The Last Show

Benjamin is a senior this year.  He's also the baby of the family.  We started out many years ago with his brother and sister, Russ & Laura Lee, showing Boer goats.  Then in 2012 we moved to showing dairy cows.  This is the "last rodeo."  We loaded Rosie and her little bull, "Aussie" and Clarabelle in the trailer and headed to Gonzales for the State Livestock Show.  We stopped in Scott, Louisiana (the Boudin Capital of the World) as has become the tradition, and went the the Best Stop for boudin and pepper jack wraps.  Pepper Jack wraps are a guilty pleasure consisting of boudin with pepper jack cheese on top rolled into an egg roll wrapper and then deep fried.  Wow!

The animals patiently waited as we purchased boudin

Speaking of wrapping, Benjamin wrapped up his showing career.  It was kind of bittersweet.  Showing livestock is a lot of work, often in freezing cold weather washing the animals, knee-deep mud, ubiquitous cow poop, and, this year, radiators blowing up on us on the way to the District Show.  However, it is a labor of love.  Showing livestock teaches work ethic.  It teaches doing your best in the ring.  The animal may not always behave, but you continue to do your best.

Unfortunately, in Benjamin's senior year, his animals were not competitive.  Rosie is an aged cow and Clarabelle did not get bred in time to calve prior to the show.  But that's okay.  We're proud of Benjamin.  He did his best in the ring and did not give up.

Benjamin's sister even came in to cheer him on!

During the years of showing, we've been able to meet great people in the Jefferson Davis Parish Dairy Club, forging friendships that won't ever be forgotten. 

The families we show livestock with work hard, but play hard, helping one another out and we're grateful for that. 

Kyle (Not me, another Kyle) & Benjamin

As the animals were loaded in the trailer for the ride home, their showing days are done.  They'll never leave Our Maker's Acres Family Farm again.

More importantly, Benjamin's showing days are over.  Another milestone in the march toward adulthood.  Hopefully, he'll have good memories of his showing days and experiences with livestock.

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.

Can you take a little off the top, please?

When it is cold outside, it is nice to have a thick, warm coat to wear.  For animals, it's no different. During the winter, the cows grow think winter coats.  It doesn't get exceptionally cold around here, but when it is raining AND in the thirties AND with a stiff north wind blowing, you can tell that the cows are uncomfortable - even with their winter coats.

It is unfortunate that the livestock shows are always in the January - February time frame.  That's generally the coldest time around here.  Livestock shows mean that we have to pull out the clippers and give the animals a shave.  They don't enjoy it and neither do we, but it's gotta be done.  This is Amy our 15 month old Jersey heifer.  Her thick, luxurious coat is about to be shaved off.

Amy's winter coat

She feels so warm and snuggly.  Amy and her mother, Rosie, grow thick coats. Daisy, our other Jersey cow, doesn't grow a thick coat at all.  We're only bringing Amy and Rosie to the shows this year, so Daisy will get to keep her coat for the remainder of the winter.

Let's start clipping

When I got home from work on Friday, Tricia had mostly shaved Rosie, so for Amy, it was my turn. I oiled up the clippers and turned them on.  They are kind of noisy and we notice that the closer that we get to the animal's head, the more jumpy and uneasy they get.  That's why we start on the end.

Clip, Clip

We put a little hay and some alfalfa pellets in the trough and clipped Amy's head to a lead rope tied around a post so she wouldn't go anywhere.  It's not a bad job, just a slow one.  You simply rest the clippers against the skin and push upwards.  Long tufts of hair will fold over leaving a smooth, clean-shaven look that makes Amy look sleek and aerodynamic! 

In the Barber Shop

When we're done, all of Amy's coat is gone.  The judges at the livestock shows want the animals clean shaven so that they can assess the animals' lines.  A full coat can hide imperfections.  Of course my barber job leaves imperfections as well. Sometimes, if the animal gets a little too jumpy, I've actually cut their ear by mistake, causing some bleeding, but nothing serious.

All done

Just like at the barber shop, once we're done, the floor is littered with a lot of hair that we'll need to sweep up.

Lots of hair on the floor

I mentioned earlier that when we start clipping close to the head, they don't like the sound or vibration one bit and they start acting up and moving around.  We have to get their halters off in order to shave their head, so one little trick that we do is use the nose clips.  The nose is a real sensitive area.  When we put the nose clip into the cow's nostrils, they immediately respect it.  That's the reason that you see rings in the noses of bulls sometimes.  With the nose clip in, you can lift her head and get the clippers all around her ears, eyes, nose and mouth.

Tricia with the nose clips on Amy

Amy looks totally different now without her winter coat.  She's a nice looking heifer.  

Amy Lou

This afternoon was a beautiful afternoon and we were able to get out in the pasture and pretend that we were the judges as Benjamin walked both Amy and Rosie around and set them up.  They have to be checked in at the Jefferson Davis Parish Livestock Show tomorrow night beginning at 6 pm with the actual livestock show taking place on Tuesday morning at 9pm.