Starting a U-Fit contest

[PeeWeeChamp]

We would like to add a u-fit contest to our fair.  Our 9 yr old daughter has only done 2, 1 with a team and 1 individual.  1 with power, 1 without power.  So we are looking for looking for suggestions on rules from those who have more experience.... what do you feel is better individual or team? require different ages in a team?  Power or no power? 20 minutes, 30 minutes time limits?  setup a point structure for judging?

any suggestions would be appericated. thanks.  <cowboy>

 

[The Show]

Our state association is probably going to add a fitting contest to our state show next year. Basically were taking the Oklahoma Youth Expo(OYE) rules and tweaking them a little bit. How would you fit without power? I always thought that was a given.

A few ideas we talked about last time were:
Do a pre-judge and place the cattle, then fit them and re-judge them.
3-4 man team
Team member must supply calf
30 minutes

Point values haven't been discussed yet, but it will all be based off of a point system with different weights accordingly.

 

[cndcattle]

At most of your breed and 4-H shows we do fitting competitions. They are always teams. Most times teams of 2, or 3 just depending on the number of kids. The younger ages are given 15 mins with the older kids given 20 mins.

They are judged on how the animal looks going into the chutes, how they work together as a team, knowledge of what they are doing, and the final product.

At some of the basic club levels in 4-H we have no power, otherwise at the rest of the shows we are allowed to use power. Participants must supply their own calf, grooming supplies, blowers, clippers, etc.

 

[creativecattle]

I don't understand why you would judge and place them at the beginning and re-place them once fit. Good quality judges are going to be able to sort the good ones from the bad ones whether they are fit or not. I understand allowing the judges to look at the cattle before the fitting contest begins to see the changes that the participants have made.

When I was younger I was in a lot of team contests. The judges asked a lot of questions about why we did things a certain way, or what did we think out animals faults were and how did we would on correcting those. Sometime we answered just to the judge, sometime we had to give our answers on the mike.

 

[siggyl67]

When I was in 4-H in Southeastern Indiana (long time ago!), our Senior Showmanship class was part fitting.  You took your dry calf into the show ring, started showing then you tied your calf up and fit the calf in 30 minutes.  Then you had to present your calf to the judge again.  I thought it was good that we had to do that for the experience.  But it was kind of hard without a chute to put the calf in during the grooming!

 

[jackpotcattle]

Our state fair (SD) has a U-fit contest which includes the top 2 showmen from each breed 4-H and FFa. The kids get 30 min. to fit the animal (no power, these cattle have been showed all week and any clipping that needs done can be done with a pair of scissors) cattle are clean except they are allowed to have body hair product blown in before competition. After the fitting is done then there is a 30 min showmanship contest. They are judged on the quality of fitting, cleanliness of chute area, time management, behavior (hurried, stressed, or calmed and relaxed) and then typical showmanship and how well the fit job holds up.

This is an individual contest and throughout the contest kids are sifted until it is down to top 5. The winner gets a chute from sullivan and somthing else can't remember. I really like our format and i think it has really brought up the quality of cattlemen from SD. It has been going since like 1980 or something. You have to be well rounded to win this thing not just a stick jockey or steer jockey.

 

[The Show]

I don't understand why you would judge and place them at the beginning and re-place them once fit. Good quality judges are going to be able to sort the good ones from the bad ones whether they are fit or not. I understand allowing the judges to look at the cattle before the fitting contest begins to see the changes that the participants have made.

When I was younger I was in a lot of team contests. The judges asked a lot of questions about why we did things a certain way, or what did we think out animals faults were and how did we would on correcting those. Sometime we answered just to the judge, sometime we had to give our answers on the mike.

It would be a totally different event from the show. Not necessarily to sort them good from bad, but if you have one with tons of hair and one that's got hardly any and they look the same in the ring after being fit. Who did a better job? It would be to see who transformed their calf the most with what they had to work with. Not so much the quality of the calf.

 

[PeeWeeChamp]

Thanks for all the input.  (clapping)

 

[PLKR]

We started a fitting/showmanship contest at our county fair this year. The rules were pretty simple--3 person teams made up of 1 junior, 1 intermediate, and 1 senior 4-H or FFA member. The teams provided their own calf, and had 30 minutes to fit. ( Probably could have been 20 or 25 minutes...)  Each person had to do at least 1 leg, and all of the kids had to use the clippers.  The teams were scored on the fitting portion of the contest, and then each contestant competed in a showmanship round within their age group ( juniors against juniors, etc.)  and were ranked accordingly. The judge also asked questions to each individual during the showmanship round.  High combined scoring team was the winner.  I think the simpler you keep the rules and scoring, the better. Also, as mentioned earlier, I would probably reduce the fitting time to 20 or 25 minutes--especially during hot weather.                                                                                                                                                                      We started this contest to give kids the opportunity to compete in a showmanship/fitting competition in addition to the usual showmanship classes held during the heifer show and steer show. Our county will not allow the kids to win showmanship in their age division more than once, and they cannot move up to the next age division--so this allowed those exhibitors a chance to show their abilities --and have some fun! Since the contest was new this year, the participation was less than we had hoped, but I think team numbers will increase in future years.  Our family provided show halters with engraved plates to each of the kids on the winning team--I think the winning team thought that was a decent payoff for an hour's work.    And, to brag just a little, our 11 year old daughter has 1 of those halters hanging in her showbox....