Jesse Tufty will be busy giving her cows a haircut this week as she aims for the top prize at one of western Canada's largest farm shows.
Once she and her four prize purebred Angus cows pull into the Edmonton Expo Centre, she and her father Leonard will have to give them the whole salon treatment with a shampoo, condition, and hair-cut, after which they'll spike their leg-hairs with glue and shine their bodies with oil.
"Every cow is different," she said, and some have been training for months for this week's show.
The Tuftys are two of the roughly 300 farmers and ranchers set to compete this week at the 43rd annual Farmfair International event in Edmonton. Some 90,000 people are expected to attend to see some of the top cow and horse breeders in North America compete for some $150,000 in prizes, including a new Dodge truck. Many will head across the street to Northlands Coliseum to take in the Canadian Finals Rodeo.
Farmfair is one of the biggest agricultural shows in Canada with about 2,000 purebred and commercial cows in attendance, said event manager Suzanne Bielert. There will be animal sales, horse-pulling and trick-riding demonstrations, and free food labs where guests can learn to make mozzarella and ricotta cheese.
New this year is the Rodeo's Future Champions event, where cowpokes aged nine to 14 will compete in six different roping and racing events, Bielert said. Also new are the career fair and the Sullivan's Stock Show University fitting contest, the latter of which is more or less a hairstyling contest for cows.
Competitive cows
Leonard Tufty said he's been showing his Angus cows at Farmfair for about 10 years.
"I grew up doing it," he said of animal shows, noting that his grandfather competed in purebred hog contests at Farmfair in the 1950s.
An Angus cow is a red or black cow that's bred for meat, Tufty said. Stout, easy-going and cold-resistant, they are one of Canada's most popular breeds.
"They'll eat anything you put in front of them."
At shows like Farmfair, judges will score cows based on how closely they resemble the ideal standard for a particular breed, Tufty said. The ideal Angus will be about 1,600 pounds, stout, docile, possessed of a big middle (the better to store lots of food) and have large feet, and be dark red or black.
"A cherry-red is perfect for showing."
Tufty said he picks out potential winners from his herd early in the season based on their looks and pedigree. These cows will get top-end feed and regular washings and hair-cuts, and be exposed to fans while in the barn to encourage more fur growth. Some will need pedicures.
"Right now we're washing them daily and have fans on them most of the day," he said.
Each cow will get a name, such as TNF-All That 26D. Tufty explained that the first part of the name identifies the cow's origins (Tufty-Nay Farm) while the digits and letter indicate birth order ("26D" for "26th born this year").
The cows also have to be trained to walk in a circle and line up for judging. To train them, Jesse said you use a stick to nudge their feet into the proper position, scratching their bellies when they do it right.
Animals pass through multiple rounds before winning best of their class, after which they can compete for best in the show, Tufty said.
While it can cost thousands of dollars to get a single cow ready for a show, the exposure you get from doing so is great for sales, Tufty said. If your animal wins top prize, as one of his did in 2011 at Farmfair, you can make additional funds by selling the animal's eggs.
Farmfair runs from Nov. 9 to 13. Tickets are $3 to $5. Visit farmfairinternational.com for details.
