Showmanship in 4-H? (dairy)?

Question

I have been in 4-H dairy for 6 years and I know the tricks of the trade. I know how to train my calf wash and clip her. I know what I am supposed to do and how to do it. I just want to know if there are any tricks that aren't exactly mentioned in the showmanship guide, and did these help you any when you were showing.

Answer 1

Something that a judge told me once:

When you are stopped, hold the calf's head at arm's length from you.  You should take a side step away from the cow/heifer so that the judge can see clearly down both sides of the animal.

Another one: When you are stopped and the judge walks behind you, turn around and hold the cows head with your other arm (so that you are facing the judge).

Something that I used to do (and that I still do for my sister) is spray the hooves with clear spray paint to make them shiny.

Answer 2

It sounds like that you the preparation and training of your calf down pretty well. It may come down to the way you handle yourself. Your clothing-appropriate for the occasion, not necessarily fancy, but clean and neat. The way that you interact with the judges, smile, pay attention, be respectful, do exactly what they tell you. Remember that showmanship is about showing yourself as much as showing your calf.

Answer 3

I agree with the previous posters.

And I will add something.  Relax and have fun.  You can be hyper attentive and do everything perfectly but come across as nervous to the judge.

Answer 4

One of the most important things for me when I show my calf is to know her weaknesses conformationally. If your calf for example is high in the pins, then everytime when the judge looks towards you, I confidently, but slowly move my hand, and pinch her pins down, only do this once when you have been stopped by the judge each time, or you might actually get docked for doing it to many times and he may refer to it as "playing around with the calf." If the calf is very low in the pins then I pinch her down inbetween the hip bones to raise her pins a little bit. If her tail head is raised a little bit then pinch it down between the tail head and the pin bone.

Another thing is to walk fluently, don't walk jerky, or like a robot.

Be calm an relaxed, but be confident and stand up nice and tall, no slouching or tilting your head.

The last thing is, well practise makes perfect, the more you train the calf the better. I also try to get out to as many shows as possible becuase every judges comment makes you a better showman. Good Luck!