I got the blower and tested it in my dining room just to make sure it turned on and felt right. It did and I blew the dust out of the hose right into my face. It's too muddy to move the trailer, the truck would get stuck backing up to it, so instead I'm going to take my boys across the front yard to my sheep yard and tie them to the fence in the yard. The weather has been warmer the past couple days, so they won't mind the bath too much. I expect them to be afraid of the blower, but luckily for me, there's an old telephone pole in that yard that isn't attached to any wires, so it makes a perfect place to tie to one at a time. I'm going to try to get pictures before, during, and after their baths to show not only the improvement from getting clean, but the difference in how they look with their hair laying down.

Cool, can't wait to see the pics!
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Any specific reason as to why you moved around the cattle?

We needed our cows that are going to calve soon to be closer to the barn we have stalls in, so we switched them and our coming yearling heifers and put the bull and an open cow in a different place. The pen where the bred cows are has a run under the barn where the stalls are and gate leading into the barn, so if a cow has a calf, it'll be easy to move her and her calf into the barn. The heifers were also becoming obnoxious over there, and they're very happy because their space was doubled. There was also two heifers in a small pen that had gotten insanely muddy with recent rainfall and we needed to get them out of there before they got foot rot. We usually have that pen open to quarantine things, but one of those heifers is crazy and the other was there to be a good influence for her. The bull was moved because we didn't want him breeding the heifers since they aren't old enough yet, and the open cow went with him to keep him company so that he wants to stay where he was put. They're all pretty happy with their new arrangement since most of them got moved to pens they prefer. 2 of the bred cows are really bagging up, so we could have calves within the week. Things are going to be rearranged again in 3 or 4 months when we seperate them into groups of who we want bred to the shorthorn, who we're using the red angus on, and those that are calving in fall. The cows mostly enjoy getting moved around because they like having a change of scenery.

So this is what 2 incredibly dirty shorthorns look like. The fence behind them is 4 feet tall to show their height. While they aren't all that huge right now, they're only 8 months old, so they have a ton of growing left to do. I'll update this post with the wet and clean pictures after their baths.

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Pictures have been added. I only just got them put away. It takes forever to bath, dry, and clip 2 uncooperative calves. They got their faces and tails clipped, necks smoothed, and toplines fixed up. Neither one of them was a fan of the blower or the clippers.

Aww! Their so cute! I hope they do well for you!

When I put them back in their pen, I had to lead them past my angus bull and cow, and I learned 2 things about my bull. 1) he's incredibly horny and angry with the the red angus bull. 2) the red angus has apparently been taunting him from a distance. There's about 20 feet between their places, and they tried to fight while I led the shorthorns back. When they were released, Etherion stood by the fence, watching the red angus and mooing, and the red angus would look at him, moo back, try to jump the cow, and then go back to having a stare down. There is a psychological battle going on over there that I've only just been made aware of. Etherion is clearly jealous that Excalius has a girlfriend, and Excalius is taunting him from a distance. I've never seen a set of cattle having such a fight. The stallion in the pen between them isn't part of the fight, but he watches them and looks between the bulls when he isn't eating. He has a front stage seat to spectate. It's actually kind of funny, and It also tells me that he's absolutely going to be ready to get to work by June.

Entei is going to his first show on Saturday. There's a local jackpot that we called and asked how to enter, and since I can go, this will be the perfect chance for me to A) get an accurate weight on him. B) give him some show experience at a show that isn't going to be gigantic. And C) it'll give me a chance to get feedback on him and have a good time. I found that I can take a commercial heifer, so I picked a slightly halter trained 11 month old heifer from the pasture and dragged her up today. She didn't walk happily. She's a brangus/angus cross named Erratic. She's a cute chunky girl, but not very friendly and doesn't lead amazing. However, there's always hard to handle cattle at the fairgrounds the show is being held, so with what I can do with treats and attention in the next few days, she'll probably be a normal amount of rank for that venue. Erratic was bottle raised and used to love me, but after 6 months in pasture, she's a little sceptical. She only weighs about 500 pounds, so she would be easier for me to handle than the pissy 1200lbs steer I showed in fall. That MFer had 11 months of halter training and was fine at home, but always got upset and funky at shows. I would have picked my shorthorn heifer, Eevee, but that poor little monster has ringworm and it probably won't be cleared up by then. Part of why I chose to take a heifer along is because Entei can be a little nervous and I want him to have a friend go along with him to help him keep calm. Bulls aren't allowed, so Etherion can't go to be his buddy. Erratic is the only heifer young enough to go that doesn't have ringworm. If Eevee's ringworm clears up, she'll be switched. For the next few days, I'm going to be going out with antifungal cream and smearing anything I can get hands on.

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Entei had a little practice with using the show stick and setting up, and he was better than I remember him being. He handles amazing and sets up pretty much automatically. We put the weight tape on him, which is a measuring tape that gives and approximate weight based on girth, and it says he weighs about 850lbs, so I'm excited to see what the scales at the show say. The weight tape is usually pretty accurate. He spent some time tied to the trailer and was comfortable enough to lay down for a while. The show is a "blow and go" which means animals are shown out of trailers and beds and pens aren't set up unless it's done at thw trailer. On Friday, Entei and Erratic are getting bathed, blown, and clipped for the show. They will get a bath and fluffing at the show, but I don't want to have to clip them there. I'm very excited about Entei and I feel like Erratic could do ok in commercial simply because she's super sound and correctly made while still having a decent amount of muscle. I'll post pictures of the 2 of them on show day. There's also a showmanship jackpot at the end, so I'll get have a bit of practice and see how I do with Entei. I will be doing showmanship with him at the big show I bought him for, so this is a great opportunity for me to practice. We've kept in touch with his breeder since we bought him, and she's impressed with his growth, so I may have a good show this weekend. At the very least, I'll have fun with one of the prettiest cattle there.

Today was grooming day for Entei and Erratic. Entei was amazing to work with. He stood perfectly for his bath, including scrubbing in around his brisket and sheath to get mud off him. He likes to lay in a slightly muddy place even though he has like 30×10 feet of nice, dry barn a few feet away. He's realized that the blower isn't scary and stood tied to the truck in the driveway for his drying and clipping. He was way nicer to clip that I was expecting and I think I did my best job to date on him. Erratic was her name, erratic. Jumping around during her bath, swinging her butt back and forth when drying, and making sudden moves when clipping that made her turn out looking less than ideal. Her halter manners have improved leaps and bounds over the last few days, to the point that I feel completely comfortable leading her across our unfenced front yard. Still however, after looking at next to Eevee and looking at Eevee's improving ringworm situation, I decided to switch the two. It was still good for Erratic to have the training she had over the last few days, so it didn't end up being for nothing. She is way calmer now than she was before.

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About my little rat Eevee, well, she's kind of small. She's 2 months older and 300 pounds lighter than Entei. Eevee has loved me from day one and got to go be a petting zoo calf every Saturday over the summer. She's been to local, county, and state shows and never placed below 2nd in a class. Eevee may be small, but she's well made and grabs attention when she enters the show ring. She was also the calf I showed in showmanship at my county fair with, and we finished 2nd out of 12. Eevee is also a spunky little sucker. She's incredibly fresh and wants to bounce around the second you start leading her. She does calm down, but it takes her a few minutes. She's impossible to spook and likes going places, so with her already being familier with the fairgrounds we're going to, we think she'll be a much better companion than Erratic. She's going to get a major bath and grooming once we get there. I'm a little excited to see what the judge has to say about Eevee too. I've never had a negative comment about her, but the things she's been up against were always a little bigger for their age or shorter legged and fatter, but my little monster has a great skeleton and feminine front end, so I'll get to see how she does at what will probably be her last show ever. Here is what the little brat looks like. The picture is old. It's from the middle of September. She weighed 270 a week before I took the picture. She weighed 337 October 2nd, so I think she weighs a little over 500 now.

I ended up only showing Entei because it quickly became apparent that I would not be able to get the mud off of Eevee. Entei was about how I expected him to be. He behaved for the most part, but he was nevous since it was his first show. He weighed 806, which was about what I need him to be to make the 1000 by the big show. He was pissy in the show ring, but very nice outside it. We were hanging out by the blue curtain where people took pictures after classes since it was the least windy place, and someone crouched inches away from his back end to take pictures. Entei never flinched or even swished his tail. He placed last in his class, but he was 200 pounds lighter than the rest of his class and the judge was going mostly by how professional the clipping was, and I'm not an expert. He also didn't say anything specific about mine, but a friend of ours reccomended a supplement to really bulk the little guy up, so we're going to hit up a tractor supply soon to grab the stuff for him. Overall, his attitude was good, he set up nicely, and was one of the prettiest cows there, so I consider that a good first show for him.