Dairy show has cream of the crop

Katelyn Crest proved herself to be among the cream of the crop during the Western Canadian Classic 2009 Junior Dairy Show on Friday at the Moose Jaw Exhibition Grounds.
The 15-year-old Team Alberta representative from Athabasca won the morning junior showmanship competition, vying against representatives from Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and British Columbia.
"It's good, because you're competing with all the western provinces in your age category," Crest told the Times-Herald. She won the showmanship competition alongside her red Holstein cow Alfalfa.
Crest said the showmanship competition is more about her abilities than her cow's. However, the animal still needs to be under complete control during the judging process, but Crest said months of care and training left her worry free as to how Alfalfa would perform.
"She knows what to do."
Also representing Team Alberta, Olds' Lisa Jakobson, 14, kept her Jersey cow Nixe perfectly still as judge Gerald Coughlin examined the authority of the young Albertan competitor over her animal.
"Showmanship - you're training to present the animal to its best abilities and keep it under control," she said following her skills performance, adding although she didn't win, she considers the chance to compete a valuable learning experience in itself.
She said it took a lot of work to get her cow used to a halter and a lot of preparation went into her qualifying for the Moose Jaw competition.
Although both Jakobson and Crest prepared thoroughly for the Western Canadian Classic, skill is only half of what it takes to win. There's also pizzazz.
Team Saskatchewan's Kenton Lindenbach, from Balgonie, spent much of his Friday morning trimming, washing and blow-drying cows. He said competitive dairy cows need a specific look to win - a more sleek appearance then beef heifers.
"What you want to do is make the animal look more angular," he said, adding most a cow's body is typically buzzed with a pair of hair clippers, except for a thin ridge that runs along the entire length of the animal's spinal vertebrae. The animal is then sprayed with various bovine beauty treatments to give a glossy shine.
"These animals are like track stars and the beef cattle are like sumo wrestlers," he said.
Today, the Junior Dairy Show continues with stall competition from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and conformation classes starting at 10 a.m.

Carter Haydu can be reached at 691-1265.