Grooming Question - TAILS!!

[DEA]

TAILS!!!!  (simple, yet not so simple - HAHA)

We cannot consistently get the tail to look like we want.  One will be great and the next few either end up a gooey mess/flat looking or the large ball like tails used to look like.  How do you build your tails?  I go to shows and see these perfect looking ones and say "that is what we want ours to look like", but we end up with one like that one and 4 not like that.  Any advice or technique that you use would be appreciated.  Tell me what you do.

 

[renegade]

U r talking about "fluffing" the switch(that's what i call it...fluffing)?  It helps that i have some natural curl with the herefords but after i wash them, and b4 i blow them i braid their tail using horse rubber bands. I get behind them for like 10 minutes and braid like 20 little braids. I blow them out, making sure the braids are dry, right b4 the show unbraid and do a little teasing with a comb and presto fluffy tail. I have several people ask me to braid their cattle's tails... said the don't have the patients... wrong spelling

 

[DLD]

Comb the tail out really well. Balling it up (the way I do it anyway) is only going to raise the bottom of it a couple of inches, so trim it off to a couple of inches below where you want it hang. Don't just cut it off blunt, comb it out and use your clippers to slightly taper in the lower 1/4 or so of it. I like to try to get the bottom of it level with the bottom of the chest floor when it's done up. I do this part when I'm clipping usually, but it only takes a minute, so it's not a big deal if you wait 'til you're fitting. When you're ready to "do" the tail, comb it out well, then seperate the outside layer of hair and either tape it up or have someone hold it up out of the way. Tease out the rest and shape it into a teardrop using tail adhesive. Get it how you want it, then spray on another coat of adhesive and let the outer layer of hair fall back down and comb it smooth around the teased part. Trim the long hair off the bottom of it if needed, then coat it with another layer of adhesive, and finally touch up paint if needed.

I'm sure the braids do help add body, but I don't have the time or patientce either. I can do it the way I said above in prob'ly 3 - 5 minutes, start to finish.

 

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

The amount of hair that grows usually depends on the animal. My 3 MT granddaughters grow the fullest tails I've seen - but my brahman influenced steer hardly had a switch at all.

I usally trim the end of the switch 3-4 days before clipping. Make sure you don't clip too close to the end of the actual tail. Then on the day of the show I get the blower and blow it upward, then take a scotch comb, brush it out straight. Then just tease it. Then it gets super fluffy.  ;D

 

[afhm]

I do them like DLD does.  A little tip, do the tails first thing when you put them in the chute since they don't like it most of the time and you don't have to worry about them smashing their legs down flat after you have spent all that time pulling them.  I also put the show halter on either right before or after doing the tail for the same reason.

 

[shorthornboy]

ok I watched some pro clippers doing tails at Hossier Beef Congress. They started by pulling the very end of the switch with a metal scoth comb this puffs it up and makes it bigger. They next took primitime or tail adhesive and started to form a ball, but they were still holding on to the hair above the bottom of the tail. After forming a good ball a little smaller than the butt at above the hocks  they lay the top hair over the ball. And reshape they then took white adhesive (shorthorn) and gave the tail more volume. in the end they made a scrawny small butted calf into a large big bodied heifer

 

[renegade]

The braiding is how i did the tails for two reasons... it was a non adhesive show (only pink oil) and i still have very limited experience in the adhesive deptment. It gives me something to do instead of just sitting around looking bored  ;D and if i mess with it i eventually get  O0