Hair

[SSIMMENTALS]

I live in the very southern part of Alabama and we are already in the 90's during the day and when I came in at 9:00 tonight my dad said that it was 85 degrees.
Here's what I am doing, does anyone know of anything else that I might do or ad to my schedule. I get up and feed and get them under fans and misters at 7:30. Tie up, 1x through w/ rice root. Spray in conditioner, brush in w/ massage brush. Pour feed to other calves(10 min). Rinse conditioner out brush hair up w/ plastic scotch. (2:00) 1x through w/ rice, rinse, brush up. (Dusk) Feed, Practice, 1x through w/ rice, rinse, brush, brush, brush, brush w/ rice, hair up w/ scotch. Let out.
Thanks for any replies. They have pretty good hair, but Ijust wouldn't mind more and want to still have it come July/Aug. Was rinsing 5x daily, but seemind to be working against me???
Thanks,
Sarah

 

[The Driver]

you got it RINSE RINSE RINSE BRUSH BRUSH BRUSH

 

[BCCC]

This is what  I have been doing lately(only have two heifers in). At about 7am I rinse them for about 15 minutes, and then I comb and brush them, and I blow them out, I also put fly spray on them. I then let them back in their pen(has a 12x12 building with 2 fans and misters). I feed them, and as soon as they are done eating they just go into the building and sit all day. I go out at about 2-3pm and I rinse them again, and brush and comb them, and then let them back out. I then feed at about 7pm and then I rinse them again and use an Ezall foamer filled with conditioner, and then while they still have the conditioner in, I brush them ALOT, and then rinse it out, and thenblow them out, and tie them up in the barn under fans till about 9pm. I then  walk them, and work on showmanship with them till it gets dark. They aren't going to be shown until the middle of September so they will get put in the cooler in a couple weeks. But as of now they have really good hair so I am not in any hurry to get them in the cooler.

 

[TMJ Show Cattle]

If you have really good ventilation,along with fans or a swamp cooler,about the only thing i haven't determined from you is if they are "DARK' Those calves,especially Simmys HAVE to be without ANY LIGHT whatsoever at all times. I say Simmys only because they notoriously have very little hair. I would think this is very true in southern Alabama where the heat and humidity can be awful. Keeping calves very dark is critical to growing hair,no matter what breed or where you are in the country.The only thing that excessive brushing will do is "break" the hair . CONTRARY to what some of the experts on here seem to think,brushing does nothing to promote hair growth,except for the mi-nute massage the hair coat is getting.I have grown hair with and without a "COOLER" brushing my butt off for hours,and after about 15 years I* learned you don't need to do all the brushing until after the hair has some good growth to work with.Keep them DARK and RINSED save your Brush Arm and use your Blower.BLOW  BLOW BLOW then BLOW some more!!!

 

[shortyjock89]

I'm having a heck of a time with a Shorthorn heifer right now. When I got her about a month ago, I knew she'd need to shed out badly.  I contemplated body clipping her down to about a 1/2 inch, but thought better of it since Jr. Nationals is so close.  I have since then shed out about two calves' worth of hair outta her, and there's still some old stuff left.  The latest I've gotten her in was about 8, and I've rinsed her twice a day every day except for one or two.....I guess I just gotta keep truckin and maybe start feeding her EPIC.  Oh yeah, and she's kept in the dark with two fans on her for about 14 hours a day right now. 

 

[SSIMMENTALS]

They are not in the dark dark, but they are under a roof with sides going up about 4 feet so it's not too bright in there. I should probably try to block out some more light though. There are 3 heifers but only 2 are getting the complete treatment. One is a Simmental the other is a shorthorn. Thanks for the help. We have one large chicken house type fan running with two misters on it. It seems alot cooler in there than it is outside, but do I possibly need to hook up another fan? One mister wasn't working, so I added another, but I think a third would be too much??
Thanks,
Sarah

 

[TMJ Show Cattle]

When I used to live in Oklahoma,where the summers can be brutal at times,we had NO cooler. Keep those calves as DARK as humanly possible and the coolest you canb possibly get them. Some folks think you have to have temperatures down in the 40's or 30's to grow hair. Not true. 52-58 degrees's is optimum.But they have to be very dark. Use tarps styrofoam or whatever it takes to blacken them out.If you can use cedar fibre or sand for bedding,if using misters.Wash your calf with soap three times a week,and ALWAYS use CONDITIONER. Use some vinegar[2bottle caps with water5 gal] to kill any possible dandruff. Rinse everyday and use Kleene Sheene mixed with Absorbine Jr. after blow drying. Then blow after appling Kleene Sheene ,blow and blow and blow and blow for at least 1 hour per side including belly hair and legs.It's a lot of work to do it the right way,sadly most folks won't put in the effort to do this.

 

[pjkjr4]

TMJ, are you talking about the Absorbine Jr that comes in the little bottle, with the little application sponge in the top, or the green mint-smelling horse gel that we use to keep the bugs off of us. The reason I ask, is I've never heard of anybody doing that (darn rookie). What does it do?

 

[shortyjock89]

TMJ, are you talking about the Absorbine Jr that comes in the little bottle, with the little application sponge in the top, or the green mint-smelling horse gel that we use to keep the bugs off of us. The reason I ask, is I've never heard of anybody doing that (darn rookie). What does it do?

It chills the hide and pops the hair.

 

[BCCC]

TMJ, are you talking about the Absorbine Jr that comes in the little bottle, with the little application sponge in the top, or the green mint-smelling horse gel that we use to keep the bugs off of us. The reason I ask, is I've never heard of anybody doing that (darn rookie). What does it do?

You can get it in bigger bottles, in liquid form, and does as Olson said.