Kintyre Highlands, first Show Season

Part 1 : The Rehearsal

I as a complete novice, decided - with a bit of persuasion by Drew, to enter my first show season , having owned Highland Cattle for just eight months.

Thinking, it wasn't such a bad idea to get my name out there, meet other breeders and get my beloved beasties used to the show ring, I sent off the entry forms for my first big show: Manawatu.

The closer the date approached, the more nervous I got.

Incredible as it may seem, I  had not ever even watched cattle in the show ring. Yes, I had been to A&P Shows before - with four little boys in tow, whom I could never drag past the roundabouts and the toy stalls.

In addition, being new to farming, I had actually never towed a horse float, loaded up cattle, made up a pen out of gates, in short, I was lacking all the practical skills.

Ngongotaha, the little village, where I live, has a steam railway, which runs every week-end. On Labour Week-End, they were hosting a family picnic with bouncy castle, sausage sizzle and car boot sale - the perfect opportunity to mingle with my Highland Cattle.

The day before, I picked up the horrse float from Hire Quip- in a hurry, as usual- so nobody explained the technique of hooking it on and off, or the working of the brakes to me. I also had to pick up the gates to make the pen with and it took me some time, to work out, how to tie them to the horse float securely.

Finally, I got safely home ( no, I didn't loose a single gate on the way) -and all would have been well and ready for the next morning, if there had been food in the house- but there wasn't, and rather then face four starving boys, I had to make another shopping trip into town.  Under no circumstances, however was I taking the hoarse float with the gates tied onto it!

It took me just about an hour to back up the float to the place I wanted it in and it took me almost that time in the morning to hook it back onto the car.

The next morning, we got up early, ready to load Sinclair, my beloved Hummel bull, Ella-Rose, a yearling heifer and Gwyneth, my first calf- just eight weeks old. She is bottle-fed and has a little Hereford paddock mate,  Jamie, whom I decided to take for company as well. He however, somehow got off the halter and sped down the driveway, therefore missed his outing.

Usually I halter Sinclair and Ella-Rose in the paddock, but because we were now late and I was just a bit tense,( which I'm sure they realized), it took me quite a bit longer than anticipated .

In addition, my oldest 13 year old son deserted me in preference of a sleep-over with friends.

Finally I had loaded up my hairy friends and was on my way- didn't realize though, that the trailer brakes were still on, so arrived at the park with smoking brakes.

They allocated me a space right in between the live band, the steam train and the road, so the nosiest place you could have.

Making a pen out of gates took me some time, but finally I could take my cattle off the float.

They attracted a lot of attention, all the kids climbed onto the gates to stroke them. A lot of people, I talked to, had never seen Highland Cattle before and came to admire their looks. Everybody commented on their placid and docile nature and they certainly did behave very well.

My boys and I and hopefully also my three Highland cattle have thoroughly enjoyed the day.I was glad to having had the opportunity of a rehearsal before my first big show.

It made me realize, that there is much more to showing, than I first thought.

A lot of ordinary, non-farming people have never seen Highland Cattle before and I think, it's important to educate them about the breed.

It is also vital for the survival of the Highland Cattle as a  recognized and respected cattle breed,  to get them out in the show ring to compete with other breeds.

I feel proud after this outing, to actually have done it  - and if I as a complete novice can do it, anybody can.

So get your floats out and come to the shows!

Part 2 will be a report on the real show experience.

Part 2:  The real thing: Manawatu Show

As usual, when you're trying to do too many things at once, things got off to a bad start.  I finished work late, arrived at HireQuip for my horse float just before closing time, only to be told, that it was broken and they were doing their best to have it fixed by the morning.

Next on the agenda was washing Sinclair, Ella-Rose and Gwyneth - but it was also Halloween, so my boys wanted their traditional Halloween dinner with all gory things to eat- therefore cattle washing dragged on until well after dark.

The plan was, to pick up the horse-float the next morning after the boys had gone for the school bus - no such luck, they all missed the bus, having had a late night and not able to be rushed in the morning.

Finally though, having taken the kids to school and having towed the horse-float home, we (that is Daniel, my 13 year old and me) were ready to load the cattle - this time much more confident. Also learnt, that Sinclair always has to be loaded before Ella, otherwise she completely freaks out and tries to escape from the float.

We met up on the way with Dave and Alison Silcock (DAVAL Fold) and it gave me so much more confidence, going down together.

Got there about 9pm and we all helped each other unloading the cattle and bedding them down. After the long journey, they were all tired and hungry and happy to tuck into their allocated baleage.

We were also absolutely starving, not having stopped on the way down and there was nothing open at that time of night in Feilding. We were also not as well organized as the dairy farmers, who all sat there with their cattle, having a picnic and staying with them all night.

Again, Dave and Alison came to the rescue, we had a huge, very tasty Shepherds Pie and a really good fun night at ALison's sister.

Next morning, as we were all setting up our stalls, I realized, that half my promotional material was still in Rotorua and since I had spent a lot of time and effort designing it, I decided it was worth the effort to go all the way back and get it. I made the round trip in just over eight hours, while Drew set up my stall and looked after my son - thank you, Drew!

Next day was the big day, the actual show. We all started with washing our cattle ready for the ring. The atmosphere was really great, we were all washing, chatting to each other and helping each other out and all our Highlands looked absolutely magnificent in the morning sunshine.

Gwyneth, my little calf was first in the ring. She was the smallest in the calf class and just looked cute. No ribbon for her, but she walked very well on the halter.She attracted lots of attention though, when I walked her over the show ground a bit later during the day.

Next was Daniel leading Ella-Rose in the Junior handler's competition. He came third, which was really good, as he has never handled cattle before.

Then it was my turn with Sinclair. Unfortunately, there was no Junior bull class, so Sinclair being only 18 months old, had to compete against much older bulls, but still, he came third and I was really happy with that- I'm sure, his time will come, when he is a bit older.

So two ribbons for us, not bad for our first show, but even if we didn't get any, it would have been worth all the effort. It was so much fun, meeting other breeders, talking and working together, it was just a great atmosphere.

Preparing for the show also created a real bond between the animals and us, and also between my son Daniel and me, it got us really working together as a team.

We are now looking forward to many more shows, next time involving my other three boys as well - it was such a great experience!