Prettiest Cow Contest Winner

[jucal]

My grandson entered one of our heifers in the Prettiest Cow Contest and was the winner at the Tulsa State Fair. You can see their photo on my web site on the Jersey page. The theme was Bella of the Ball.
Judy
www.oklahomarawmilk.homestead.com

[christy]

Judy,

Great Job!!!! Your grandson and Bellla did a wonderful job. Bella looks beautiful and your grandson proud.

Christy

[suburbanite]

She's a wonderfully pretty cow. Love her face.

Pink satin?!? Cow lingerie?

[jucal]

Not satin but just a pink shimmering fabric. Can't see in the photo very well but she has a faux fur collar, matching necklace and errings, and a jeweled crown trimmed with feathers. Oh and matching gloves on her front feet. Her name is Bella so the theme was Bella of the ball. We had a great time.
Judy
www.oklahomarawmilk.homestead.com

[ranlan]

Hello Jucal,
I saw your exhibit at the Tulsa State Fair. I was there last weekend showing horses. It looked good. I came by to say hello but you were starting to clip some cows and I thought you were probably busy.

Randy
SW MO

[JeffNY]

Funny, they call it the prettiest cow there, here it is simply "animal dress up". I watched it this year, more or less they have a certain amount of time to dress up the heifer, then walk around. Good entertainment.



Jeff

[Valmai]

You are not going to like it, but I have to say... those cows look very thin!!

[jucal]

Valmai,
You must not know about dairy. Even the prettiest cow in her regular competitation was judged too heavy. She came in second because of that reason. It doesn't upset me that you said that because I always want to put more meat on their bones. Fat cows are not always a good thing. Beef cattle yes. Dairy cattle no.
Judy
www.oklahomarawmilk.homestead.com

[JeffNY]

I'll second what Judy said. When people call a cow dairy, or it looks dairy. The difference is this, some animals genetically look dairy, they have a clean neck, they are sharp at the whithers, they have nice sweeping rib, open ribbed, long body. The dairy look genetics wise is more or less a very femanine look. The other dairy aspect is the ribbyness. More or less a coarse animal that has a dairy look, vs a beef look is desired. You don't want a fat dairy cow, you will have problems with breeding, calving, and it does effect their production. Yes some will overeat, and some will be skinny looking because they are milking like crazy. I know of someone who feeds a holstein 45lbs of grain a day. Not because he is trying to push her, but because she milks 120lbs a day, and can't keep condition.


Another aspect to the skinny look is genetic, some animals don't beef out like others. They milk heavy and never keep on condition, much like that cow I mentioned making 120lbs. I have a heifer, last test she tested 80lbs, she hasn't lost one bit of condition since she calved, so genetically she can convert feed to milk, and to her maintainence efficently.


Now if a beef cow has a lot of rib, and doesn't have any dairy in her at all (mine have some Jersey, so they have these big thick ribs). Then it likely is thin, however some beef cows I have seen some rib on them, it seems to be the look amongst beef cows. Steers, bulls, and calves should be solid.

I looked over her animals, they have the rib that the judges look for, the typical look for dairy animals, and they look to have a good clean hide.


Jeff