attended my first cattle show..got some ???'s

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spinandslide

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it was a county 4-h livestock show. Dairy and Beef classes. I learned alot, thanks to the judges after placing the classes, they would go down the line and say what they liked/thought could be improved upon in each animal. I feel more comfortable now in mabey getting involved in this..

Now my questions...

The beef heifer classes, all the exhibitors classed show sticks(with the little hook on the end), while dairy, none of the children used a stick...is that a difference between dairy and beef in that aspect?

Also, the beef judge made mention, that is was hard to judge the british and american breed together..as it was 5 breed make a class.no breed has enough. she was referencing a "growthy" looking Brangus or Beefmaster heifer compared to 2 shorthorns when she made this statement. Is this a pretty common trend, when you have to show all breeds together? the british breeds boding better then the american, due to the way they mature?

Thanks for the information
Sarah
 
Yes, there are differences between showing dairy breeds & beef breeds. The showstick is definately a major difference. Plus the dairyman walks backwards, using their hand on the animals shoulder to place the feet and they walk very slowly. Whereas, with beef, you want them to stride out natural with the handler walking forward. Grooming & clipping is also different.
Each breed has it's own traits. Some don't have as much "beefiness" as others, some carry much more leather than others - which is fine "within" their respective breeds, but do not fair very well against a good beefy breed.
Like they say, it's easy to compare apples to apples. When there is a mix-match of breeds, it boils down to the judges "type" & "style" of breed, and if the animal being exhibited meets those criteria. You can have an Angus judge, but if the only Angus being shown is a poor quality one, he will most likely dump on them.
 
The "5 to make a breed" is pretty common, sometimes I think they might use another number, but there is usually a set amount of entries to make a breed have a class of its own. If there are not enough entries for a breed to have their own class outright, then the animals are put into the AOB Class which stands for All Other Breeds. As the name says, all the other animals show together.

Ryan
 
spinandslide":ko1tuc2a said:
it was a county 4-h livestock show. Dairy and Beef classes. I learned alot, thanks to the judges after placing the classes, they would go down the line and say what they liked/thought could be improved upon in each animal. I feel more comfortable now in mabey getting involved in this..

Now my questions...

The beef heifer classes, all the exhibitors classed show sticks(with the little hook on the end), while dairy, none of the children used a stick...is that a difference between dairy and beef in that aspect?

Also, the beef judge made mention, that is was hard to judge the british and american breed together..as it was 5 breed make a class.no breed has enough. she was referencing a "growthy" looking Brangus or Beefmaster heifer compared to 2 shorthorns when she made this statement. Is this a pretty common trend, when you have to show all breeds together? the british breeds boding better then the american, due to the way they mature?

Thanks for the information
Sarah

Dairy showing does not use a showstick because generally, the dairy are calmer and easier to control. They set up rather easily and usually don't mind being handled (touching the front shoulder) to adjust their stance. That is not, by far, the only difference between the two types of showing though. There are differences in showmanship, pace, clipping, fitting, and of course the confirmation differences of the animals. British breeds are generally later maturing but larger. Different judges look for different things too, some judges like feminine heifers while others like beefy ones! Glad you enjoyed yourself and learned some stuff! :D
 

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