Calf Shoes

Has anyone ever done or heard of anyone putting some type of "shoe" on the rear hooves of their steer to try to get him into a taller division at show???  I would think a person could squeeze and an extra 3/8 to 1/2 inch this way.  Maybe glue some plywood on and paint it black and make sure they have crap on their feet when they get checked in...  I just thought I would throw it out there to see if anyone had ever heard of this being done.

does this fall into the "trying" category? ;D

anxiety 4th had a shoe on one of his front feet to level him out.

one thing you could do that would probably work better is simply put an easy boot on him making sure to clean it out periodically.

for my shoeless horse, i spray a solution of 50% lysol when i clean her feet in the grooves.  it works great.

Yes it has been done before. It was done back in the days when taller the animal was, the better chance he had of winning.( Back then, I used to think that the guy who carried the poop shovel around the ring could have placed the class.... as you only had to line then up from tallest to shortest) It was called CHEATING then.... and it is called CHEATING now. I am a little surprised that someone would even consider this today in the era of moderating frame and thicker made cattle.

I would not recommend this to anyone. Firstly, I am sure it would be illegal at most any show... and why would someone even consider this for a 3/8 to 1/2 inch gain ... as opposed to being disqualified or even banned form the show. Secondly, you have to know how to attach the shoes properly. Cattle do not take to shoes as quickly as horses do, and I have heard of cattle that kinda ' goose walked" when the shoes were put on. I remember seeing one animal who had shoes installed... and one fell off in the show ring. Even the best walking animal doesn't walk the best with one leg shorter than the other three!!

I would suggest that you concentrate on trying to win the class that your steer legally belongs in. But then, that may be an old fashioned  concept  ie: winning honestly

Try Justin Ropers  in black, if you have a black calf. They have a wide variety of colors. Hopefully no one will notice. Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dusty said:

Has anyone ever done or heard of anyone putting some type of "shoe" on the rear hooves of their steer to try to get him into a taller division at show???  I would think a person could squeeze and an extra 3/8 to 1/2 inch this way.  Maybe glue some plywood on and paint it black and make sure they have crap on their feet when they get checked in...  I just thought I would throw it out there to see if anyone had ever heard of this being done.

Click to expand...

http://www.brickfields.org.uk/text/georgian-relics.html

this picture was titled "antique iron cattle shoe found in france by culturalpollination"

here's another shoe.

i'm sure one could use a version of glue on horse shoes, fill it in and paint them over.

wow.  even more

http://www.zugrinder.de/en/shoeing_of_cattle.html

I saw it done in a National show in IOWA about 40 years ago ,trying to make heifer look taller in a breed show ...

I saw a family try this back in the 80's at the state fair. They had given a lot of money for this steer and every time they jackpotted this calf he would get buried.  He didn't grow out so come state fair time they decided he was 3/4 inch to short. They had their steer jock make blocks out of wood 3/4 in. thick and glue on him on the turn table after they trimmed his feet. Everything looked good until after the first day at the fair. He lost the block on one foot and was uneven. I heard that night at tie outs after everyone left they waited till the steer laid down and mugged him and took off the other three blocks. The next day show officials came around and ask the steer jock if he knew of anyone putting "shoes" on their steer to make him taller. He replied " I'm not from around here and didn't know you had to have shoe's on your steer to show". True story!  (lol)