Thoughts on Slick Shearing show heifer

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angus showman

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Mar 2, 2010
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We show angus cattle and I have never slick sheared one out just always grill bricked the old hair out we always seem to get along good doing this and have pretty good hair all summer but I am working and my sister is in school so not as much time to work on her I was wondering people input on it I was thinking about doing it this weekend or even before I know some people that have done it around here and seem to have thickier and better hair during the summer. If I was to do it by this weekend would she have a good base coat of hair by late may or early june there are some shows in june I would like to take her too. How long does it take to get a good hair coat started she is pretty hairy now and is bred to have hair for an angus
 

keeton.ehrig

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I have done it to a few angus heifers that me and my brother showed.  We had great results, the hair coat did grow back better that what we had.  I would just make sure there is some time to get some hair groth back before a show.
 

Cattledog

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I've shown angus my entire life.  Trust me, you want to shear her.  I always wait until about the middle of march to shear.  The reason I shear late is because when I shear early my calves always start to shuck their hair in the middle of July.  That's right before my state fair.  Some breeds you can get away with not shearing.  My opinion is that angus is not one of those breeds.  You'll fight dead hair all summer!
 

midway6376

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Definatly shear her. But I don't know where your at but last year I sheared one a week earlier than the rest of mine and that one week made a difference and she started to get dead hair just like what Cattledog was saying. I ususally do mine in the middle of March also.
 

angus showman

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I am from Illinois and our state fair is the second week of aug. however eastern regional for angus is in bloomington il in june along with a could other shows her mother is a TC Freedom and had tons of hair early summer but had a neck sweat on her by state fair she had just enough but not enough as earlier. however this one has a better front no neck sweat will be needed and her mother won the state fair jr. show in 06 so do you think slicking her this weekend is too early?
 

Cattledog

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angus showman said:
I am from Illinois and our state fair is the second week of aug. however eastern regional for angus is in bloomington il in june along with a could other shows her mother is a TC Freedom and had tons of hair early summer but had a neck sweat on her by state fair she had just enough but not enough as earlier. however this one has a better front no neck sweat will be needed and her mother won the state fair jr. show in 06 so do you think slicking her this weekend is too early?

I'm from Illinois and will be showing at all of those shows this summer and I am sticking to my guns with the middle of march.  I think you want it all right now.  Pick your show you want to peak at.  If you do it this weekend I think you are choosing the eastern regional.  I really don't think the difference in hair is gonna make that big of a difference.  With the Freedom lurking in there you should have some hair.
 

angus showman

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I agree hair is not everything and definatly for angus cattle I don't think you'll need that much hair for eastern regionals just enough to stand out more importantly I would idealy like to have more hair for state fair. The reason why I wanted to do it this weekend is that is what some other people told me who show angus heifers and steers said they did it the weekend after expo and had good luck by the way if you don't mine me asking what is your name cattle dog
 

Bone2011

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I've got a couple simmys that i'm gonna do that to. My shows are in mid aug. to the first part of sep.is mid march a good time to do this? Also what are the thoughts on doing this to a x-bred steer?
 

advocate

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Simmy hiefers i would slick a crossbred steer is a different story i did it once and never quite got the hair back on that lower quarter just right and it seemed like it took forever to get that good thick fuzz back everywhere else the hair is just to fluffy the reason it works on some breeds ie angus and simmys is because they are flatter and thinner haired dont have to worry bout getting fuzz back if they dont have it ne how
 

Bone2011

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Ok thanks! I know it is starting to catch on around hear to slick the angus heifers. The people that do it seem to have better hair and they don't have to battle all that dead hair all summer. We had one heifer last year that I worked and worked on trying to get her to shed all of her winter hair but she just kept some of it. I've never really been around the slick shear deal but I heard that when they do it in the south they do it a couple times and the hair comes back really thick. My steer has plenty of shag so i was just wondering what it was gonna be like when he decides to shed this summer.
 

zak

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I no this is and old post but, I slicked out my heifer in the beginning of Nov. She had some weird hair on her top and on her neck and i was hoping to have it grow in better and thicker. Its now the beginning of December and its only 1/2 inch long. I am really starting to get worried that it wont ever come back in fully. About how long should i expect this process to take to where her hair is back to normal? I also just put her on natural solutions hide and hair supplement.



Zak
 

Aussie

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I usually slick shear 120 to 140 days before the show. It is slow to grow at first as you have found but it will happen and is worth it.
 

Ms Ray

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when you slick in March do you just do head and body or do you clip the legs also?
 

bcosu

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before this year i did not shear steers or heifers in the spring. i always figured they would shed enough and i could start training hair again. it worked on one steer to the point where i was satisfied. this past year i did it to both heifers in april then turned them out with the bull. when i brought them back in in the beginning of june they had more hair than when i had sheared them the first weekend of april. they were both crossbreds and we had fought curly hair on one all winter and shearing her fixed that.


every calf that will be shown as a yearling will be sheared off from now on. the hair is ten times easier to work with when it comes back and it is thick fuzz again.

funny thing is i had a friend that has done been trying to get me to do it for a couple years and i was too scared thinking it wouldn't grow back fuzzy in the summer. i was wrong.
 

bcosu

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oh and i dont touch the flank, tail head or legs.

i go with the hair not against it, kinda just thinning it from top to bottom. i start blending the lower quarter into the rear legs and at the shoulder down into the fronts.
 
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