Thanks Karen
Keren":37k9mrii said:
SSU ... probably a silly question, but do you have pens in this barn or do you tie the calves?
We tie the cattle like they are at the fair.
Keren":37k9mrii said:
Are they in there full time, or just during the day? Do they go out at night? Or, how many hrs are they in there?
We start washing cattle between 9:00 - 11:00p.m. (This depends how hot it is.) When the temp. drops below 80 we start. Then we feed, exercise and work on showing. By this time we spend another hour cleaning their cooler room. Our room is very high maintenance but worth while to us. So around 12:00 the animals are free to rome and play for the rest of the night, then we clean up their barn. Depending on the person cleaning and how fast or slow the process is we will pack it up by 1 or 2a.m.
We get up at 6:00a.m. feed, wash, exercise and all the cattle are in the barn by 8 a.m. at the latest. We don't have to lead the animals into the barn, they walk in by themselves and then we tie them up. same thing at night we unclip their chains and they go over to the wash rack and one by one we tie them in their grooming chute.
Keren":37k9mrii said:
Do you have trouble with them coping with the temps at the show, since they are accustomed to the cooler? Do they stress at the show, go off their feed, etc?
No we have no problem with the cattle at our fair and the temp. Everyone uses fan cages and our barn has many air conditioners. Our cattle are tied up at the fair just like they are at home; we do the same routine day and night, haul our own water and feed exactly the same way at the fair. Weeks before going to a show we water all our cattle by bucket so there is no problem with them and not drinking. Every once in a great while we will have a steer that just does not take to the public all that well, but it takes a day or so for them to be right back on track. I don't know if we have tamer cattle this year or our cattle are a little mellower because of our new cooler. But this is the best group we have had in a long time. We don't have a kicker or a runner in the group
Keren":37k9mrii said:
That is a very good point. The standard here in Aust. is nutrition, regular grooming, keeping the cattle in a shed during the day, turning them out at night, sometimes with a mist of water on them. And yeah, we grow hair just fine. Which does make me stop and wonder, why we can do it with such gentle measures, but US steers need more extreme tactics
That's an excellent question.... we have tried for many years and you just can't compete with the cooler barn. What took us three months to grow last year we just did it in 30 days and we have a whole month left. I myself have to admit, I love looking at cattle that are fit out to the " T ". Getting that coat and living that lifestyle is something you have to experience. It doesn't come easy and if you see outrageous coats on animals, those people have worked their butts off. I know everyone does not like coats but don't assume their cattle are crap because they have a coat. I guess it's the same thing going the other way, I don't think slick steers are crap, a good looking animal is and always will be a good looking animal. It's the people who can't look past a coat, in either direction (slick or coated) that are challenged.
Around our area you will only see slick steers at county fairs. If you go to what we call Jackpots, this is the more serious people. They have fitters by the dozen's and pull up in fancy truck and trailer units with all the bells and whistles. When my daughter won Grand Champion in Tucson this year she was the only child fitting her steer by herself. When I say by herself it was from start to finish and clippers in hand. People would walk over to her and introduce themselves, she felt like a million bucks. Then she won the whole thing, there where around 110 entries give or take a few and it was the proudest moment in my/her show career. My daughter is twelve and has been showing since the was eight.
Australian":37k9mrii said:
SSU do you think your kids will keep up the rigorous preparation measures after a few years? Full congratulations to you for your encouragement and support to them. We sure need as much encouragement to our young ones. The last time I heard the average age of landholders here in Australia was 58.
Thanks that was very nice :heart: .
We start our year with high hopes and a lot of energy. I make sure my children are in it for the long hall. We may start off with good strong cattle and through the year have to cut our losses because of some very unfortunate events. Most on this board know one of our steers where poisoned last year and we took a very hard hit, both emotionally and in the pocketbook. My kids started this year off in two different directions. My son decided not to show at all, he was so disgusted with people and did not want to place his college savings in an animal. The risk was too great and the emotional heartbreak to deep, it was a whole year gone in a blink of an eye. I respected his wishes and told him he had up to tag in to change his mind. There was no pressure and I stood behind his decision.
My daughter on the other hand couldn't wait to get back in the ring. Her steer was robed out of his chances and went to slaughter without any recognition. This made one mad little girl out of her, she has since gone to the fair board meeting and pleaded with the board to ban any and all scatter bate. If the fly poison has to be used my daughter was willing to get her 4-H group together and get as many coffee cans they could muster up. Her idea was to put the bate in the coffee cans and hang them high up in the barn away from mean people who wanted to hurt the animals and to keep little kids safe from eating the poison that was on the ground. The fair board granted her wishes and they will no longer spread the fly bate around the fair
.
We took my daughters steer and went to three Jackpots. My husband had to work so my four kids and I took her steer "Star" along with all his equipment and had one heck of a time. On our way back form Tucson my son said he wanted a steer, I was shocked. The nice thing about him changing his mind is that he didn't let mean, selfish people take his love for cattle away. My son did not have to go to the shows with us, he chose to help his sister because he new she couldn't carry all that heavy equipment and even though he didn't want animals this year, we where still a team.
So to answer your question, my kids have been showing for six years. They have been running this schedule from day one. Yes we get tired and cranky, it's a long haul; but when one is burnt out the other will cover for them. There are times when only one can get up in the a.m., and then the other will carry the load for two. I also work 12 hour shifts in the ER and can't always be there for them so they have to watch and help each other. We are a team, when one of my kids win's......we all win. ;-)
There is one thing more I wish to say. I am very sorry if I have stepped on any toes, that was not my intent. I don't know why we have so much enfaces on our coats and I don't know why some judges can't see past a coat. Yes you can take an average animal and place two or three steers up the line with that coat. Is this right? no. Does it happen? yes. Does this mean every judge and every person who raises animals with coats don't know what there doing? no.
For a long time now people have been bad mouthing and saying outright mean thing about judges and animals with coats and Vic versa about slick steers. I myself had no idea there where still big shows around the world that people only showed animal's slick. I didn't put these people down and never would, I could only hope that our area would go back to this kind of showing. I felt if I could explain how much work goes into these projects then maybe it would explain why we feel the need for the cooler barn. For us it's a way of life in our little show area, all top winning cattle have coats. As for my family We don't sacrifice quality for the coats, our coats add eye appeal and style. I thought if some of you out there had a little glimpse of what it's like to grow coats then maybe we wouldn't get hit so hard with all the harsh words. We... meaning my family don't like the countless hours these coats take to make them grow but we do it because we love showing. In our area this is the way of life and please don't think our animals are crap because of them. If anything maybe knowing how much work goes into them....now maybe people can appreciate a hard day's work and the dedication it takes to achieve the end results.
That's all :tiphat: