Cooper's attention, work with beef cattle help prepare him for shows


Gavin Cooper (center) enjoys showing beef cattle, as have his brother Rylan (left) and cousin Davin Wickman. (Photos by Pete Temple)

Gavin Cooper (foreground) works with a rotobrush to remove dead hair, while Rylan brushes the animal as part of the Cooper family’s daily routine.

Working with show animals is a day-long commitment, as Gavin Cooper has learned.

Davin Wickman, cousin to the Cooper boys, also enjoys showing and working with beef cattle.
BEEF AND DAIRY
By: 
Pete Temple
Express Sports/Ag Editor

     The work Gavin Cooper does with beef cattle in preparation for fair shows is more than early mornings, hard work and a months-long commitment.

     It’s also a bond.

     “It’s almost like you and your pet,” Cooper said. “By the county fair they’re used to you coming up and petting them and talking to them. Our past ones that we’ve shown are out in the herd now. The cool thing is, you can go out there and pet them, and they’ll come up to you, and let you scratch them.”

     Cooper, 16, was last year’s Supreme Champion at the Great Jones County Fair 4-H Beef Show. He said the bond is also among exhibitors.

     “The people you meet showing also enjoy it, so you all get along,” he said. “All the people around are fun, and you learn a lot of stuff from everyone else there.”

     His brother Rylan, 14, was Reserve Supreme Champion at the fair last year. He won’t be showing this year, but helps Gavin with his animals.

     “We usually wake up at 5,” Rylan said. “We’ve got to catch them, wash them off, and then put them in the cooler.”

     The “cooler” is the air-conditioned room the animals are kept in. Longer-haired cattle are preferred these days by judges, but they also require more cooling.

     Davin Wickman, 13, works with the family as well. He is Brian’s nephew. He has had success as well, taking fifth place overall in the 2015 county fair show.

     “It’s just really fun to go out there and work with them,” Davin said.

     Brian Cooper, father of Gavin and Rylan, said it’s a family project.

     “I guess I enjoy it because I get to spend time with my kids,” Brian said. “It’s good quality time. It’s teamwork. We spend a lot of time together.

     “You meet great people, everybody has the same morals, they’re in a great atmosphere, and their kids have great work ethic, because it’s a strong commitment.”

     The brothers used to show pigs, but with each of them becoming four-sport athletes, the commitment became too much.

     “I used to like pigs, but we quit doing that, because we didn’t have time to walk them three times a day and what not,” Gavin said. “So we do just cattle now.”

     The boys got started in showing largely because of the enjoyment their brother, Scot Stingley, got out of showing both pigs and cattle.

     “He loved the atmosphere of showing, and we helped him tie up the calves and walk the pigs,” Gavin explained. “It was like a family effort. When it became our time to show, we were already excited, so we wanted to get involved. I’d say that’s where it started.”

     Both began showing at age 10, through 4-H. In addition to county fair success, Gavin has done well at the Iowa State Fair as well. In 2014, his first year, he finished second in his class with a purebred Shorthorn. Last summer, Gavin finished fifth, in a class that included the eventual top two overall animals.

     “It starts with genetics,” Brian said. “You’ve got to have a decent one to start with, for them to work hard on. It’s in the breeding. Gavin and Rylan both have show calves now that they can sell to other kids that want to become showmen. They started with good calves.”

     Gavin agreed: “When we’re looking for calves, we’re not just looking to win the fair, we’re looking to the future, so we can raise our own one day. Now we have the genetics, and we’re starting to see great calves.”

     Getting an entry ready for a show is a day-long process, every day. The animals are rinsed, combed, and cleaned with a rotobrush, which is attached to a drill bit to remove dead hair.

     Gavin practices with a show stick, which is used to guide the animal around the show ring, and also spends time petting, scratching and talking to the animal.

     “We worked really hard last year,” Gavin said. “We knew we had good calves to start with, but we knew the competition was going to be hard, so we worked extra hard.

     “In our free time we’d go comb them, and talk to them, at the end of the day, we’d always use the show stick for probably 15 minutes. We would work with them as much as we could to get the best out of them we could.”

     Rylan added: “If you don’t teach them how to use the show stick, they’ll jump the first time you use it.”

     Talking to the animal gets it used to the handler’s voice. They sometimes invite friends over, which helps the cow get used to having other people around them.

     They also bring the cattle to other shows, to get them used to the process, the trailer, drinking out of buckets, etc.

     Then, when show day comes, Gavin says he is ready.

     “I don’t usually feel nervous, because I know we’ve worked as hard as we can,” he said. “It’s just a judge’s decision on that certain day. In your own eyes you feel good about what you brought to the fair.”

 

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