Daily Hair Products

[redluv]

I've tried several different techniques and products. We show purebred Angus and Red Angus animals, we don't use an air conditioner, just fans and a misting system, and don't usually get extreme hair growth. I was curious to what works best for you all?

 

[LoveMoo11]

When I showed, I didn't have a lot of money for fancy equipment but I had fun and did just fine. Hair wasn't really a problem for me because they always had a thick winter coat to work with. I used a spray bottle with water and brushed daily to keep the hair uniform and neat as well as stimulate healthy growth. I know a lot of people will use zoom bloom frequently as well. For dry spots I used Russ' Rag Oil and blew that in.

 

[Cowboy 2.0]

The main thing you want to remember is to not use a product that is too heavy. We always used kleen sheen with a little absorbine jr mixed in to chill the hide. Every other day we would spray in some lusters pink oil from walmart to keep the haircoat shiny.

 

[grand chaser09]

i've never seen any angus with a big thick coat. if you want to help hair grow use a rice root brush all over the body it helps stimulate the hair. also i've heard that Shag works very well. don't use revive it's to heavy for the hair try to use freshen up or a light oil. wash them at least 2 times a week blow dry and put under a fan.

 

[show steer up]

Hi
kleen sheen 50%, absorbine Jr. to straighten the coat 25% and rubbing alcohol 25% to deep clean and help dry the coat faster. This is our winter and early spring mix.

We Don't use rice root brushes, we can't get them through the coat. If we had slicker cattle then a rice root is just fine.

Just a reminder to kids showing around August, start thinking about getting your cooler barns ready. Our cattle will be in by May 1st.

 

[redluv]

Has anyone used Mane n Tail conditioner? I've seen people put a small amount in a bucket and fill the bucket with water and throw the water over a calf's back.

 

[Cowboy 2.0]

Rice root brushes are no count on cattle with any amount of hair. A plastic scrub brush or sullivans plastic comb works much better. Wash only once a week but rinse every day, preferably morning. Our calves stayed in a cooler, but good fans and darkness work good too.

 

[show steer up]

Main and tail works great, put about a quarter size amount in a bucket and fill with water. The water will look sudsy and thats just fine, pour over animal (do not rinse out) then comb the hair down then forward. In the winter we blow dry, in the summer we blow dry in the a.m. and leave them air dry at night.
Main and tail is also very helpful when shedding out there coat.
hope this helps.

 

[IA Show Mom]

We have a very strict schedule of hair care especially with the calves in the cooler for summer.

We get up at 4:00 am to get the calves into the show barn and fitting room before the sun comes up. Our calves may only see 1 to 2 hours of day light a day in the summer. We bring them in and start to rinse the whole calf throughly then when the calf if cooled down we rinse them with freezer water. We have two chest freezers in our fitting room that we fill with water and then use a sump pump to pump the water from the freezer. We rinse the calves on their back, between their back legs, behind their front legs (arm pits), neck and brisket till the calf humps their back. We can usually do 2 to 3 head per freezer. Then we mist the calves with Double Dip and brush them. We blow their bodies completly dry so we don't add extra mositure in the cooler. We turn a butt fan on the calves while they are standing in the chute to help keep them cool and we then use the roto brush on their legs and butt. We then mist the calf with 90% Kleen Sheen and 10% Rag Oil and blow that in and blow the leg hair. We put the calves in the cooler with their morning feed. Each calf also has its own butt fan that blows on their legs when they stand or directly on their back when they lay down. We leave the lights out in the cooler and have the temp set at 50 degrees.

At noon the kids go in the cooler and get the calves up and tie them so they stand for 2 - 3 hours. They put crushed ice on their backs and take the roto brush and roto brush their leg hair and any hair that has gotten flattened while they were laying down. We use some liniment at noon to help give the hide a chill.

About 6 pm we start to take the calves out of the cooler and we again repeat the same steps as the morning but we use straight Kleen Sheen don't want to add anything heavy to the hair when they go outside at night. Once or twice a week we will soap them with Clear Choice and then apply human conditioner. When we do this we also pour a bucket of water with about a 1/4 - 1/2 a cup of clear vinegar mixed in it over the calves backs. Soap is a base and vinegar is an acid so the vinegar helps to neutralize any soap that might be left in the hair. We blow them completely dry again at night because if they are wet and it is humid they will not dry and it seems that the moisture traps the heat in their coats and they just keep sweating and get really hot. We have some of those 4 foot dairy barn fans that we have outside of the cattle pens to help move the air at night.

We get the calves turned out about any where from 9 - 11 pm depending on how hot it is outside. We start Memorial Day weekend and do it every day until the Iowa State Fair 2nd week in August.

 

[Breedingtowin]

We made a cooling area/refrigerated stall. I can't get the temp below 68 degrees with our air conditioner. No humidity in room however I need some ideas to get this area cold. Area 12' X 20'. The air conditioner I bought is a 12,000BTU. Should I be running two air conditioners? Also the amonia smell is strong, any ideas for that as well?
Letting steers out at night, they seems to enjoy the stall.

 

[upfrombottom]

Insulation.

 

[Keren]

We have a very strict schedule of hair care especially with the calves in the cooler for summer.

We get up at 4:00 am to get the calves into the show barn and fitting room before the sun comes up. Our calves may only see 1 to 2 hours of day light a day in the summer. We bring them in and start to rinse the whole calf throughly then when the calf if cooled down we rinse them with freezer water. We have two chest freezers in our fitting room that we fill with water and then use a sump pump to pump the water from the freezer. We rinse the calves on their back, between their back legs, behind their front legs (arm pits), neck and brisket till the calf humps their back. We can usually do 2 to 3 head per freezer. Then we mist the calves with Double Dip and brush them. We blow their bodies completly dry so we don't add extra mositure in the cooler. We turn a butt fan on the calves while they are standing in the chute to help keep them cool and we then use the roto brush on their legs and butt. We then mist the calf with 90% Kleen Sheen and 10% Rag Oil and blow that in and blow the leg hair. We put the calves in the cooler with their morning feed. Each calf also has its own butt fan that blows on their legs when they stand or directly on their back when they lay down. We leave the lights out in the cooler and have the temp set at 50 degrees.

At noon the kids go in the cooler and get the calves up and tie them so they stand for 2 - 3 hours. They put crushed ice on their backs and take the roto brush and roto brush their leg hair and any hair that has gotten flattened while they were laying down. We use some liniment at noon to help give the hide a chill.

About 6 pm we start to take the calves out of the cooler and we again repeat the same steps as the morning but we use straight Kleen Sheen don't want to add anything heavy to the hair when they go outside at night. Once or twice a week we will soap them with Clear Choice and then apply human conditioner. When we do this we also pour a bucket of water with about a 1/4 - 1/2 a cup of clear vinegar mixed in it over the calves backs. Soap is a base and vinegar is an acid so the vinegar helps to neutralize any soap that might be left in the hair. We blow them completely dry again at night because if they are wet and it is humid they will not dry and it seems that the moisture traps the heat in their coats and they just keep sweating and get really hot. We have some of those 4 foot dairy barn fans that we have outside of the cattle pens to help move the air at night.

We get the calves turned out about any where from 9 - 11 pm depending on how hot it is outside. We start Memorial Day weekend and do it every day until the Iowa State Fair 2nd week in August.

how on earth have the animal welfare-ists not targeted this industry I have no idea

 

[VCC]

Karen that is simple, the industry is not big enough for them to get any press. They only make stands where they are going to get big press. If they cared about the animals welfare do you really think that they would videoing and compile libraries of abuse in over several months before they turned it over to the authorities, if they cared about the animal, once they saw abuse they would turn the abuser in, not wait months and let the abuse go on just so you could shock people. You know that it is less the 5% percent of the industry doing the abuse and it takes months for them to find the abusers, once they release their videos they will stake the abuse they are showing is industry wide.

As far as what the calves go through in the routine described, it can't be all bad once the summer heat sets in they tend to stand at the gate to get in the cool box, no heat or flies in there. I will agree some do take it do the extremes, but for the most part, is it any worse than what mother nature throws at them in the winter in a lot of areas, freezing rain, sleet, wind?
That is basically what they are trying to recreate, winter like conditions.

As far as getting hair on your Angus calves, hair is genetic and it is not in their genetics. Rinse daily, wash once a week, and brush, brush, brush with a rice root brush. Work the hair until it pops, there wont be allot but the hair they have will look good.

 

[Keren]

You may have a point there. Not enough exposure. While I commend the kids for their dedication I do object to some of the extremes. Washing a bovine with ice water continually until it hunches its back - an obvious sign the calf is cold, and putting ice on its back. As livestock owners/carers we do have a duty of care to our animals to ensure their welfare, one of the basics of which is the five freedoms, which includes freedom from pain and discomfort including from weather extremes and I just see this as intentionally caused. The other thing I don't agree with is the calves only seeing an hour or two daylight, which compromises both welfare and health. Just to clarify, I do show, I love it and i'm not pointing fingers at anyone just merely stating my bewilderment at the way these practices benefit the showman at the expense of the calf

 

[SliferShowCattle]

certain show feeds wil give you a lot more hair but i always brush mine down slick and the judge semms to like them

 

[SliferShowCattle]

brush them down thats what i do and certain show feeds make them grow long hair

 

[showkid12]

I hear people using kleen sheen and vinegar (50/50) just wondering if you can mix zoom bloom with vinegar to dilute it and then get the same results?

 

[DLD]

No. Zoom Bloom and sheen are very different products - zoom bloom is much stickier, and meant for show day or clipping only. It needs to be washed out after use, and if used daily would be hard on hair, but when you do use it, it needs to be full strength. Sheen (show sheen, kleen sheen, whatever brand you choose) is much milder, but it's a silicone based product and if overused it can build up and not do hair any favors either. But you're on the right track with a 50/50 sheen and vinegar mix - you can use it lightly a couple of times daily. Remember that sheen with or without vinegar in itself doesn't grow hair, but it does add shine and pop and helps keep it clean, so there's nothing wrong with using it. If you're using one of the myriad of products that have come out over the past few years that is supposed to aid in hair growth, be sure to check out and follow any recommendations it may have about other products - most suggest you not use anything else daily,

 

[JHank]

No. Zoom Bloom and sheen are very different products - zoom bloom is much stickier, and meant for show day or clipping only. It needs to be washed out after use, and if used daily would be hard on hair, but when you do use it, it needs to be full strength. Sheen (show sheen, kleen sheen, whatever brand you choose) is much milder, but it's a silicone based product and if overused it can build up and not do hair any favors either. But you're on the right track with a 50/50 sheen and vinegar mix - you can use it lightly a couple of times daily. Remember that sheen with or without vinegar in itself doesn't grow hair, but it does add shine and pop and helps keep it clean, so there's nothing wrong with using it. If you're using one of the myriad of products that have come out over the past few years that is supposed to aid in hair growth, be sure to check out and follow any recommendations it may have about other products - most suggest you not use anything else daily,

What would the vinegar do to aid with the Kleen Sheen?

 

[JHank]

Hi
kleen sheen 50%, absorbine Jr. to straighten the coat 25% and rubbing alcohol 25% to deep clean and help dry the coat faster. This is our winter and early spring mix.

We Don't use rice root brushes, we can't get them through the coat. If we had slicker cattle then a rice root is just fine.

Just a reminder to kids showing around August, start thinking about getting your cooler barns ready. Our cattle will be in by May 1st.

Would I be able to use this mixture during the summer? As well as Kleen Sheen with vinegar 50/50 with a couple ounces of Infusium 23? Maybe alternate days using each? Haven't shown cattle for almost 20 years. Things have changed a lot in that time.