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GREEN CITY, MO -- Meet 17-year-old Shelby Dolan of Green City. Agriculture has played a major role her whole life. Her family has a strong background in cattle and horses. But when she got involved in 4-H, she wanted to do something different. That's when her interest in showing sheep began.

"I've grown up around farming. I wanted to take on something myself," Dolan said. "Sheep was what I wanted to do. Sheep are nice and small so for me it was perfect."

Shelby is the president of the Green City 4-H workers and a member of the Green City FFA. for the past six years she has competed and showed her sheep at the NEMO and Sullivan County Fairs and has won awards such as First Place, Champion, and Showmanship. But there is a lot of responsibility and hard work behind it all to prepare.

"You have to feed them and water them every morning and night. We have to make sure they are sprayed down with fly spray because the flies are really bad, especially in the heat. You walk them in circles every night for hours to work the fat off them and build muscle and get them use to setting up," Dolan said.

Shelby says the best part of showing sheep is meeting new people at the shows.

"You learn about the different things people do. I have tons of friends from all over the place who show different types of animals. It's a learning experience every time you meet someone new," Dolan said.

Shelby is planning to continue with agriculture and wants to introduce it to her own family in the future.

"Just growing up around it and being able to experience it myself, it's taught me so much," Dolan said. "When I get married and have kids, I want them to learn this too, grow up around it, and learn the responsibilities with everything to do with it."

Along with caring for her sheep, Shelby likes to trap shoot and cook. She's also on her school's basketball, softball, dance, and flag teams.

She is planning to attend to the University of Missouri Kansas City and wants to become a pediatrician.

Congratulations Shelby on being this week's Ag Kid.