My name's Dakota Smith, and I'm gonna show you how to survive... in the show arena! 

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I started showing when I was 9 years old, I won Miss Arkansas Beef when I was 17, and now I teach kids on my dad's show team how to compete to win. 

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We're real big on winning around here. In fact, I was discouraged from writing this part of the site because "we don't give away our trade secrets to just anybody."

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Okay. Slow down there James Bond. This isn't exactly classified information. Everybody knows this stuff IF they've been showing for years. 

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Let me break it down for you.

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KNOWLEDGE

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It doesn't matter if you're showing for Showmanship or showing to kick some butt (although it particularly matters in showmanship), knowledge is your best friend. Showmanship is where they judge YOUR showing ability and knowledge of your animal. THEY ARE NOT judging the calf, but rather how you handle the calf. However, in my professional opinion, excellent showmen tend to do better in a judging environment as well, as they know how to show off their animal and work the judge.

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My coaches were brutal. I had to study before a show. I sat down with a print-out of the anatomy of a beef cow and with a list of facts so that I was prepared for anything the judge could ask.

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"Where's the hock?"

"How many ribs are on each side of a cow?"

"How long does a cow gestate for?"

"Does a cow have teeth on the top or the bottom of the mouth?"

"Point to the ribeye, girl."

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These are all questions I was asked. Know your cuts of beef. Know your bones. Know your breeding facts. Know the sire and dam of your calf. Know how many pounds of what you feed and water a day.

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Do not let some clever cowboy judge throw you off. They're trying to help you learn and grow, but it will make you nervous. Keep calm.

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FORM & EXPECTATIONS

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In the ring, there are a few things you're expected to do, but no one tells you. There are cues, motions, steps you are expected to take when the judge views your heifer from the side or from the rear. 

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Here's everything you need to know.

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1. Always watch the judge. He won't usually speak to you, but instead will motion to you with his hand. They even tend to take eye contact/attention into account in showmanship. 

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2. If the judge touches your heifer or steer, that is a cue to whip out your comb and quickly brush the area before getting back to business with your show stick.

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3. If the judge views you from the side, then step to the front of your animal with your arm at a full extension if possible. The point is to be out of the judge's way. They don't want to admire you, they want to look at the animal.

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4. If the judge views you from the rear, then step to the side of your animal with your arm at a full extension.

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5. Hold your animal's head up. For beef cattle, you can scratch the brisket with your show stick and press up with your palm up on the halter.

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6. The ideal show calf is not the ideal animal you'd find out in the field. Shows tend to favor short, deep, fluffy (lack of a better word) cows that are basically boxes. That being said, the back needs to be FLAT. If your animal is "soggy" (FAT) then it's belly probably sags a bit. Scratch the navel with your show stick to bring it up.

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7. SETTING UP.

A) (It's important, so we capitalized it.) There are basically two ways to set up your animal, and it all depends on where the judge is. So from the side, you need to position the feet in the front together (far apart, but side by side) so that it looks like one leg from the side view. Now, the back legs need to be different. The leg on your side is straight or slightly forward, where the leg on the other side needs to be slightly back, like you're trying to show off the udders of the calf.

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B) When the judge is looking at the calf from the rear, you want to make her look as wide as possible. Judges like big butts and they cannot lie. So line the front legs up, and then, line the back legs up together this time and just as far apart as looks natural.  Stand out with your arm at a full extension to let the judge get a better view. 

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That's all I can think of at the moment, but you can reach out to the ranch any time you like and I'll coach you. Grooming, or "fitting", is a WHOLE other beast, and it can't possibly be "simply" explained because it varies from breed to breed. 

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Until then, enjoy this video of the girls from our junior show team trying to explain what they know. 

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Good luck!

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