Preparation for showing begins with the selection in the late autumn or winter of animals which are to be shown in the following summer. With animals which are to be shown freshly calved it will mean withholding the bull a little longer or allowing the cow to go to bull a little sooner than would otherwise have been the case, so that she will be looking at her best when she comes to show. The ideal stage at which to show a cow is about a month after calving. So it is important to be thinking at least ten months ahead of which cows or heifers to serve and when.
If you have studied and absorbed the chapter on judging, as well as the chapter on establishing and breeding the herd, then you will already have acquired an eye for the animal that is worth showing. You will, of course, have visited many shows and tried your skill at judging from the ringside as well as examining the prizewinning cows at close range in the cattle lines. That mind's-eye-model of your ideal dairy cow will have been measured against your best animals and one or two will have shown themselves to be worthy of a try out.
These animals, while they should not be fattened, should have at any rate the best of what's going in the way of food during the winter and if the winter is really cold it would be well to give them a rather milder time by shedding them, or at least yarding them on nights that they would normally be out. In this way they will not grow so much winter coat which will have to be taken off for the early shows. Further, steady building of condition gives even fleshing without surplus fat, whereas a short period of high feeding puts on fat unevenly.
About six weeks before the first show, preparation proper should start.
There are certain defects which would normally spoil an animal's chances in the ring and some which would debar her altogether. It is as well to look for these before making the final decision about which animals to show.
9. Good depth of barrel
10. Depth and width of chest for good heart room
11. The wide triangle, fine neck at apex, broad base across hips
12. Fine sharp shoulders
13. Width from hip to hip
14. Length between hip and pin bones
Lameness, even if it is only temporary, is generally an immediate disqualification with most judges. My own reaction to a lame entry is to investigate the reason and try to decide whether the defect is only very temporary. But don't count on other judges taking my way. I remember once I showed a Jersey cow in a class of over thirty I entries. She had wrenched a hoof in being unloaded from the lorry I and walked into the ring limping. The judge rejected her immediately, I before she had passed round the ring once. But in an hour or two she was all right and went on to win the milking trials and in onsequence was eligible for the Supreme Inspection Championship, open
to all breeds. In this open championship she beat her own breed champion and the winner of the class from which earlier in the day she had been rejected and became reserve Supreme Champion. I But in most shows this second chance would not occur—so be sure that legs and feet are sound.
Enlarged knees result in some discrimination against an animal by the judge, but not in disqualification. If she is superior to the other entries in the normal breed characteristics and conformation she will still be highly placed, but it would take a brave judge to place a cow with a big knee in first place.
Udder. Blind quarters, or evidence of mastitis will cause immediate disqualification. An udder broken away from its attachment will almost certainly disqualify. A light or unbalanced quarter should be avoided, though except in a large class, it would not be greatly faulted, and if only very slightly uneven might even be levelled before entry to the ring.
Parrot jaw (overshot) or Pig jaw (undershot) would mean certain disqualification.
A twisted tail, though I wouldn't agree, especially if it is the result of an accident, is very much discriminated against by most judges.
Eyes. One blind eye would debar an animal from a prize, unless it was clear that the defect did not interfere with the normal life of the animal.
An over-fat yearling heifer would, in my judgment, be rejected at once. A fat heifer forward in calf might be excused if she was otherwise very dairylike, and showing signs of converting her surplus 'condition' into milk after calving. A fat cow would, unless she were close to calving and the type that seemed likely to milk it off, be marked down.
One further point to watch in selecting heifers and young bulls is the date of birth. There is always more chance of winning with a heifer or young bull born close to the limit of the class. An animal much younger than the oldest in a class for heifers or young bulls needs to be of really outstanding merit to compete. For the nearer to maturity an animal has reached, the less the judge has to estimate its probable developments.
Each animal should be thoroughly brushed to get all loose hairs, mud and dust from the coat. Then they should be washed all over with warm water and a liquid shampoo. Then a cover of some kind, its thickness depending on the coldness of the weather, should be put on each animal. This may, for the period before the show, be made up of sacking, but it should cover the animal completely from the base of the neck to the tail setting and down to the floor of the belly. The rug should be tied under the girth (or right around if possible), around the chest and behind the udder—another tie just in front of the udder would also help.
I hope this advice to use a rug so long before the show may soon be out of date. At present it is almost impossible to compete in the show ring without having rugged your entry in order to get the skin as thin and the coat as sleek and fine as possible. The day may come, and the sooner the better for you and me who have no time for elaborate show preparations, when judges will judge the cow and and not the amount of superficial preparation which has been made on her before the show. But until then, we must if we are to hope to win or even be placed, go through most of these preparations.
From this stage until the show—the most important job is daily grooming—apart of course from the need for maintaining the animal in good condition.
For this you will need a steel comb for the tail, a stiff dandy brush and a softer short-bristled brush, and a section of thick rubber lorry tyre. A curry comb may also be needed occasionally for scraping off dung which may get caked on the hocks or pin bones with some animals. But daily attention should avoid the need for this.
Each day give a brisk brush over with the dandy brush then follow with the piece of rubber tyre. Be careful on a thin-skinned animal not to raise weals with a too vigorous use of the dandy brush. The edge of the rubber tyre should be used to scrape off loose hairs. This is far more effective than any kind of brush as the rubber edge of the tyre grips the hairs which, under the warming effect of the rug the animal now wears continuously, have started to fall. What in effect you have done with the rug is to speed the arrival of spring or early summer by raising the surface temperature by friction of the rug, and the retention of body heat, and caused the animal to shed his or her winter growth of hair when you decide instead of waiting for the weather. Good feeding, by raising the energy or warmth generated in the body, also contributes to this process.
By a fortnight or ten days before the show most of the winter coat should have fallen and a new growth of bright fine and silky hair will have followed it. Frequent use of the dandy and soft brush will have split the hair as it grew and produced a finer denser coat.
Useful tips for the encouragement of a bright, rich-coloured coat of dense fine hair are as follows:
The diet should include a small proportion—say 10 per cent of linseed meal or cake. A bran mash made with diluted molasses every other day for a fortnight before the show will also add lustre to the hair. But finest of all supplements for dense and colourful coat is seaweed powder, meal or cubes. The meal and cubes are available ready for use as a food to be used in quantities up to 10 per cent of the ration. The finer seaweed powder has all the natural trace elements and minerals, medicinal and health corrective properties, as well as encouraging the right condition in the coat, and is given in the other dry food at the rate of a teaspoonful daily for yearlings or a dessertspoonful daily for mature cows. Available from herbal firms.
Training. Any animal which is not accustomed to being led on a halter will need to be trained many weeks before the show. Nothing penalizes an animal more than the inability of its herdsman to walk it gracefully around the ring and to move it and pose it in such a way as to show it at its best—or even to conceal, by judicious manoeuvring, one or more minor but otherwise noticeable faults. I have seen bulls in the ring which have been quite unapproachable, and no judge has the patience to dance round a bull swivelling on its front feet, in an attempt to handle him. Such bulls will not be judged, and for the want of a few hours' training you may miss the supreme award.
The ideal time to accustom a heifer to handling is before it goes out to grazing as a yearling or bulling heifer. A bull, though manageable when he is rung at ten months old, should also be handled before reaching that age. At some stage during the first twelve months of life the animal should be haltered and tied for a week or two. If calves or heifers are out by day and brought indoors at nights it is a good plan to arrange for ties at which they may have their food. They will then associate tying and human control with the pleasure of eating, and when the time comes to train them to be led they will co-operate willingly.
Lead them for a short time each day, five minutes to start with and increase the period daily until the animal walks gracefully and with an alert and springy gait.
The objecting animal will probably stand quite firm at first and refuse to move forward. Don't tie it to the back of the tractor and draw it forward by force! Turn to one side or the other, and go round in circles if the animal prefers it that way. Alternatively move to the back of the animal and gently urge her forward from the rear, giving her a certain amount of head. But be sure in this case that you can retain a hold on the animal, or she may chase away, dragging you headlong behind. First journeys should be made for a definite purpose which is pleasurable to the animal—i.e. to food or water. Whatever you do avoid force, the use of a stick or a dog, or one of the modern electrically charged 'goads'.
Two people will be needed for the early training—one to lead and the other to encourage on from behind. Quietness and gentleness are absolutely essential. Shouting and hitting will only prolong the agony.
Once reasonable forward movement has been achieved, the animal should be taught to move with slow, even strides; to stop slowly and to pose with feet evenly and squarely placed. A gentle but not too obvious pull forward or push backward on the halter (gripped closely to the head with the right hand, loose end rolled up in or around the left hand) should be sufficient to correct the standing position. A touch with your foot on the foot of the cow—just above her hoof in front—or just under the dew claws behind, will cause a wrongly placed leg to be moved in the direction you desire.
Lead the animal from her left side, close up to her head (though you may step away once she is moving well and provided her head is upright and alert in order to show her off alone). But she must be trained to be led from either side in case the judge asks you to parade in the opposite direction. For it is wise never to stand between the judge and your animal, unless you have something to hide.
The proper stance, for a correct animal, is with both front and hind feet squarely placed and slightly stretched to exaggerate length, yet a comfortable distance apart. A slight slackness in the loins or weakness in the back may be corrected by standing the front and hind feet rather closer together—or at least front and back legs on one side nearer to one another so that the middle of the back is raised a little. Momentarily, this may be achieved by giving the animal a gentle push back on to her hind legs just before the judge looks at her—though a definite weakness in the loin cannot long be concealed from an experienced judge.
If the animal has tendency to stand with a sloping rump or an arching back provided it is not a marked physical defect, a nip with the fingers on the back will cause her to dip into normal position.
While training the animal to lead and eventually to show him or herself to good advantage, be careful not to slip into the most undesirable habit which some herdsmen or cattle handlers acquire in the ring. Avoid waving your hands about and attracting attention to your animal. If it is worth a prize the judge won't miss the fact. Learn to show the animal to the best of its advantage, but to show in such a way as to persuade the judge that you aren't there. In other words that nothing you have done has altered in any way the natural yet superior ability of your animal to win on its own showing.
A week before the show another shampoo is advisable. With the Jersey this should not be left nearer than four or five days before the show because of the much thinner skin and finer hair needing more time to recover its natural appearance, but all other breeds may be washed at any time up to the morning of the show and even on the morning of the show.
Work should now commence on the correction of minor faults in the horns, feet, and general appearance of the animal. This can be done by trimming and filing the horns, trimming the feet (though where there was excessive growth of the hoof this should have been corrected immediately it was seen) and clipping the hair in certain places.
Horn-trimming should have started as a yearling. If there is any indication that the shape of the horns is likely to be unattractive they can easily be encouraged to grow in the desired direction as soon as the direction of the natural growth is evident. This can be done by boring a hole—with a brace and bit—and threading a wire from one horn-tip to the other. A piece of lead piping may be used (flattened with a hammer before threading the wire through the horns so that the wire passing through it is fixed) over the forehead to tighten the wire periodically in the manner of a tourniquet.
If the horns are growing too cocked, they may be brought down by increasing the weight of lead piping. Filing the horns with a three-cornered file to make two or three nicks nearly to the quick of the horn will encourage the growth in the direction of the side on which the nicks are made. If the horns are sharply pointed the tips may be taken off and rounded.
With an older animal which has not had its horns trained, much may still be done to bring them into a more attractive shape. Filing down on the inside of the middle of the horn and outside of the end of the horn will help to shape it in. Removal of the end if it is badly shaped on one side will help to even the balance of the horns. If the animal is not more than two years old it will still be possible to improve the shape by wiring the horns for a few months.
A week or so before the show is too late to effect changes in the direction of growth and all that can be done is to make the best of the horns as they are by means of a coarse rasp and a finer file.
The day before the show, or even on the morning of the show, horns should be scraped with a piece of broken glass to remove all the scratches and dirt. They are best finished off with No. 2 emery paper. Just before the animal goes into the ring, paint the horns with clear varnish or linseed oil to give the final gloss. Varnish will last glossy all day but watch that it doesn't gather bits of hay and dust before it is dry. Oil will need repainting just before each entry to the ring.
Clipping should not be done all over. Occasionally one sees an animal in the show ring which has been clipped all over and it is so difficult to conceal the fact that most judges are inclined to be rather prejudiced against it. It is far better to start preparation early and get the winter hair off with rugging, grooming and the piece of rubber tyre.
All that should be done with the clipper is to give the finishing touches which make the animal so much more correct, of clean-cut lines and alert. With the Ayrshire this means clipping all the hairs from the head and neck back to the shoulders plus the tail and udder, and where necessary top-line trimming. Some Ayrshire breeders run the machine right down the back bone to a width of about four inches all the way. Less frequently I have seen this done with other breeds but on the whole I don't consider it an improvement.
The important trimmings which apply to all breeds are to clip the hair as short as possible on the tail from just above the switch to the tail setting. Around the tail setting and along the top line at least to the hips, the clippers should be used to produce clean and level appearance, especially in profile. Bumps may be levelled by taking off the hair on top and leaving it there in the dips or hollows, but it must be done very carefully so that the undipped part merges into the clipped part without looking too obvious.
Whether or not, with breeds other than the Ayrshire, the hair on the head should be clipped depends on the neatness or otherwise of the animal's appearance without such clipping. Very often the animal has a rough and tufty growth of hair between the horns and around and in the ears, and considerable improvement in smartness can be achieved by clipping it. It is rarely wise, however, to clip the hair of the face other than the forehead.
Bulls of all breeds, as well as the Ayrshire, grow long and sometimes coarse hair along the crest and this should be removed to show off and strengthen the masculinity of the head and neck.
In short, the object of clipping is to emphasize the good points and if possible, legitimately to camouflage the bad.
The udder of a milking animal should, of course, be clipped all over if this has not already been done for normal milking efficiency and cleanliness.
At home, this trimming is best done with a mechanical clipper driven from the vacuum line of the milking machine or by electricity. But it is well to have a set of hand clippers to give the final touches at the show.
The tail switch is greatly improved by a thorough washing and, with a little soap lather finally left in the hair, plait it in six or eight plaits, with a tape of cloth or muslin to each two locks of hair. All the plaits will be swathed in sacking so that no dung or urine can penetrate to the hair and soil or wet it before the show. This is done a day or so before the show—at latest the night before—though the longer the better, up to four or five days before the show. When these plaits are untied and taken down an hour or so before the animal enters the ring and the switch combed out—outwards from the bone of the tail, an attractive crimped appearance is achieved. This gives the last touch of quality and grandeur to the beast, which while quite unimportant in relation to the major attributes of a good bull or cow, does give that finished picture which is so pleasing to exhibitor and judge alike, and other things being equal, may even, whether he admits it or not, give that little stroke of appeal to the judge which helps to sway the decision.
For the man who is to handle the animal in the ring there are two or three important points.
Always have a spotlessly clean white coat for the first appearance in the ring. If this gets a little shabby during the course of the day for the later classes that can't be helped.
See that boots are clean and that whatever clothes are evident beneath the white coat, are tidy.
Never smoke in the ring and never lounge about or lean on the animal while waiting for the judge to get around to his close up inspection. Always be on the alert and always keep one eye on the judge ready to be called in or—and be sporting about it if you are—turned out. 'Show' your exhibit continuously for the judge will often look back to compare a point when you may not expect it.
When the judging is finished there will be a chance to learn why your animal has been placed where it was. Most judges will gladly go along the lines afterwards and answer questions about the animals and the judging of them. At some shows recently, the judge has been asked to give a short talk in the ring explaining his placings. This is asking rather a lot of the judge, but where he is willing and the time allows, it produces most profitable guidance to exhibitors for future showing.
15. A well-shaped, well-attached udder, between strong straight legs
16. A badly attached udder, and weak hind legs with sickle hocks
17. A cow (Polden Dolly Daydream) before preparation for show
