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Clydes ’ Meat and Wool Cup Win

Honestly, our participation in the Wairarapa A & P Show was more by accident than design.   While we enjoy showing, our preparation time had been minimal and the decision had been made to skip competing at this show.   We were attending as spectators only, having offered to transport Adele Hilas’s beautiful animals
(Tunipo Fold) in our stock truck.   Adele had been encouraging us to include a couple of our cattle in the Show, as there was room to spare in the truck, and we “might as well have a go”.

So at the last moment Clyde of Tigh Mor and Katina of KawSak were entered in the appropriate classes and off we went.

Now Clyde had just recently celebrated his first birthday and was required to have his nose rung before entering the ring.   It was   obvious to us that Clyde was shaping up to be a handsome hunk, so it behooved us to make sure the job was done right – enter our Vet (must know more than us after all!) and … oops

Now in all fairness to our Marvelous Vet (hereafter known as M.V) some things must be said. First our region is inhabited primarily by Dairy cattle, the majority of whom never see a show-ring in their lives, especially the bulls.   So, while M.V has extensive experience, the ringing of bull’s noses is not a regular occurrence.

Secondly we were under the misguided impression that as Clyde is going to develop into the Arnold Schwarzenegger of the highland bull world, he would need a large ring that he could grow into. So we presented M.V with a nose ring that was so large one could mistake it for a life preserver.   M.V, assuming we knew what we were about, plus us, trusting in M.V’s experience to guide us, equaled Clyde with a nose ring that he could hardly see around ,   and inserted too far up his nose.

Obviously this created some problems, as Clyde immediately lost condition, his nose bled with very little provocation and he became depressed. The situation was awkward for us. We realized our mistake, but with the show season upon us, had to either give his nose time to settle down, or pull Clyde out for the season, remove the ring and hope the hole would close then re-do the piercing later.

Thankfully by the time the Wairarapa Show came around Clyde had begun to regain some condition and was happier, although pressure on the nose-ring still caused bleeding.

On the morning of the show Carole shared the sad tale with Sue Wylie and Drew Stein who both had a look at the bull and agreed that while the job had not been well done, it would be a shame not to show him. Strategies for repairing the damage were discussed and then the decision needed to be made.

  To show, or not to show? – that was the question.

Clyde had to wear a clip and lead attached to his nose ring while showing and although he is an exceptionally quiet and willing animal there was still the chance that his nose might be bumped and bleed.

Angus had not been able to make the trip so a hurried phone call left the final decision with him.

“Yes, go ahead.” Angus was confident that Sam would be able to handle Clyde without unduly pressuring the bull’s nose, and we should not miss the opportunity to get both the boys into the ring.

The rest of the day passed in a whirl of activity as Clyde proceeded to win each of his classes with glowing commendations from the judge.

As the 1 st class finished Raz, who was handling Katina, texted Angus with the news. By the time we got to the 2 nd last class texting was taking way too long! The phone line was running red hot transmitting results as they occurred. But the final class, ‘Supreme Champion of Show’ really took the cake. Angus was receiving a breathless blow by blow account of events from Carole, including descriptions of the outstanding 2 yr old Simmental cow and calf, the 3 yr old Hereford cow and calf, and the Red Devon yearling heifer. Every move, every comment that the judge made was relayed to Angus, along with the reoccurring observation “He can’t win this! A yearling bull can’t beat cow and calf units!” Even believing this, the excitement was HUGE!!!!

Then the judge motioned Sam and Clyde forward. Carole muttered “He must want to look at Clyde again”, while everyone around us starting clapping and cheering and hugging us! The realization that Clyde was being awarded Supreme Champion left Carole gabbling incoherently and if poor Angus had not been able to hear the judge’s pronouncement and following comments, he may have thought Carole had lost her power of speech. “Not possible!” we hear some of you say, but it was a very close thing. The beautific smile and glazed expression on Sam’s face would have been something for Angus to see - in fact the only cool customer in the Tigh Mor team was Clyde!

It was a truly wonderful moment, which was made much better by the genuine enthusiasm and affection shown to us by friends and acquaintances in the industry.

A confession – A comment was made by someone a few minutes after this win, referring to the Meat and Wool Cup. Startled out of her gob-smacked state, Carole attempted to rush off and tell Sam that Clyde had another class to prepare for. The fact that they had just won the Meat and Wool Cup had completely gone over her head. Sue kindly pointed out that the ribbon Carole was clutching had the title blazoned all over it, and that Carole was a chook. Agreed!

On a more serious note there are two observations that we would like to share.

The first is that while winning in the show ring is an absolute thrill, it is a very transient thing. The animal that wins today will not continue winning forever. To become obsessed with winning must be the shortest path to separating people from one another. The experience at the Wairarapa Show was clear. The thrill of winning that wonderful Championship ribbon was equaled by the out-poured goodwill, warmth and friendship of the people around us. That was awesome.

The second is in relation to judges. During the early show season we have been privileged to hear judges making clear and determined decisions in the ring, and then explaining how and why they have done so. These comments have been met by people with varying degrees of appreciation. It appears judges are in a similar position to referees at All Blacks games, most people think they can do the job better – from the sideline! Of the animals we have shown so far this season Clyde has excelled, and we have listened carefully to the constructive criticism leveled at our other animals, understanding that we may choose to reject these observations or we may choose , if it helps us, to use them as a teaching tool.

We would like our animals to win all the time.
They won’t.

We would like the all judges to like our animals as much as we do.
They won’t.

If we can live with this, we’ll win some, we’ll lose some and we’ll learn a lot along the way.

Maybe one day we’ll be standing in the ring calling the shots, hoping everyone will still like us afterwards.
They won’t.