By Rosie Breakwell • Published on 18th September, 2023
A lot of hard work and time goes into show preparation but when you have a love for it, it takes the stress away. It’s always satisfying to see the difference from when they were a blank canvas to winning in the show ring.
Training and Bonding
I spend a lot of time bonding with the show teams, from leading to washing to feeding to cleaning halters and all the rest. Once the main halter training has been done the rest is light work, the weeks leading up to shows I spend several days washing the girls to get their coats shiny and white before clipping.
Preparing the Show look
I like to clip as close to the show as possible, sometimes I do a pre clip several weeks before doing their main show clip. When it comes to stay away shows such as the Dairy show I will leave a strip down their top line and their belly hair to blend in before show day.
The Show Diet
Not forgetting the several sleepless nights when we are away keeping them fed 24/7 and clean. Weeks before some of the cows get extra feeding onto a different diet to help them along to fill out and for the milkers it helps to get more of a bloom of their udder.
Cow Life!
Regardless of a slight change in diet they still get to live their day to day lives with their groups and still be a cow. I can spend hour upon hour just playing around with them getting them used to different movements they may get asked in the ring if they are new to the team, and sometimes a gentle reminder to the regulars doesn’t hurt.
A lot of time, effort and love goes into our show girls they have such individual characters and they do enjoy it themselves as much as we do.
