll be in Indiana and Kentucky this summer," Rincker said. "We take 40 to 80 to county fairs and will take 50 to the Illinois State Fair.

"We'll be in Louisville for the North American International Livestock Exhibition in November, and that is the granddaddy of them all -- the biggest livestock show ever."

Rincker explained that champions from the Logan County Fair could bring $5,000 to $10,000, and the price for individual sheep in the various classes can be over $1,000.

"These animals can command some real dollars," Rincker stated, "and there were some good-looking sheep here this week."

Judges for the sheep competition at the Logan County Fair are invited for two years and are replaced by a different judge for the next two years. Rincker has completed his second year and looks forward to showing his own stock at the Logan County Fair in 2012.

[By MARLA BLAIR]