Wet Show

[25xmg]

Has anyone heard of a wet show?  People at our fair are discussing different options for next year. A wet show or a blow n go show.

 

[SSIMMENTALS]

I said I wasn't going to do this, BUT here we go. This is absolutely ridiculous (not you, your show officials.) There is always someone grumbling that a calf won because it was better fitted, so people push to remove the glue. Still grumbling, remove the hair. But to take it so far as to present cattle wet?? I know there are always people (especially at smaller county shows) who fuss and throw fits because they didn't win, but for a show to step so far as to consider bringing an animal in front of a crowd to be evaluated WET? Why not just round em up and run em through the ring poopy and unclipped. That'd surely make it even more fair. I'm sorry fo my soapbox (this is the condensed version), but it just irks me what measures people will suggest goin to just to make it "fair" for the kid who doesn't give a care about working with his calf's hair and is mad because he got beat by a kid who worked his butt off. If you want to eliminate fitting, by all means, show them clean and dry....the same kid will win. Show them slick, the same kid will win. But to present them so poorly that the general public seeing a bunch of wet cattle running through the showring?? And guess what?? the same kid is going to win. Maybe they will have to select different cattle to suit each different type of show, but a true "winner" is going to go the extra mile to ensure that they have done their homework, purchased the right type of calf, and managed it correctly so it will look its best on show day. To ask that kid to hose the calf down before entering the ring it kind of a slap in the face. JMO

 

[iowabeef]

I agree that this is silly.  Part of the project is care and presentation....why have the "show" aspect at all if presentation isn't part of it.  You would get to the point of asking why even have them on the halter?  Simply have a judge travel between farms and judge them in the lot. 
I will say that if you do the work daily on the hair, a blow and go isn't so bad because good hair with stand and pop with or without the glue....

 

[DCB70]

i would like this but dislike this but if you want to do something like a wet show go out into a feedlot and look if you want a examination of the animal from a production stand point and not club calf. But showing is a totally different deal fitting and clipping in my mind is just setting up that calf for the best chance to win if you don't like it then get out and chose a different hobby or work a little harder on those hot days and put a fan up and wash your calves because everyone that has won doesn't win with just adhesives and a clipping team  just like a sport championships aren't won in season but in the off season and its the same with cattle the people that go the extra mile and out work everyone win period.So to those people need to nut up or shut up because these shows aren't going to get any easier.

 

[nobody]

What I think is funny is people that show some american cross breeds like brangus or simbrah are now showing up with a ton of hair and have actually hired fitters to come in and fit their calf... and balling the tales too, lol weren't these slick haired breeds at one time. (lol) i love it...
And let me just add that I totally agree with all the above...a good calf is a good calf and someone that does their homework will sort to the top wet or dry, clean or glued.  If people don't like it, get a brahma.

 

[25xmg]

Thanks for all the input , I now have something to take to Fairboard for educated, experienced discussion.

 

[Bradenh]

What I think is funny is people that show some american cross breeds like brangus or simbrah are now showing up with a ton of hair and have actually hired fitters to come in and fit their calf... and balling the tales too, lol weren't these slick haired breeds at one time. (lol) i love it...
And let me just add that I totally agree with all the above...a good calf is a good calf and someone that does their homework will sort to the top wet or dry, clean or glued.  If people don't like it, get a brahma.

yes i hate that people are twining american cattle! thats so stupid in my mind (i admit mine are slick, call it jelous or sour. we keep em slick because they are brahman influenced and thats how it should be), and its changed the definition of an american calf to where you needed a legit half blood to class at a show like the belt buckle bonanza, now you have 1/8 brahman and thats enough, an exotic with a sheath and some ears is an american and a true texas calf cant compete

about the haired/wet/ fit shows, the only haired show i participate in down here is ft worth, i believe slick shows are a good deal and it eliminates people from whining, but yet also reflects on the kids that work their butt off to get that hide right. finds the happy median

 

[farmboy]

I would invite the head honchos over for a day in the cool room and see how easy it is. Otherwise you better get a meat wagon and finish him with krispy kremes

 

[twistedhshowstock]

I dont like the idea of showing wet...I personally like haired shows because I like fitting. But what many people are missing with the slick thing is it doesnt cut the work you should put in. The people that would put the work in to have awesome hair are still going to have better looking cattle because like showstopper said when you show slick you have to have that hide looking good and it takes the same type of daily hair care as showing haired.  To have a good looking hide the cattle still need to be rinsed, conditioned and groomed on a daily basis, and if you really want that velvety look on a slick calf then you need to work their hair forward and blow it just like you would if you were training hair for a haired show.  The advantage to slick is it takes the advantage away from those people who either can fit or can afford to hire a fitter good enough to go in there and take a super hairy, mediocre calf and "sculpt" a superb calf out of the hair.  You hear it all the time with people talking about the superb promotional bulls "he looked as good wet as he did fit".  Someone handy with a set of clippers can take a haired calf and litterally clip the shape and dimension into them, but then when you run a hose across them all that shape and dimension disappears.
So I am not against a slick show, I think they have their merrit, but i am partial to haired shows because I like working hair and fitting one.  Its never gonna change that the calves that are going to win are going to have alot of work put into them, sometimes its by the exhibitor and their family, sometimes its by the hired help.  What all these shows are trying to do I think is eliminate the hired help, but there really is no way to do that.  You can prevent the hired help on the show grounds, but there is no way to monitor what happens with every project when it is at home.  As far as the breeds like Simbrah, brangus, braford, yes we typically think of these as slick breeds, but genetically that isnt the case, remember that 50% of their genetics come from breeds that have the potential to have hair and sometimes that trait comes through in the calves.  The fitting of them in shows came from the fact that their breeds had no rules on how the hair was to be groomed, so some exhibitors that had hairy calves in those breeds started fitting them.  Some of the breeds you will never see it in, like Brahman and Beefmaster, not because you cant grow hair on them if you put in enough work, but because their breeds have rules that say that the cattle must be shown with the hair laying flat to the body.

 

[justme]

I remember 5 Star Cattle Company inviting people to come see there bulls in the wash rack in Denver a long time ago.  I always invite a customer to do that too.  BUT...a show is a show.  It is a beauty pagent like it or not.  Would you see Miss America in crappy coveralls?  not in this lifetime lol.  Hair is just hair, but it teaches the exhibitor responsibility and hard work.  Be honest, don't they look pretty all haired up and fit?  I love to see a well fit heifer, bull, or steer....I just hate buying one that is all dolled up, just my honest opinion

 

[JSchroeder]

If you want to undercut their argument, suggest they require all on site fitting to be done exclusively by the exhibitor instead.

 

[outlawcattlecompany]

I think every show should be blow and go

 

[Mueller Show Cattle]

We are kinda going through the same crap around here because people complaining about the grooming rules. So the last 3 years at the county fair, it has been a blow and show, no adhesives (glues) or dyes. Stupid people that don't know what they are doing actually said that the adhesives and dyes were getting into the meat of the steers, how stupid is that? We have attended the fair board meeting this year and hoping we get the rules changed for this coming year. Wet show, I think that is worse than the blow and show, takes all the fun out of the show in my opinion. They rub our steers down with a white towel before they go in the ring to make sure there was no adhesives or dyes on the steer. So there is no boning of the legs or anything like that. People were saying that was an unfair advantage for some kids which is crap. Ya this topic gets me fired up.

 

[AAOK]

Every State need a Kirk Steirwalt!  Several years ago, most counties in Oklahoma were banning adhesivs and going to No-Fit shows.  Kirk began rounding up support and MONEY to implement a Fitting Contest into the Oklahoma Youth Expo.  Not only was it voted in, but the rules stated that teams had to qualify at their County Shows.  We now have a majority of County shows gone to all out fitting, and in many cases the County Fit Contests are the highlight of the week.  The prizes at our County are incredible, and the State Contest even better.  A great deal of the State winnings are in the form of College Scholarships, but there are also Chutes, Fans, Clippers, etc given to the contestants.  I suggest to all the couties with complaining, whining, nay sayers of Fitting to challenge them at the State level.

 

[aj]

I personally would like to see miss america in a wet t-shirt show.

 

[bsshow]

We have had this problem in our county for many years. I won our county fair the last couple years that i was in it. and then the following year my little brother started. and he has won grand for the last two years. (he has only shown two years). But when i was showing they had anybody could fit. Professional or anything. My little brothers first year they changed it to "only 4-h kids can fit or otherwise trim the animal". So now every time i try saying something about it they wont even listen to me about it. just ignore me. It is highly irritating. I have offered to have people come and put on clinics for all the kids ( everything out of my families pocket) and they still wont let me do anything not even a clinic. This year there are kids that want to allow parents and vols help fit. So they are writing up a petition and the kids are signing it to have this rule change. Or problem is we are the only family that really do the "show" part. Every other kid spends less than $800 for a calve when we pay a little money. they keep saying this is a "market" show. but they forget that this is a marker "SHOW" you got to have them pretty. And every judge that they get they say "this is a show they got to be pretty too" JMO

 

[KSanburg]

AJ I believe that we all would like to see that wet T shirt contest.

Our county has it backwards, our showmanship is blow and go and our market classes are full fit, it has silenced a bunch of the whining, but in my mind it is backwards for the reasons that people where complaining. For the kids work the showmanship should be full fit and the market classes should be blow and go. I like the idea of the fitting contest to be done be the kids that may help a bunch of the exhibitors that really don't understand the time and effort that goes into it. I believe that a wet show would run several of our families off and that may be the intent of a wet show.

We had a dad with 2 young men last year finally give in and help his boys buy a couple of club calves, this dad was one of the champion of the whole whining committee, anyhow the boys both placed higher in there classes this year, but they still were rolled down the list a ways. So what did they learn, that you still have to work with the animal and feed it, even with some hair it takes management and feed. He is still whining and I hope that he doesn't hear about a wet show.