The Show, Part Two

Yesterday came bright and early, and I thought I handled 6 AM pretty well considering it was my Graduation Banquet the night before. People call me crazy, but it is what I love. My Achievement Day went well yesterday, for those of you who are interested. My steer placed second, my three year old placed first and I was awarded Reserve Champion Senior Female Showmanship. This introduces our topic today, of the human activities once we enter the showring.

Lining the Cattle up for a final evaluation

Entering the showring is like lining up at the start line of the Indy 500. No one knows who will leave in first place, and who will come in last, but everyone has their favourites. After a class has been marshalled outside the ring, put in their respective order, and instructed on the route they will take in the ring, the gates are open and the animals and their handlers enters. Thus begins the interesting and, perhaps, bewildering process of placing a class, which I will explain to you.

When cattle are allowed into the showring, they usually walk around the perimeter at least once, but usually twice. The lead animal sets the pace, which is then maintained by the rest of the class. Unruly and stubborn animals are assisted by the ringmen, who help the handlers control and move their animals. The lead animal is told to stop along the longest side of the ring so that the right side of the animals are facing the crowd. This allows the crowd to view the animals as the judge moves around. Once the animals have stopped in the profile, the judge moves in to look at them more closely. Each animal gets an individual evaluation, where the judge looks at them from all angles and studies anything that he or she may or may not like about the conformation. The judges are the boss in the ring, and they may touch an animal for whatever reason, move them around, ask the handlers and the ringmen to make animal A and B walk for comparison, etc. After this evaluation, the judge begins to place his class. It is the responsibility of the showperson to watch the judge for the call, because some judges are benevolent and some are not. If the showman wasn't paying attention, it is likely that their entry will be skipped over and lose it’s placing in the class. As animals are pulled out, the ringmen set them up in a line in the middle of the ring, side by each. The goal is to have the animals with all of their front feet on the same line at the same time. This rarely happens, but sometimes the ringpeople are lucky. Once the cattle are lined up on the rear-view, the judge walks around once more to make sure he likes where the animals are, and then gives his reasons

The initial profiling of all the entries, after the parade around
the ring

Reasons start with the first animal and end with the last, and justify the placing the judge made. The reasons are comparative and brief, and designed to make the audience and handlers understand the thoughts behind each and every placing. Once reasons are completed, the animals are allowed to leave the ring. This entire process takes from 15-45 minutes, depending on the number of animals and the difficulty of the class. Sometimes classes are hard to place because none of the cattle deserve first, and sometimes because all of the cattle deserve first. The judge's opinion on that day at that time dictates the placing of the cattle, and on a different day at a different time, those placings would be different.