Izzy Freymuth grew up on a cattle farm, but when it came time for her to begin showing livestock with 4-H, she wanted to branch out.

“My dad grew up showing calves, but when I was 8 years old I wanted nothing to do with that, so I convinced him to get me show sheep,” said Freymuth, a senior agricultural education – teacher certification major from Montgomery City, Missouri. “It was supposed to only be for one or two years, but I fell in love with it and now we have more than 20 head of ewes.”

Freymuth’s love of showing sheep quickly grew into an important facet of their family farm when they began selling show lambs to 4-H and FFA members in their area. During her junior year of high school, in addition to showing sheep herself, Freymuth had been recruited to help teach at showmanship clinics in her area. In college, she decided she wanted to host her own clinic for 4-H members that bought show lambs from her herd. With the help of her friend Addison Kemper, an incoming freshman majoring in agriculture, what began with 10 students who were her direct customers has expanded to a multi-county program.

This summer, Freymuth hosted the third showmanship clinic on her farm, which brought 20 students from surrounding counties and their parents to learn more about care and showing of lambs.

“After our first year doing the clinic, I noticed a gap in educational opportunities for first- and second-year kids in surrounding counties, so we decided in 2024 to open the clinic up to more than just our customers,” said Freymuth. “Then I took Dr. Mott’s program development class this spring and used that classwork to better structure the program, which helped it go a lot smoother with the additional kids that came.”

From 7:30 a.m. to about 2 p.m., students between the ages of 6 and 13 arrive with their parents and their show lambs to Freymuth’s farm. Throughout the day, Freymuth and Kemper work one-on-one and in groups with the students on how to wash and shear their sheep, what to bring to their county fair, and how to walk their animal through a show ring.

“I think it’s really valuable that we let them physically bring their sheep with them,” said Freymuth. “At some showmanship clinics they just talk at you and give you a lot of information, but this way they can have real practice with their lamb and one-on-one work with us to improve, and for the little ones this ensures that their parents are getting the experience they need to help them as well.”

At the end of the day, the students participate in a practice show, where they can work on their newly learned skills in front of adults with sheep-judging experience.

“After the practice show at the end of the day we hand out little awards, like “Most Improved,” and do door prizes of items that they can actually use at the fair,” said Freymuth.

Freymuth charges a $35 fee to participate in the clinic, which helps pay for door prizes and for her mom and grandma to cook lunch for the whole group. Each year at her family’s annual lamb sale, free admission is given out as a door prize as well.

“The showmanship clinic is really valuable as a value-add for our lamb customers as well,” said Freymuth. “When you buy a show animal your first year it can be kind of a daunting task, but people really value that if they call us after they buy from us they know that we will answer their questions and do our best to help them. I’ve even gone out to farms and helped kids between the showmanship clinic and their county fair, and that kind of service builds repeat customers for us as well.”

As she looks toward a future in agricultural education, Freymuth has learned from hosting the showmanship clinic and from using her CAFNR education to improve her program.

“I’ve really had to learn how to explore the different ways that kids learn,” said Freymuth. “Some of them need me to actually help them move their feet and their lambs into the correct position for showmanship, and some of them want to watch me do it with their lamb and learn that way. Especially with the variety of ages of students, you can’t just teach them one way, and knowing how to be flexible with that will definitely help me in my future classroom. Dr. Mott’s class was also really helpful, because I got to look at something I’ve done before in a new way. We had to make a project binder for class, and I carried it around during the whole clinic so I could stay on track with the lesson plans and remember to implement all the things I learned in class.”

In addition to practicing crucial teaching skills for her future career, Freymuth also loves that the clinic is a way to give back to her livestock showing community.

“The most rewarding part is when the kids actually go and have success,” said Freymuth. “Last week one of my students who has been to the clinic the past two years won showmanship at the Warren County Fair. He was so excited, and his mom texted me a picture and made a Facebook post about it. Things like that really show that we’re making a difference by hosting this event.”