Getting Rid of Dead Hair

[WIshowgirl]

Okay, my fair is in the beginning of July and thanks to this cold weather we have been having (WI) they are not loosing hair.
Any tips other than brush,brush,brush?    Should I get the clippers out and shave them down? If so, what blade will work?
Any advice is appreciated, last year my steers lost their hair no problem, but they were also Angus. These two are crossbreds, the one is loosing a little hair but the other one doesn't loose any really. We finally hit 80 this week, but since we have such an early fair, I don't think them loosing it on their own is going to cut it. Right now, I have them under fans in a dairy barn, that is keep pretty dark. They are under the fans from about 7am-8pm.

 

[bovine and equine]

We are from WI also. Washing and blowing is working for us. <cowboy>

 

[Shebet21]

Go to a pet store and get a dog shedding tool, they work great.  Sullivan's also sells a brush called the show me grooming brush that works good.

 

[WBar Farms]

Grill brick seems to do good but you need to get that dead hair out now and dont over do the grill brick when its not coming off pretty easy then just start rinsing and brushing and the rest should come out.

 

[ZNT]

I had good luck using the torch.  It takes off the dead, and leaves a lot more hair than shaving them.  Even if you shave with the hair.

 

[WIshowgirl]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
Question for ZNT: Where can I get a torch? How long do you normally do it for?
Right now, I rinse my steers twice a day and blow them out. I have them under fans in the dark to keep them cool, so they will eat. Such I leave them out in the sun instead so they hopefully loose more hair? 

 

[WIshowgirl]

Woops, forgot to mention, I have been using infusion 23/mane and tail/ laser sheen mix.
Also wanted to ask, is it too late to get good growth back by the first of July. If so, should I just try to keep the dead hair and dye it?
In the past, we have always just shaved our steers off the first of April. But we were told shedding them out is better.

 

[Simmgal]

Do you want them to be hairy for the show? If not, I'd say you can shave down with the hair and that would leave a bit more than shaving up. I use Lister shears with the blocking blade. I believe that you can get different blades that take off different lengths of hair, but I'm not sure which ones. I have only used the Listers and blades that I have and have gotten good results. I'm blade-challenged, so I can't offer much imput on which blades to use!  If you decide to dye the hair, I've had good luck with that, but some people haven't. I'd only use dye if the hair is a brown sunburnt color. I dye a fair amount of hair with showing Simmentals, and it works fairly well. Other than that, bursh brush brush! Haha

 

[ZNT]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
Question for ZNT: Where can I get a torch? How long do you normally do it for?
Right now, I rinse my steers twice a day and blow them out. I have them under fans in the dark to keep them cool, so they will eat. Such I leave them out in the sun instead so they hopefully loose more hair? 

You can purchase a torch at Sullivan Supply.  I think they are around $50, plus the cost of a host. to connect the torch to a propane tank.  Your best best to see how torching is done, is to just watch my video I did.

http://www.zntcattle.com/2010/04/using-torch-to-clip-cattle-video.html

 

[ba]

I will vote torch it down some it will let the rest of the hair loose and come out fairly quickly depending on how
tight you take it down. have wet rice root there for safety and use metal scotch comb to use as you go.
Keep up with the rinsing and brushing. When you think your done keep going. The products your using
keep up with them to.

  Good Luck

 

[vc]

We usually kick them out into the runs 120 days out for about a month, washing once a week,then at 90 days out, start working on getting new hair, if the weather coporates they are really starting to shuck hair by then.
I can see that in anywhere but the south, this method would not have work this year. We are going to be in the high 60s or low 70s all this week. Nights are in the low 40s (this is not normal for my area)