THE UDDER STORY

[Stanley]

THE UDDER STORY

13 August 2004

As many of you will have realised I’m usually up early and I enjoy listening to Farming Today on R4. Over the years I have built up a relationship with two splendid woman on the programme, Sarah Falkingham and Miriam O’Reilly. I often send them my views on the news items they cover and they haven't told me to stop yet.
This morning there was a news item about cattle dealers showing cattle at Melbourne Show in Australia being caught injecting fluid into cows udders to ‘improve’ them. I am dead against this practice but had something to say to my mates on the general subject of showing cattle. It fits in nicely with the Urban/Rural thing that’s bubbling up in my head so I thought I’d share my thoughts with you.
“Dear Sarah and Miriam, I'm sat here listening to the item about udders. To tell you the truth, I'm smiling about it. I've never come across injecting gas or fluids into the udder but sealing the teats with collodion after the evening milking the day before you showed a beast was standard practice. It wasn't seen as being dangerous because if the milk pressure built up too far the seal broke and milk ran out. The first thing you did when the cow came out of the ring was break the seals and get the auction or show milker to milk the beasts. That was the only reason he was there, to milk cattle in the middle of the day, in truth, a late morning milking. 
Collodion was useful in other ways as well, one of the things a buyer or judge looked for was teats that were level and perpendicular. If you had a cow with a teat that was looking sideways repeated applications of collodion on the opposite side to the bend gradually pulled the teat in because the collodion shrinks as it dries. 
Buyers and judges used to look for width in the 'twist', the back surface of the udder and judicious clipping could improve the looks of this. A rosy blush in the twist and silky feel was a good thing and this could be enhanced by rubbing it with a dry bar of red carbolic soap. I used to keep red and white soap until it dried as it worked better then. Another blush producer was a bottle of Guinness half an hour before they went into the ring, some men gave them a dose of Day and Sons Red Drink in warm milk. 
Clipping was an art. A good man could produce a straight back line over the tail with the clippers. After washing, when the cow was just starting to dry out, a good brushing brought the natural oils in the skin up and put a shine on the coat and if they had a curly coat, say an Ayrshire, you could rub a dry bar of soap against the grain and lift the coat filling the cows frame out. Handlebars and feet were polished with OOO wire wool and oiled with Driffield Oil if you really wanted to make a show. 
All this was regarded as good stockmanship. I remember I was once getting a beast up at Gisburn Auction for sale and a well-known local man, John Howard of Eslaker Farm who kept rare breeds, came and looked over my shoulder as I straightened a teat and said “Nah then lad, where did you learn that?” I turned round and said “Watching thee John!” He just smiled and walked away. Later he had a word with Richard Drinkall who I worked for as a cattle wagon driver and told him I was a sharp lad. Richard agreed and said I wasn't bad for a wagon driver! I told Richard later that when he got to the stage where he knew as much about wagons as he’d taught me about cattle he'd be a good man. 
It was all a game, the good men knew what was going on and it never harmed anyone. It certainly made for some handsome cattle and the beasts enjoyed it as well. There is no better sight than a line of well got up cattle stood quiet and eating good hay at an auction or a show. Good days. Best, Stanley.”

13 August 2004