By SUSAN MYKRANTZ
Ohio Correspondent

BELOIT, Ohio — The appearance of the animal only counts for one-third of the points on a dairy show scorecard, but it is still critical, according to Chris Lang, was one of the presenters during the 2011 Dairy Palooza.

“You want your animal to be clean from the tip of its nose to its tail, because that is the first impression you will make on the judge when you come in the ring,” he said. “A dirty animal will hurt your chances in showmanship.”
Lang stressed the importance of keeping the animal clean throughout the summer, particularly if it is a breed with a lot of white on the body. He added it is helpful to wash the animal a couple of times during the summer to remove dirt and old hair.

“Clean the feet and legs, the switch and the ears,” he said. “Don’t wait until right before you go in the show ring to clean the ears, otherwise your animal will be shaking its head during the entire show.”

He also recommended trimming the animal’s feet several times before the fair. “This will help the way they walk and it will prevent problems down the road,” Lang said. “But don’t wait until two weeks before the fair to trim the feet. You want the animal to walk out in the ring in a nice easy stride, you don’t want them limping along on sore feet.”

Work on the animal’s appearance starts long before show day.
“Once you select your animal, you need to wash it a two or three times a week and clip the hair off in the spring,” said John Winchell, another presenter for the event. “Clipping the animal early in the season frees up the hair and promotes new hair growth.

“If you don’t clip them early, the hair isn’t going to look right. Clip your project again a couple of months before the fair. Clip them again at home before you go to the fair. At the fair, you can touch up the animal, wash and brush them down.”

Winchell recommends clipping the entire animal, by starting low on the body and going against the hair, working around the ribs and milk vein. “You need to know what you have, because you want to clip the animal so the dairy-ness comes out.”

He recommends using a plucking-type blade for the belly hair, regular clippers on the body and small clippers to clip the animal’s legs, tail and ears.
Bryce Sanor, also a presenter in the fitting session, added a good topline makes the animal look stronger. He suggests finding the high spot on the tail head to use as a starting point for the topline. “You want the animal to give the appearance of being straight across the loin and walking up hill,” he said. “The topline needs to be solid hair, so you need to leave about three to four inches of hair on the topline. Use a blower to blow the hair up and finish up with a show finish to hold the hair in place. You want the hair along the top to blend in with the rest of the body when you are finished.”

Finally, good management, good nutrition, genetics and herd health are important, according to Derek Fauber of Heritage Cooperative. “But it is the work in the barn that matters,” he pointed out. “Spend time with your calf; put in time and effort.”