knabe
Well-known member
went to the western bonanza in paso robles CA this past weekend. one guy had something similar to an upsidedown U that was adjustable in width, and the placed it in front of the hooks down through the flank. to keep the cow from kicking. looked pretty slick. if anyone wants a picture i'll post it. cattle comments. 20% of the females were noticeably sickle hocked, at least 40% were stiff in their pasterns, a few high placed breeding age cows were noticeably overfed. some PHA- carrier lines were winning. owners claimed they were clean. my opinion, but too many of the females looked more like steers and a couple were fitted and looked like bulls. one of the few female looking yearling heifers won overall champ. some nice fit jobs, and a big show. didn't stay for the steer portion. very well run show. showmanship was fun, judge made a few good comments like if you know your animal is standing good, don't nit pick the stance when your competition is already walking into its stance. a nice point in the finals was when two gals next to each other were getting the animals in place and the judge stood there and watched them for several minutes. the winner basically walker her animal in place every time, looked at the judge etc. looked to good she was almost invisible compared to everyone but two others who were constantly figiting. the judge made comments about how animals were fed and stressed over and over how they were walking, their front ends and briskets, broodiness, functionality. comments about what was nice about each animal and where they fell short of higher placers. these comments mostly centered on the front end vs the back end, freedom of gait, walking in their tracks, searching for the ground, etc. made some nice comments about where each cow would excel being used, ie clubby vs long term functionality. one girl showed in a wheel chair, and another gal showed with probably down's syndrome. she was having a blast, clapping every time her heifer stood in place. then she would take the show stick and scratch her. nice to see that.both had leaders and were havng fun in and out of the ring. the help was accomodating and everywhere, as this is a show Cal Poly puts on as a learning tool for students. I think the only downside to the whole thing was the droning of generators drowning out the judges comments and students announcing class participants etc.
