Wahl ELITE Educators Sam Silvers and Tracy Coffland share their secrets for success during livestock show season. Tracy Coffland is a Show and Feed Cattle Specialist, as well as a Master Professor for the Sullivan Supply Stock Show University program. Sam Silvers breeds and shows sheep from his family ranch in Texas.
“The more work you put in now will greatly increase your chances for success at the spring shows.”
Sam: Fall may seem like downtime for some but depending on where you live, it’s time to buckle down and really start fine tuning your animal projects. For those that live in the Midwest, state fairs are wrapping up and it’s time to focus on what I call the big 3, Louisville, Denver and Kansas City. For us here in the south, we have a longer feeding period than most, not exhibiting our animals until February or March. Some are fine tuning the state fair projects for the end of September though.
Tracy: The fall is a busy time for cattle prep. We still have some state fairs going on (or what at least somewhat resembles a state fair) and there are some important “Major” type shows on the horizon as well. Aksarben, The American Royal, The World Beef Expo, The North American and others. These type of shows draw very elite quality livestock. It can and is a fun challenge to feed, fit and manage cattle for these fall shows.
Considerations for optimal hair growth
Tracy: The climate is so variable this time of year - it makes it challenging to maintain quality hair coats and fight through hair cycles. We all hope for some cooler weather, but like right now, we are not getting any. We should be seeing some cooler nights and shorter days, which will certainly help the efforts to grow healthy and abundant hair coats. It will remain important, as it is so dry, to keep the skin and hair conditioned, clean and worked.
Tracy: Nutrition plays such an important role now as well. Many of these show cattle, especially the older, more mature ones, are being helped, managed for condition and weight and thus I see a lot of diet variances that can lead to hair growth issues. Reducing energy is key to managing condition and gain, but we sure do not want to limit vital nutrients like protein, vitamins and minerals. These are of upmost importance for hair growth! If you want good hair now, or anytime for that matter, a correctly balanced diet means so much and I encourage you to work closely with a knowledgeable feeder/nutritionist to make sure your calves are getting the right feed.
Set your intentions
Sam: Make a list of the shows you want to attend and write down your goals for the year. The more work you put in now will greatly increase your chances at success at the spring shows.
Put in the time.
Sam: This time of year we like to focus on consistent feeding regiments, leg hair maintenance and critical showmanship skills. We typically will have our show lambs on a 3 day a week rotation of rinsing and conditioning leg wool, rough clipping every 30 days with the Lister Fusion Shears and a good set of 13 tooth combs, introducing to the treadmill regiments and practicing setting up our animals multiple times a week. By this time, we like to have our projects being individually fed on 12hr intervals and just keeping up with day to day barn duties.
Tracy: Making sure your sale calves are fed to the right condition, not too fat, but bloomy enough to meet the decerning eye of potential buyers. Work the hair, keep them clean, lots of fresh bedding and washings. Use non oily conditioners that support healthy skin and hair without drawing dirt and weighing the hair down. Buyers can and will come at any time of day, so you want your cattle ready to view. They might not be “Fluffed and Puffed”, to steal from my late friend Rick Frye, but if their hair is correctly cared for and the cattle are managed to a high level, they will stay viewable and saleable at all times. We will typically freshen up the clip jobs on sale cattle weekly or bi-weekly depending on the weather and how well the calves are growing hair and traffic from buyers. Well presented, highly maintained sale cattle will demand a premium.
Determine your equipment needs.
The off-season is the perfect time to make sure your clippers, shears, and blades are up for tough jobs ahead.
Tracy: When I think of the Wahl line of products and what I like to use as we clip and get our sale heifers presented, I really like the 8-piece stainless guard set that fits on a #10 or #30 blade. We clip many of these calves “green broke” and it sure is nice to have those various length guards, especially clipping necks and front ends to aid in a smooth but simple finished look.
Sam: We also like to plan ahead during this time and order certain products we may need for the shows, maintenance on our equipment and sharpening of our Lister blades. A good sharpener will let you know if a comb or cutter is too thin or if your set just simply needs to be replaced. I also send my clippers once a year for maintenance. They will replace the air screens and check all the bearings and tensioning springs. Having your equipment in tip top share prior to starting the year is vital.
Tracy: Don’t forget to keep your equipment clean and disinfected to help aid in prevention of spreading any skin bacteria or fungus moving from one calf to the next.
Don’t forget about the rest of the herd.
Tracy: Not just show cattle are a priority during these times, this is also the beginning of the new year! Hundreds of sales will happen in the next 2-3 months and thousands of calves will be prepped for bid-offs, live auctions and online sales. All those calves will need a high level of management and the more work, time and effort put into all aspects of the preparation process will result in higher value to the seller/producer at time of sale.
Last but not least...
Tracy: It takes a lot of work, but for many of us, this sale season is just that, a season and you will get out what you put in.
