Did I ever tell you how the ones with white markings are done special? Since that white hair gets stained yellow (from mud and manure), it may need some special treatment. Just like little old ladies with white hair use a blue or purple rinse on it to brighten it up, and just like people back in the day used to use bluing in their white loads of laundry, we use blue or purple shampoo on our animals. What few stains don't wash out, get clipped off. So it works out.
Okay, so we've clipped our animals. Our advisor has clipped the topline. Our advisor has also used a brush to style the topline with adhesive. (It's like heavy duty hair product.) There is a sticky powder that she brushes in. It's a rosin. We've already scrubbed their ears out. Once while we washed them and once just a few minutes before or after we've changed into our white dairy show clothes. Put a leather and chain show halter on your animal. Black leather for Holsteins and Brown Swiss. Brown for Ayrshire and Milking Shorthorn. I can't remember about Jerseys.
Before you take your animal out of your aisle and walk them to go in the ring, you brush off any stray pieces of hair or straw. If anything is stuck in the topline, carefully pick it out without damaging the topline. We also use a spray that gives their hair shine. It smells good, too.
By show day, the fly population has grown. Use a light aerosol fly spray on your animal. You don't want them agitated by flies while you are trying to show them.
You also give their hooves a shine.
It's best if you have one person holding the halter and one person doing these final steps to make her all shiny before you go show her.
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