A Cold Day for a Haircut

Benjamin is a senior in high school, so this is his last year of showing livestock.  We started showing meat goats when Laura was in school before we got the cows.  I'm thinking that was maybe 12 years ago?  We've been involved in livestock shows ever since with all three kids.  Participating at the Parish Fair, the Parish Livestock Show, District Livestock Show and then the State Livestock Show.

Each year at this time we pull out the clippers and say a prayer that they work and then start clipping.  It always seems to coincide with the first big cold snap and we feel sorry for the animals.  Here is Russ fine tuning on clipping Rosie.  It is difficult clipping around the back of the legs.

Just like at the barber shop, the area around your feet begins filling with hair that has been clipped off.  And just like at the barber shop, we sweep it all up.

It is a shame to clip them for the shows, because the animals grow a nice, warm winter coat to protect them from the cold weather - not that it gets exceptionally cold around here, but still.

That nice, warm winter coat gets clipped off to show off the sleek, angular body of the milk cows to the judges.

In the off-season we get the blades sharpened on the Andis clippers to ensure they are sharp and ready to remove the animals' thick winter coat.  We kind of hold our breath, though, because the clippers are old.  Sometimes they overheat and sometimes we have difficulty getting the blades lined up.  When the clippers are working fine, it is something to behold.  Large swaths of hair are cut from the cow with no problem at all.

As we clipped Rosie and Clarabelle, Rosie's little bull calf darted in and out our legs.  Benjamin picked him up and was horsing around with him.  He's really growing.  (Benjamin too!)

Finally, we take the halter off and put the nose pliers in so that we can clip around their head.  The cows absolutely HATE this part.  The nose pliers annoy them and the vibration of the clippers on their jaw bones aggravate them to no end.  But it must be done.

The freshly clipped cows are loaded into the cattle trailer and driven across town to the Jefferson Davis Parish Fair Grounds.  Jennings is the Parish Seat and so the Parish Livestock Show is here in town.  In a couple of weeks the Southwest District Livestock Show and Rodeo will take place in Lake Charles, Louisiana followed by the State Show in Gonzalez.

Nozy Rosie!

Here's Rosie's little bull calf in his stall the night before the show.  This is his first time away from the farm.

What a cute little fart.

Here's Rosie eating some hay out of her hay sock:

And finally, here is Clarabelle doing the same.

Unfortunately, for Benjamin's senior year and last time showing, our cows just aren't competitive.  Rosie is ten years old.  She's an aged cow and just doesn't compete well.  Clarabelle did not get bred in time to calve right before the show.  You really want to time it such that they calve a week or two before the show.  Clarabelle won't calve until the spring.  Benjamin still does very well in showmanship, though, so he looks forward to that and enjoys traveling to the livestock shows and spending time with his friends.  It is his last year to be able to participate in the livestock shows and our last year to help him prepare.  After this year, the cows will never leave Our Maker's Acres Family Farm again.