Our Time Has Come to an End.

As our time together comes to an end, I hope you have learned all that you hoped about showing livestock. There is still much more that you can learn, but I strongly encourage you to go out, whether it is to a sale or to the pasture, and select your own calf. Practice looking for that stout, wide-topped, deep bodied, clean fronted calf. Whether it be a market animal or breeding animal. Then bring it to the barn to halter break it, feed it, practice with the show stick, wash it, rinse it, and clip it. This is also a good opportunity to practice on your fitting skills once they are washed, blow dried and clipped. I am challenging you to do it yourself and learn from this project. Showing cattle can be one of the most beneficial activities you have ever done. Responsibility, hard work, and many friendships have come out of showing cattle. This is one hobby that does take time, and does take money, but if you have both of those things, there is no doubt you will end up with the purple banner at the end of the chase. I know we did not get into an extreme amount of detail when it comes to fitting cattle and the products that one uses, but click HERE if you want the full run down and extreme detail on clipping and fitting. Reading this article and watching the video will create one of the best showman on the circuit. You won't regret it. 

Thank you so much for reading my blog and learning along with me. Chase those purple banners and you will get there!

"You're Better on Beef"

Happy Tuesday readers, 

As we continue in talking about showing cattle and all that comes along with the beef industry, I thought it might help to really look at some of the campaigns that are out there. Beef campaigns are ran to educate people on why eating beef and raising beef is so important. This is like the "So God Made a Farmer," campaign that ran so hot back in 2014. It was a dodge commercial that turned into an international slogan for advertising for farmers across America. These campaigns impact so many people when they are ran and may even change the views of some. 

This image is one of the ads that they ran on TV which focused on the "Iron Campaign," directed towards women. 

There was a campaign that was ran in March of 2016 that focused on woman in the beef industry. This campaign was called, "You're Better on Beef" and it really stressed the importance of how healthy it really is to eat beef. It targeted women across America and really stressed how they should feed beef to their families. "You're Better on Beef" also made women realize the importance that iron plays in there diets and focused on empowering women that are involved in the beef industry. Many think that this industry is more for men, but the American National CattleWomens Association shows that women are just as involved in this industry as men are. The "You're Better on Beef" campaign started as a social media campaign and eventually progressed into advertising in TV commercials as well as radio advertisements. The campaign focused on 2 very large times which was there "Iron Campaign," which was targeted at women and the "winter Campaign" which was focused on all people getting there essential nutrients from beef. All in all, this campaign is fairly new, but will take a huge turn for the entire beef industry by stressing all the health benefits that come along with eating beef. 

Is Showing Cattle Cruel or Educational?

4-H is a group just like the North Dakota Junior Point Show that we discussed last week, In fact many of those kids that participate in NDJPSA also participate in 4-H. What stops these groups from thriving? PETA, stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.There intentions are not completely bad, but they do not want to see educational events such as showing cattle, rodeos, or ranching continue. The full notion of PETA is to shut these events down for good. They even make a case that showing cattle is not only cruel for animals, but also for humans according to an Advocates for Agriculture article. They say that it is cruel to kill an animal that trusted you and that it is cruel for person that showed it as well. What they do not see is that these organizations not only teaches responsibility, but it shows these kids that participate in the groups where their food comes from, and that this is how the world goes round. Showing cattle is also much more than that, it is focusing on the best phenotypical traits for a specific breed, so whether it is a steer, or a weather (neutered male goat), that is being killed, it is also feeding people and this is how we survive. It is a much larger issue if you look at the big picture, but these are the some of the basic reasons PETA is against showing. What they do not realize is that when a child's animal is killed, that they worked so hard on, it does not mean it is easy on them. They put the time and sweat into working with these cattle everyday, they do not want to see them go, but they also were taught that this is how it works. All in all, PETA is a risk to groups like 4-H, FFA, and the NDJPSA, but still have no means in shutting any of these groups down.

North Dakota Junior Point Show Association

The North Dakota Junior Point Show Association is a group in North Dakota consisting of kids with a passion for showing livestock; cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. This group puts on shows in North Dakota through out the winter and summer for anyone to go to. You do not have to be in the NDJPSA to participate. The point of this association is for those who are in the group to go to the shows and accumulate points as they have success with their livestock. This group has a Facebook page to keep members up to date with the shows that are coming up as well as the meetings. If you are not able to make it to a meeting, any new decision that was made at the meetings will be posted to the Facebook page to keep everyone in the group informed. Lastly, the group keeps you updated on how many points you have accumulated through out the year. This helps you know what place you are in with other kids in the group and if you are in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place, you will receive prizes at the end of the year. Just click on North Dakota Junior Point Show Association to view their Facebook page.

Overall, this Facebook page keeps everyone in the group very well informed in all aspects. The only negative side I do see to only using Facebook as a source is not being able to reach the information to those who do not use Facebook. Some things that could change would be to appoint a secretary to send out monthly news letters, as reminders for those especially that do not use Social Media.
Below is a photo of the group of kids that participated in the point shows in North Dakota last year and have continued with it this coming show year. This group is also an amazing way to meet friends who also participate in the show circuit.

Watch this informative video for washing and clipping details! Enjoy!

This video is overall a very informative. It goes into great detail to show you the amount of time preparing a show calf for a show can really take. This work does not just start a week before the show, it starts months before. This video puts into perspective this entire blog and really shows the depth of taking care of a show calf. Now I do realize there are many things it did not cover such as feed, halter breaking, and fitting, but it does go over, washing, drying properly, setting them up, as well as clipping. I really enjoy how the video follows the narrators voice as the boy in the video is showing you exactly what the narrator is saying. It helps you understand and see what a difference these tips can make for your show calf. I also like how this video goes into depth on why we clip the certain areas on a calf and how every calf is different. Lastly, it is a short video that does not take up much time at all and can really benefit you in the end. 

An article by Nathan Bushman called Preparing Your Show Calf  is another informative article that will even tell you how to take care of your show calf in the winter as well as go into great detail about fitting your calf. He also explains in his article how loading and unloading your calf from the trailer once or twice a month can be very beneficial for them to learn how to jump in and out of the trailer. If you put the article, and the video together and watch and read them carefully, then try it at home, your calf will look like a champion on show day. 

Clipping, Clipping, and more Clipping

There is no better day than the present to learn why you clip your show calf. This may be easier to demonstrate than to explain to someone, but knowing why cattle experts are clipping their calves this way is also great knowledge to have.

First things first, make sure your calf is washed with a lighter shampoo to make the hair really pop. Blow dry them completely dry leaving them not even a little damp. Make sure the hair is laying completely forward. The importance of washing them first is so that the hair is sitting right to make it easier to clip. Do not add anything to their hair when you are clipping them, such as, leave-in conditioners or oils. This way there hair is completely natural and clean. 

Next, you will focus on clipping all of the following: Head, tail, tail head, topline, neck blending into the shoulder, brisket, front and back legs. The question we are asking today is; why are we clipping these areas? According to the 4-h Market Steer Handbook: Clipping and blocking at http://mysrf.org/pdf/pdf_beef/b10.pdf  the clipping of the tail and tail head is to create a level hip and add to the thickness throughout your calf. The topline needs to be clipped to show a wide topped and large rib, while cleaning up the neck of your calf will help create a smooth shouldered calf, which goes for the brisket as well. Now why do we clip the belly and flank? This will help give your calf more depth or less depth, depending on which you calf could use. Generally, you want a deep bodied calf, but if they are on a diet that pushes them to eat a lot more depth may not be needed. The clipping of the front legs in breeding cattle will help show thinness and shape. We clip the back legs to show that they have a straight hind leg. Clipping all of these things will give the illusion of your show calf having all of the quality to win. We clip calves to show their quality and add to their shape and body hopefully creating the perfect show calf. 

Lastly, if you need help on how to clip your calf I have found this video to be very helpful in that area. He does a great job demonstrating how close to clip as well as what clippers to use. 

Hey there,

So far, we have covered terminology and how/ what to feed your show calf. So now you are probably wondering, what is considered “show ready” for your calf? Well, the first step is halter breaking. This can get tricky as you do not want to hurt your calf or yourself. This process can be time consuming, frustrating, and a lot of hard work. According to The Brahman Journal article called Low-Stress Halter Breaking, this process can take up to one month or even longer. The article explains that once calves are tied up for their first time they do not eat the same or drink the same due to being stressed out because of the halter which is why you want to halter break as soon as possible. Once you get the halter on which you can conquer anyway you would like, whether you put them in a shoot or rope them and walk up to them and put it on, you must start by gentling the calf by walking up to your heifer or steer and scratching them, petting them, or brushing them. The Brahman Journal article, Low-Stress Halter Breaking explains how it is very important to get all of the calves’ biggest fears out of the way while they are still tied up, such as, using the show stick, brushes, or even just being around you. The next step in this process is leading your calf which it is recommended to use gloves so in case your calf gets scared, you do not rope burn your hands. As you are leading your calf practice setting them up with the show stick. This is helpful for when you are in the show ring and they already know how to set up because of all the work that was put in while you were halter breaking. There is a helpful YouTube video called, Techniques to Halter-breaking calves with ease, that I would strongly recommend watching. This video shows how to set your calf up as well as showing how your calf should look in the show ring for when it is officially “show ready.”

The official link for the Brahman Journal article, Low-Stress Halter Breaking is:

http://brahmanjournal.com/brahman/low-stress-halter-breaking/

The official link for the YouTube video, Techniques to Halter-breaking Calves with Ease is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOJCrzqLgB8

I hope you find both of these links useful, Happy Halter-Breaking! J