Going to to many show

[zak]

Is going to a lot of shows bad for a calf? Let's just say the average ride will be 3 hours and you go to 7 in a season is it bad for them?



Zak

 

[iowabeef]

It really depends on the calf but I feel that lots of travel is rough on a calf.  Lots of up and down weight wise and bouncing around in a trailer....has to have an effect...

 

[zak]

It can't be good for it's joints eaither.


Zak

 

[SSIMMENTALS]

I don't think it is great for them. Our heavier breds usually will get fatigued after lots of time spent on the show road. I think if you can get them to lay down on the trailer and if they are calm and used to showing it is much better for them though. I think its the young,green ones (nervous, won't eat, loose weight) and the big, heavy ones (fatige, lots of weight bumping up and down in the trailer) that are most negatively affected.
Now, do you think hauling one say three times with an average of 3 hours each time during the last trimester could cause malpresentation of the calf? For the past two years, we have had a show heifer give us an upside down ( belly up) calf and we are still trying to find any similairities that might have caused this.

 

[Bradenh]

going to a couple of shows with a steer is a good idea. keeps him from stressing at his destination show. but too many causes him to start getting stale and not looking fresh. and on heifers. if you over haul a young heifer (ex. is the one on my alias) the stress can sometimes cause them to slip a calf. but a couple of shows never hurts anything. (20 shows in a season is 'too much' to us, sorta for reference)

 

[Bradenh]

sorry dont refer back to the calf in my alias, i changed the picture lastnight and now its a steer

 

[vc]

I think it really depends on the animal. We have had steers who do not seem to mind the trailer ride at all, they get in and before you leave the drive way they just lay down. They eat at the shows and never miss a beat.
Others will stress in the trailer from start to finish, go off their feed at the show, these are the animals I would think you do not want to show at every show.
I also think if you try to shrink them down to much at each show they suffer.
We always feed a half ration of grain the feeding before we were to load and free choice hay, their full but less prone to get as loose, this seemed to help with the traveling (doesn't hurt the trailer either)
All of our shows where at least 300 miles as well, if the shows where close to gether (like a week apart) we would leave with animals with friends in the area
so they did not have to travel as much.

 

[AAOK]

The heifer in my avatar saw her first show at 6 months, and her last, 7 months bred, at 24 months.  She made 44 shows in those 17months, and never had a problem.  The majority of our shows were less than 4 hours travel, but we have also hauled show heifers 24 hours straight.  My therory is the more you haul and show them, the better they do.

 

[iowabeef]

The heifer in my avatar saw her first show at 6 months, and her last, 7 months bred, at 24 months.  She made 44 shows in those 17months, and never had a problem.  The majority of our shows were less than 4 hours travel, but we have also hauled show heifers 24 hours straight.  My therory is the more you haul and show them, the better they do.

Glad you had a good experience showing often.  But again I think it REALLY depends on the calf.  I agree that getting an animal out is a good way to get them used the environment and ready to be their best for your target show.  But lots of travel will have an adverse effect on an animal over time. A few shows is a great thing...plus that is why we do this, the fun of showing. If you put all of your "eggs in one basket" with one target show you will be disappointed more often than not.  Just don't overdo it for the sake of the animal. I would also reccommend to really back off the few weeks before your target show, that way your animal has as little travel stress before the big one as possible.

 

[fed_champions]

I wouldn't expect 7 shows to be too hard on one. Down here in Texas we get a few families who haul to close to 30 shows a year and these are really the only ones ive seen a noticeable problem in joints and structure. Some precautions you can take to reduce rough trailer rides: Install air bags underneath the floor of the trailer, actually not that hard to do yourself, or keep the calves stalled in the front of the trailer, ive noticed a lot of people who load 10000 dollar steers on the back, directly over the axles, don't they know thats the roughest spot in the trailer?

 

[Dozer45]

Im pretty sure my heifer this year gained weight at her first show, not kidding!  She just napped all morning and consumed almost a bale of hay by the end of the day. It was her first time alone without anyone to compeat for food and she loved it. Just depends on the critter. She was a cake walk at shows but Ive seen others that wont ever drink.