Alix Pearson-Introduction to Showing

Introduction to showing

My blog is all about the livestock showing industry. About the in’s and out’s, the basics of showing, what all goes into getting an anima ready for show, and even the show attire. For this first blog I just want to share the basics of showing because most people are uneducated about showing livestock than educated

First a little about my background so you guys can see that I actually know what I am talking about and believe what I have to say. My entire live I have gone to local, state, and national shows during the summer showing sheep and sometimes pigs and cattle. My family raised Suffolk sheep, (which are a breeding sheep that have a black face and black legs). We also have Rambouillets. Montadales, and some commercial sheep on our place, but we mainly focus on the Suffolks. My brother is the one who shows and is more involved with the Rambouillets. Suffolks are a meat breed. So when we are picking-out our show string, or our best sheep that we bring to the shows, there are a lot of things that goes into it. When the sheep are getting judged they are getting judged on: If they look like a female or male, their breed character, balance, rib shape, muscle, body volume, and structural correctness. It takes a lot to have a really good animal and to win champion overall at one of the really big shows.

When somebody wants to show a sheep there are a couple of pointers and things that need to be done. First is to halter break them which simply mean breaking them to lead so they walk around the ring nicely. When showing sheep, a person doesn’t use a halter, you must use your hands to hold on and to set up the feet of the animal are all-square. Another thing depending on if a person has a market lamb, that must be slick sheared. Meaning taking all of the wool and getting right close to the skin. Contestants only keep the wool on breeding sheep and that is what is being fit. BIG NOTE: KNOW THE BREED OF YOUR ANIMALS! Mainly because when it comes to washing breeding sheep, only meat breeds can be washed. Wool breeds or “dirty sheep” cannot be washed because it will ruin their wool. Those are just the basics to showing sheep, mainly breeding sheep.

[endif]--Moving onto the basics of showing cattle. Depending on if it market are not both heifers and steers with need to be fit to make them all nice and pretty. But just like sheep, first and foremost, halter breaking is very important. It is more important in cattle than in sheep. They weigh a lot more and are harder to control but no worries, if they are halter broken, they are very easy to work with and show. When showing the animal, a shower will need a show halter, and fine-tooth comb

for their back pocket to make sure their hair is always laying right, and a show stick, which is used to set up the feet. Cattle are also a little more work than sheep. If you want your heifer to have a lot of pretty hair so work with, that involved washing them twice a day and keeping them in dark cool places during the summer. It is also important to walk your heifer or steer every other day for exercise. My family only showed cattle for a couple of summer because our gates and panel are “cattle-appropriate” but personally, watching cattle shows is my all time favorite show to watch.

[endif]--The last species I am going to touch on is showing pigs. This is probably one of the easiest to get start with, but that still doesn’t mean they are easy, they still take work. The basics to showing pigs are NEVER USE YOUR HANDS WHEN SHOWING. You have a whip (which doesn’t hurt them, I promise) to get them to move them around. Granted you don’t have to halter break a pig, you still have to train them. Walk the around so they know what the whip feel like and then i

t helps train them to move to they command depending which part of their body you hit. A pig showman also has a brush in their pocket but a different kind of brush though. This brush is used when your animal gets poop or mud on it so you can wipe it off without using your hands. One last basic thing when it comes to showing pigs, it is very important when you are washing them or cooling them off, don’t get water in their ears, it can make them very very sick. Like I said, pigs are probably one of the easier livestock project to get started in, but they still involved work and responsibility.

Wow, overload of information, I know. But in the end, all of these pieces will all come together. I talked about fitting a lot and I know that most people don’t understand that word. Showing animals can be considered an art from because about fitting and all of the work it takes to go into fitting them. But I will get to that in a different blog and it will make a lot more sense.

This post was all an overview of showing, and showing the main three animals that I know and have been involved with. In the upcoming blogs I will go more in depth because now everybody knows a little bit of the basics. Go out and tell your friends or even better, get an animal to show this summer!

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Photos:

https://www.valleyvet.com/c/livestock-supplies/showing-grooming/show-pig/pig-brushes.html

http://www.sheepman.com/ecommerce/ecomm_product_details.asp?prodid=888&source=cat&catid=57

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