Allow 45 minutes to an hour to get your calf ready for the show on show day. Make sure your fitting chute is clean prior to putting your animal in the chute.
When you get your animal in the chute, use your blower and blow the animal out completely prior to starting to fit him. Use products such as Revive, Show Foam, Base Coat, Zoom Bloom, Show Sheen or Rag Oil to set the hair. The more you blow on the hair, the more volume it will get. Do not apply these products to the legs because the adhesive will not work to its full effectiveness.
Placement of nylon halter and show halter . . . Put your calf in the head gate of your fitting chute and place the show halter on the calf. Put the nylon halter over your show halter and lead your calf to the ring with the nylon halter. When you get ready to enter the ring pull the body hair up one last time, take the nylon halter off and make sure you have a coarse toothed scotch comb (with the teeth) handy.
Fit one rear leg at a time and divide the leg hair by 7/8 to 1/8. The leg hair should be pulled forward from 7/8 of the leg forward and up and the back part of the leg hair should be pulled backwards. Use E-Z Comb Adhesive or 77 adhesive to get the desired effect, taking care to not apply too much glue. Use a coarse toothed scotch comb to move the leg hair around the way it should be. Make sure you don't pull the leg hair up too high on the hindquarter. The leg and the hindquarter must blend in as smooth as possible. Once you get the leg hair set on the rear legs, use sheep heads with 7112 blades to clip evenly and make the leg look as straight and correct as possible.
Go to the front legs and pull the hair forward and up (using E-Z Comb Adhesive). You should "bone" the inside and outside of the front and rear legs. Allow the glue to dry, then begin clipping the hair. Once the hair has been clipped to the desired length, dust the leg with a light coating of 77 Adhesive or Tail Adhesive. When the glue is dry, spray paint the hair and the hooves with non-oil based paint. If the rules state that your show is a "no paint show", make sure that you don't get any paint above the legs in order to avoid disqualification.
Keep blowing on the hair with your blower to add volume and body to the hair. Oil the face, brisket, and neck area with Final Touch,, Final Bloom, Final Mist or Purple Oil to make your calf look fresh.
Make sure that your calf and you are as neat as possible, and, above all, have fun showing your calf!
Removing show products from your calf after the show . . . Several products are available to remove show products from your calf after the show, including: Hocus-Pocus, Unfit or a combination of alcohol and Purple Oil. Wash your calf, blow him out and replace the oils lost in the fitting process with Revive, Show Bloom or the product of your choice. Healthy hair is hard to keep and only hard work and diligence on your part will keep your calf's hair in proper condition.
