ok I'll try to answer some questions quickly before I'm off to the next show.
redcows - thank you very much
eagle - mainly with our heifers they dont get any grain feeding to get them into show condition, we went that way once and they are such easy doers they got too fat. The females get ad lib oaten hay (we have no pasture due to drought) and they also get half a bucket of oaten chaff with a handful of horse mix thrown on top, mainly to have them used to eating out of buckets for the show and to catch them if I want to do anything with them. The exception is the baby heifers - evelyn, charm and pash, they recieved a daily ration of half a bucket (12L bucket) of oaten chaff, 2 kg heifer developer pellets and 1/2 kg of horse mix. They would have had this probably for about 2 mths, after which they were in pretty good nick we knocked them back to having the same as the other heifers (basically just took them off the pellets). The bulls get a daily ration (each) of 2 kg heifer developer pellets (16%), 1kg horse mix, 1kg calf meal (these last two mainly to get them eating cos they taste so good), 2kg flaked barley (though we play with this depending on whether they need finish - if they need more finish we put it in, if not it stays out) and a 12 L bucket ful of oaten chaff. The bulls also get free choice hay. When we show cows they get a similar ration to the baby heifers but with lactating pellets instead (no urea)
Our pastures are mainly onion grass
and other weeds at the moment, but we are slowly getting the phalaris to take over, and we usually sow some grazing oats every year, giving us the flexibility to either cut and bale it, or graze it.
Some breeders do tend to prefer the silver MGs over the chocolate ones; in our case we have no preference, it is just a coincidence that most of the show team this year are silver. You do have to be careful to not continually breed silvers to silvers because you tend to lose the skin pigment (the skin on all of them should be dark grey/almost black) and then have issues with udder and eye cancer etc. so we have both a silver and a chocolate herdsire, plus our young bulls are mixed colours.
kenz - thanks very much!
limogirl - I have worked with most of the 'main' breeds (Angus, Hford, Shorn, Simmy, Limo) and a few less maintstream breeds (Square Meaters, Lowlines, MRI) and I think I can honestly say they are a breed with a very good temperament. They are very laid back and easy going. I have met a few nutters though, as in any breed. And to be fair, they do act 'piggy' - they particularly hate their nose being handled - ie putting a nose dog in them etc. and they tend to glue their nose to the ground and just walk off (bulldozer)
Ok Jeanne - thanks!
Waihou - in the first class, evelyn was first, charm second and pash third. Pash we think has injured her back - possibly from another heifer jumping her, and she just hasnt been walking properly, so that let her down. In the second class, gretel was unplaced - that was a bit of a disappointment. In the third class, rosita was first. In the fourth class, connie was first (that was a big suprise - I felt she was the weakest in our show team). Rosita was then named Junior Champion. In the first cow class, Misty was first. Rosita was named Grand Champion female over the cow. Merlin placed first in the first bull class, Kalgoorlie placed third in the second bull class - he got a back case of foot scald two weeks before the show, so he just wasnt walking right, and his scans and weights were not what we had hoped.We also got first in the sires progeny class, first in the pair of females, second in the breeders group and third in the pair of bulls. So yeah, Melbourne was great!
galloway girl - this connie is out of a long line of connies, actually the chocolate bulls mother is a connie. They are not the most complete females and they are a different type to the others we have in the show team this year. They are not generally the type I like to look at, but gosh they make excellent mothers in the paddock.
Brandon - thanks very much!
I feel I should clarify my comment about Australian vs American show cattle. Yes, you guys do a lot more glueing and fitting than we do, however, our shows are not just wash blow and go. Basically it is optional, with some people choosing to wash blow and go and others spending a long time gluing and clipping and fitting. For me, our cattle are clipped several weeks before the show, then on show they they get washed, blowed, combed and they get a spray of final bloom oil on the coat, and I tend to put a little ezy comb adhesive on the butt and top of the legs, and pull that hair out to make it pop. However, in those photos of Rosita in the interbreed, she has been fitted and glued and trimmed just before going into the ring. I will do that with interbreed.
I was talking more about the fact that our show ring tends to be closer to commercial reality than the American one. The cattle picked as winners here are functional commercial cattle - whereas I do wonder how functional American show cattle are. Your steers are too pretty - your heifers are too muscled. I may be blunt, but that is the way I see it. I like to think that these cattle I posted are well muscled while still retaining femininity. But the American show cattle I see - steers look like heifers and heifers look like steers. And there are other trends that concern me - the high tail settings, the trend against a slight slope from hips to pins, fitting the legs so they look post legged, the wish for a clean front end free of any excess leather.
