Gorgeous black and white sheep are the stars when Wendy Artzt’s Valais Blacknose Sheep Company hits the road. Most recently, her program’s offspring dominated award presentations at the 2025 USA National Valais Blacknose Sheep Show in Des Moines, Iowa.
Airlite Premium Cardboard Bedding also enjoyed its share of attention at the Show, Wendy reports. She used it in the pens because of its super absorbency and dust-free quality. Airlite also offered a big competition bonus in preventing urine stains from forming on the sheep’s beautifully groomed coats or getting stuck in their 6 inches of fleece.
The award-winning breeder used two bags of Airlite per 6’ x 6’ pen, which each had two sheep in them. Wendy was as impressed with the bedding on day-one as she was at the end of the show four days later. Even at the end of the show, it provided a dry, comfortable surface for her award-winning sheep.
“All of the other breeders came by to see it because straw is terrible bedding for sheep,” Wendy explained. Straw bedding can be as bad for sheep as it is for horses. Poor absorbency leads to pooling urine that stains coats, smells bad and generates ammonia odors that are unhealthy for everybody’s respiratory health.
Wendy’s success with Airlite is another example of the premium cardboard bedding’s versatility. Horses, sheep, dogs, cats, exotic animals in zoos and even reptiles enjoy a clean, healthy environment thanks to Airlite.