The Charolais Curl

[brandtmolyneux]

For all of you out there that show Purebred Charolais cattle how do you get rid of the curl so that you can actually get the hair trained to lay forward?

 

[Till-Hill]

Simmental heifer girl had here I asked around and steer jocks all told me mayonnaise. Used a lot on her but it worked wonders! Don't remember how many times or what not they did it...

 

[ROMAX]

I would think if you skinned her out,then started rinsing and training the hair,you shouldn't have to worry about it.

 

[Mainevent]

Had some Limmy heifers I took care of had the same problem. I took the hair and went directly down on their body then blew forward it takes a while but it eventually gets the curl out.

 

[cowboy_nyk]

Had some Limmy heifers I took care of had the same problem. I took the hair and went directly down on their body then blew forward it takes a while but it eventually gets the curl out.

Yup.  We show limos and used to show Char.  The only way is to work the curls while wet.  Lay you comb head flat against their body and pull the curls by combing them straight down (some you even have to comb backwards first, then down) then work them forward BEFORE blowing.  Do this every time that you blow them.  Only other option is to shear them and start from zero.

 

[brandtmolyneux]

Thanks for the advice! Starting from zero isn't an option because I will be showing her next month.

 

[cowboy_nyk]

Last tip: NEVER blow the hair up until it's almost dry.  Straight forward.  I fight with my father-in-law about this all the time.  He blows it up and the curls are even worse than before.  Argh!

 

[renegadelivestock]

Last tip: NEVER blow the hair up until it's almost dry.  Straight forward.  I fight with my father-in-law about this all the time.  He blows it up and the curls are even worse than before.  Argh!

NEVER blow straight up period! blow forward, then comb up. as far as the char hair, rinse, brush, blow, repeat. brush the hair straight down with a rice root, and then straight forward while still wet, then blow straight forward. you can add a bit or armour-all (for shining up cars) to your sheen product of choice, and blow the hair straight.

 

[HerefordGuy]

On our Herefords with curly hair we would use 1/3 liniment and 2/3 sheen mix. In my opinion it helped.
I also agree on the comb down, comb forward, blow forward routine.

 

[simba]

There's a lot of good info in the above posts. Lustre's Pink Sheen Spray and Sullivan's Wave Tamer will also work wonders when the hair is worked as explained above.

If you have the choice next time I really do believe that your results are much better if you can slick the animal out and start from scratch- I do it on all of my Hereford show animals and have been very happy with the results. Good luck!

 

[Dozer45]

Hereford Breeder here! I feel your pain for that horrible curly hair and I will tell you what we have done to ours. First a rice root brush will become your new BFF Always grab your brush first and brush all the hair straight down and keep doing it till your calf is starting to dry. Only then take a comb and comb the hair up. When you blow them out blow back to front and dont let any wet hair "mist" on dry hair because it will curl right back up. Sullivans Wave Tamer can help a bit for fitting but my favorite product is a conditioner type product in you can pick up at walmart in the ethnic hair care section called Olive Oil. They make many products under that brand but I use the conditioner stuff and mix it with sheen and spray on EVERY day.

When you get ready to clip if you have the hair to spare first thing you do is take a 1" guard on your clippers and go over the whole calf with it this will even up the hair and give them a denser look and it also takes opp a lot of the curl at the end.

Best of luck!