Exercising with Hurdles
One of the many controversal issues in the art of raising a champion lamb is whether or not to exercise with hurdles. A hurdle can be as simple as using a raised board to separate feed and water in the lamb pen to as complex as putting your lamb on its halter and running it over various set jumps.
Many lamb raisers/producers strongly believe in using hurdles to help build/condition muscle in the legs and/or loin areas. They believe that because the lamb is using its legs to push off the ground in order to jump over the hurdle it will help strengthen these muscle groups. However, there are just as many raisers and producers who are strongly against using hurdles. Many believe that while the actual jumping part may contribute to muscle building, when the animal lands on the ground after jumping the hurdle, front feet first, this would also build muscle in the front end. By gaining more muscle in the front, the lamb will appear larger there, which isn't good. The "ideal" lamb is wider at the back than the front, with a slim, narrow front end. Some also believe that a lamb would have to jump the hurdle a significant amount of times in a short time period to be able to gain any muscle condition. Building muscle requires the tearing down and building up of muscle proteins/fibers to the point where muscles are fatigued. Still others believe that other forms of exercise receive more results than using hurdles.
So how do you know which is the best way to exercise your lamb? This is up to you to decide. Just like everything else in the world, there are many decisions to make when deciding how to raise a lamb. Before you do decide to exercise one way or another, please weigh out the advantages and disadvantages to each method.
