The Farm.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 27, 30 September 1893, Page 3

The Farm.

PREPARING STOCK EOR SHOWS. HOW THE PRIZES ARE WON. Now that the show season is approaching in Southland, the following remarks by “ Thistledown ” in the Australasian, will he of interest — Eor the benefit of amateur exhibitors I purpose giving a series of short articles on the methods employed by experts in preparing stock for the showyard. In order to make the information intelligible to the inexperienced, it will* be necessary to divide the subject into sections, and deal with horses, cattle, sheep and pigs separately. These various sections could also be separated with advantage, as the different varieties of horses, cattle, or sheep, require somewhat different treatment in detail ; but a knowledge of the general principles is all that need be dealt with for the present. Let us first learn the IB C of the business before we commence the higher accomplishments, which can only be acquired from practical experience. Preparing animals for the showyard is doubtless an art which only a limited number of stockowners fully understand. It is, in fact, an accomplishment so very difficult to acquire that comparatively few can master it and use it to the same advantage as a skilful artist uses a paintbrush. One of the most celebrated stock-breeders who ever lived once declared that he could find a thousand men fit to be Premier of England sooner than he could find one who could breed shorthorns. The same remark is true with regard to fitting stock for the show-yard. Not more than one farmer in a thousand makes a success of the show business, There are, of course, many successful exhibitors, so far as taking a large number of prizes goes, but winning prizes which cost more than they are worth, and at the sacrifiice of the animals concerned, can hardly be called legitimate stock-keeping. It is easy enough for a person who has plenty of spare cash at his command to step into the first rank of exhibitors, and take prizes. But that sort of people do not, as a rule, continue the game very long. After a few years they begin to realise that to employ skilled and reliable grooms or herdsmen, and to purchase the best foods and appliances required, cost more money than they anticipated. They soon come to the conclusion that .a ruined beast is poor compensation for the expense and the honour and glory of gaining’ a prize. That class of exhibitors are too numerous, unfortunately, and they do an incalculable amount of harm not only to themselves but others. They are—

“ Like a snowflake on the river, A moment white, then melts for ever.” The only benefit the genuine stockbreeder derives from the class of exhibitors with more money than sense, and who are here to-day and away to-morrow, is the occasional chance he has of selling them a promising young beast at a high figure. On the other hand, there are many plain practical stockowners who have an impression that they cannot compete successfully against exhibitors who have little regard for the expense incurred in fitting stock for show. This, however, is a great mistake. The men who take prizes year after year are, as a rule, gifted with experience rather than a surplus of hard cash. They do not go to so much expense as is generally supposed. They simply adopt rational methods in preparing their animals for exhibition, and although many of their methods cannot be expressed in words, at least an outline of their system of working can be drafted on paper. It is just as difficult to explain in words the pecular talents that were possessed by such men as Thackeray, Dickens, Scott, Shakespeare, Bums, or Tennyson, whose writings are

immortal, or to tell the secret which produces the music of the greatest singers, as it is to describe the genius of the successful breeders and exhibitors of live stock. Each has his own peculiar gifts, which no one can properly explain or imitate. A lot of people imagine they can compose music, or poetry, or prose equal to the best authors, but when they submit their productions to a competent judge, the great majority of the effusions are immediately consigned to to the waste-basket. The same thing happens in the show-yard. A young and enthusiastic amateur, for example, brings out his beast for exhibition, which, in his opinion, can and ought to “ lick creaation.” But it does not always do it, all the same, and his disappointment is keen when the judges pass it by with a cursory glance. The first lesson, therefore, that young exhibitors have to learn, if they want to succeed and find pleasure in the venture, is to keep cool under defeat, [and appear perfectly satisfied with the judge’s awards. Making a protest is certainly justifiable if the rules and regulations have been openly departed from by an opponent. But complaining without reason, as many do, ox* merely because the opinion of others does not agree with your own, will do no good. Old and experienced exhibitors take their defeats gracefully, and try to find out the points in which they are by others considered weak, so that they may improve them before the next contest.