PHOTO GALLERY: Sheep breeding spans generations for Hallsville Sheep Project

July 26, 2012 | 6:27 p.m. CDT

The Hallsville Sheep Project comprises members of the Hallsville, Shaw-Harg and Centralia 4-H sheep projects. Parental support drives the project, a close-knit group of families that spends every day together at the Boone County Fair.

Hallsville Sheep Project leader Elaine George and 4-H student Shane Rhoades serve themselves lunch in the sheep barn at the Boone County Fairgrounds on Thursday. Every day of the county fair, four different families from the sheep project provide lunch for the whole group. | Kayla Kauffman

Dan Rhoades, one of the dads involved in the Hallsville Sheep project, eats with his family in the barn at the Boone County Fair Thursday afternoon. Rhoades has four children, only one of who is old enough to participate in 4-H. | Kayla Kauffman

The families of the Hallsville Sheep Project eat in the barn next to their sheep Thursday afternoon at the Boone County Fair. There are 12 children in the group and a multitude of younger siblings who are always around. Most kids in the group have raised one or two sheep for the county fair this year. | Kayla Kauffman

Shane Rhoades, 11, pets his market lamb, Eddie, on the head Thursday morning. "He gets a little ornery sometimes, and if I don't stand in the right spot when I'm walking him sometimes he jumps," Shane said. | Kayla Kauffman