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worthabit

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prince edward island Canada
Instead of running a comb through thr tail and combing down the tail, do what I call "backcombing" which is the opposite and this fluffs the tailswitch up. Next you spray with adhesive and shape.

We use to do this all the time in the eighties and early nineties. It was so much work! I can't believe it is coming back again :p
 

showsteerdlux

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Gonna be pretty hard to do. You can still try to fluff it out but without adhesive its gonna be a lot harder. 
 

worthabit

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prince edward island Canada
HeiferShower14 said:
thanks! wat if we  cant use glue at the show do u just spray oil in it?

No, that would make a mess. If you can't use glue, just fluff it out but it won't stay for long, especially if the animal likes to switch its tail. We use to tie a cable tie around the tail to cut off the circulation so the tail wouldn't switch. I'm not sure what you or your fair thinks of this. :-\
 

Eberth

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Kansas beef expo is definately not a no fit show its basically anything goes. Just like the rest of the shows in Kansas need to go back to but that's a whole different topic.
 

BIGTEX

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I hate that this is making a come back. I looked bad in the '80's and it still does. I really like the trimmed look, it nice and clean and is not a distraction for the judge.
 

kanshow

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The whole end of the tail was tied up/back with either a cable tie or hair.  What is the reason for the comeback?  Back when we were balling tails high, weren't we trying to make the calf look taller/leggier/higher flanked?  Optical illusion. 
 

inthebarnagain

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I didn't realize the high ball was coming back, I thought it was just the tear drop and then only really on the heifers
 

worthabit

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Yes, I forget to mention about the tie up and pull back of the tail. Remember how hard that was to get to stay? I remember we were showing Charolais at the time and almost every one seemed to have a tailbone that would always be too long and that made it real hard to get the ball high enough.
 

kanshow

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I haven't seen any high tail balls either but when someone mentions a tail ball, the first thing I think of are those like we used to do.

Remember when you'd tie a calf's tail up the first time & if you got it too tight, they'd go nuts.  We not only trained hair, we trained tails. 
 

Bawndoh

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Dec 17, 2007
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Yes it is actually the teardrop that is coming back.  I see no reason for it.  I watched the daughter of the owner of Fully Loaded ball his tail for over 45 minutes!  Like honestly!  What a waste.  I think that balling/teardropping takes away the thickness of the animal, and is a distraction.  I like just combing it out, fluffing a little bit.  It makes them look thicker when their tails are left alone. 
People these days!  ???
 

chambero

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Back in the 80s, we used to actually break their tail when they were young to get the ball up high enough.  And we wondered why the calves wouldn't stand still in the show ring.

I'm still no expert on tails, but basically you use a "rat comb" to rat the hair in strands and then glue it all together.

I've never mastered getting enough tail hair to make the pretty bushy ones that a lot of calves have now.
 

kanshow

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I've never mastered getting enough tail hair to make the pretty bushy ones that a lot of calves have now.
I know what ya mean, the heifer my daughter is showing has about six switch hairs and they aren't that long either! 
 
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