Bathing/Conditioning/Training Hair

[txffamom]

My daughter has a Simbrah calf that will be delivered today or tomorrow who has a semi-curlyish beautiful thick black coat, with ultra-hot/humid weather outside Houston and I have a couple questions about hair care and training the hair.

We are trying to establish a daily routine. We have much more time to spend in the evenings than we do in the mornings, and this is what we have come up with so far (from reading the posts here and talking to others):

Every other day:
1. Wash with Mane&Tail Shampoo.
2. Brush and Blow
3. In a bucket of water, mix a quarter-sized portion of Infusium23, vinegar (how much vinegar?), and Kleen Sheen (how much?)and pour over her. Leave this in, and brush and blow.

On the non-wash days:
1. Rinse, pour on Infusium mixture, brush and blow.

She will be stalled with a fan/mister system in the daytime and turned out to pasture at night (after she has eaten and been washed/rinsed).

The questions:
1. Is there a need to wash or rinse her in the mornings?

2. Do we keep the brush and blow step after pouring on the Infusium23 mixture or do we just pour it on and brush her, leave her damp and turn her out to pasture?

3. Does the Kleen Sheen help train the hair?

4. Is there any economical product to help train the hair or does this just take time?

I realize that everyone does something different and they all work, but I guess what we are trying to do is take the best tips and turn them into a routine that works for her (and us) and it has become a bit overwhelming. This all seems effortless for the other people at the barn, and I want it to seem effortless for us too, while doing what it takes to get the semi-curlyish hair trained.

Also, after talking to the breeder yest, he said she is a bit brown on top from the sun bleaching her out. What can be done about that to restore her beautiful black coat without compromising the rules of competition?

Thank you in advance!
txffamom

 

[showing71]

The questions:
1. Is there a need to wash or rinse her in the mornings?
Rinsing often keeps the animals cool, and wet hair makes it easier to brush it into the right direction. Rinsing will help keep the hair growing.
2. Do we keep the brush and blow step after pouring on the Infusium23 mixture or do we just pour it on and brush her, leave her damp and turn her out to pasture?
Blowing her dry will help train the hair. I've also heard from other showmen that blowing them off after each rinse helps keep them cooler longer.
3. Does the Kleen Sheen help train the hair?
No, it just helps to keep the hair soft and healthy.
4. Is there any economical product to help train the hair or does this just take time?
Time and a lot of work.

These are just the steps I do, I know everyone is different. Hopefully this will answer some questions. The best way to train hair is brush, brush, brush.

In the warmer weather months, we wash twice a day, every day. We use soap only once a week. In the a.m., we catch them before the sun comes up, rinse (or soap them if it's a soap day). After the rinse, we put a quarter size amount of conditioner (either mane and tail or just a suave or tresseme conditioner) in a bucket, fill the bucket half way with water, and then pour the water down their back. Then using a rice or rubber brush, brush all the hair forward - even legs. Then we blow the hair almost dry. At this point, we have a mixture in a spray bottle that is 1/3 infusium 23 conditioner, 1/3 kleen sheen or absorbine (horse conditioner like kleen sheen), and 1/3 vinegar that we spray into the hair and brush that all in with a comb and finish blowing dry. After this, we use a roto brush on the legs and blow the hair again. The calves then get put in the barn under fans until the sun goes down.

Before the calves go out at night, they get a quick rinse, and are blown and brushed dry again, but we don't use any conditioner at night.

In the winter months, we rinse/wash usually 3 times a week, and on the other days they just get brushed and blown.

The sun bleached hair will eventually shed itself out, faster with constant brushing. Usually sun bleached hair is dead hair. It is legal in a lot of shows to use hair dye on the calves, just do it at home. But keeping her out of the sun will help the most.

 

[Keren]

Well i'm usually very simple about it, and I never have a problem training hair. Maybe my cattle just naturally have good hair. Then again we don't try to mimic highlands like you guys seem to. I brush morning and night, wash once a week, rinse daily if weather permits. I only blow dry with the wash, when I rinse I brush the wet hair into place. Wet hair is the easiest to train and set. I include a horse sweet feed in the ration to keep the coats soft and shiny. Re the sun bleached hair, if there's enough time before the show, clip the ends off, and keep her out of the sun or throw a blanket on her.

 

[chippie]

I live just south of Houston (Fort Bend County) If you can, use cold water to rinse her, and be sure to get her dry as quickly as possible.

Don't turn her out wet. The water acts like an insulation and will make her hotter. Also if you can't blow her dry, tie her in the shade and in front of fan to dry. Never let one dry in the sun.

Please be careful with the misters that they do not get her wet because even with fans, being wet will make her hot.

Good luck with the calf. I hope that your daughter enjoys her.

 

[txffamom]

Thank you all for the advice and information!

Sounds like spending time with her is the most important thing we can do and that won't be a problem at all.

After going through what we went through yest. (getting her stalled at the barn), I'm pretty sure my first questions here should have been about halter breaking...hehehe...needless to say, it's gonna be a while before she gets her first bath.

 

[VCC]

The best part of rinsing and washing is how fast it helps them tame down, as soon as you can get them in the wash area, the better. We start rinsing long before the calves actually lead. As soon as they will tie we start rinsing. We have a small catch pen to halter break them in, run in the pen get the halter on them and them tie them for a while. Make sure you stay there with them incase something goes awry. (Make sure the knot you tie with is a quick release knot or you have a knife handy)

As far as hair care goes, I agree: wash once a week, rinse at least once a day, comb the hair forward, in the early morning if it is still chilly we will leave the water on them just comb it forward and let the fans run on them for a half hour and then comb and blow them out. We use the cream rinse twice a week (5 gallon bucket full, with a quarter sized dollop of the cream rinse, poured over the back, do not rinse out) other products have all been listed so go with what you want. We did use pink (Wall Mart ethnic hair care area)
2 or 3 times a week, you blow it in, just do not use too much. It helps keep oil in the hair.
We did this right before we kicked them out for the night, use it only if you are keeping in the barn during the day since you do not want them in the sun with this on it will speed up the sun bleaching process.

If your calf is black then you can dye the hair to get rid of the sun bleached areas (black dye on a black calf is not altering the hair color) Sullivan's dye works fine or you can go with store bought dye. We use about 4 bottles and fog it in, with the blower and a fogger, weight 15 to 20 minutes and rinse out, any longer and it can burn the skin.

Have fun and good luck

 

[chippie]

Check with your daughter's teacher before dying the hair. Depending on the show it could be illegal here. The rules vary from place to place.

There are some good resources on this website about halter breaking if you need help

 

[txffamom]

Here I am for an update...

Halter breaking was a bit stressful, but my daughter pulled it off rather quickly. Within a couple of days at the barn, she had her tied and not afraid of a little tension on the rope. 2 weeks in, she had her leading to the washrack, trim shoot and scales.

They work in an arena that is approx 60 x 60, and the only problem is that when they turn the last corner, the calf wants to run for the gate. And once they exit the arena, she RUNS for her stall. My daughter is working on getting her to stop this. She has changed up their routine so the calf doesnt really know what to expect next. One thing she has almost figured out...If she runs, she gets tied and doesnt get to eat.

With her hair...I have purchased the straightening spray from Sullivan's and we will try that and see how it works. Brushing daily, conditioners, etc are not working for these curly patches.

She is gaining about 1-2 lbs per day. However, at this moment, she is on hay only due to a bout of coccidiosis passing through the barn. She is one day away from having feed re-introduced.

So, all in all, everything is good and we look forward to their first show at Fort Bend on October 1st.

 

[chippie]

Sounds like your daughter is doing a good job.

Are you all coming to the Fort Bend County Fair TCCA show? I am on the Livestock Committee there.

 

[txffamom]

Yes, Chippie, we will be there on Saturday.

 

[txffamom]

PS: This will be their first show, so there probably won't be any doubt which one she is.

For some reason it seems she has taken 2 steps back and the calf is hard to lead, doesn't want to do ANYTHING that my daughter wants her to do, and a very high level of frustration has set in. (for both of them). It's been pretty stressful for the cows this week, as they had pig selection and goat/lamb selection and the cows just cant get used to all the additional activity. Hopefully things will settle down soon, and calf and daughter will do well next weekend.