A Fair Amount of Primping in Pomona

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

Sept. 21, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Gary Wade and his three kids--children, not goats--were fussing over their 1,000-pound, 18-month-old steer with brushes, blow-dryer and nearly $40 worth of hair conditioner, mousse and hair spray.

“He has really good hair,” Wade said, his eyes focused on each long, slow stroke along the steer’s side. As he and son Trevor, 11, worked the mousse into the steer’s hair, daughter Jodi attended to his tail.

“You put the tail up into a little bun and then just put a lot of hair spray on it so it’ll stay up,” the 12-year-old explained, gently teasing the steer’s scraggly appendage into a coif the judge would like.

The lucky bovine from Alamo, Nev., was among 112 beef cattle, 280 hogs and 534 sheep enjoying luxurious make-overs last week as their proud owners prepared them for the livestock show at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona. The Wade Family was one of hundreds of exhibitors--mostly students from 4-H and Future Farmers of America agriculture clubs--competing in the livestock show that started Friday and continued through the weekend at the county fairgrounds.

The average urban meat eater may not relate to all the fuss about livestock grooming. But to the serious animal raisers, who came from as far as Arizona and Atascadero, there is an aesthetic behind the cow- and hog-primping that goes on amid the din of squeals and moos.

“The older they get, the longer their tail gets,” Gary Wade said of steers like his. “So you tie it up so it’s even with the belly. And it makes him look taller and younger.”

The hair above the rump was fashioned into a mohawk and gobbed with spray--to create an angular look, Wade said. To smooth down the curls that don’t stay in place--the infamous cowlicks that afflict humans as well--the Wades brushed the animal for days before the fair.

To get rid of the dents and bumps on their backs, the hair is clipped, teased, combed up and sprayed down, creating “an illusion of level,” said Bill Turnquist, the fair’s agricultural manager.

“They don’t fool the judge,” he said, “but it’s just for general appearance, just like when you put brilliantine on your hair.”

Exhibitors have been washing, clipping, brushing and primping their livestock for months before the fair. Most aspire to take their animals to the Junior Livestock Auction on Tuesday, where they will be sold at sometimes hefty profits.

Late into the night before Friday’s show began, hogs were being washed and their ears clipped--hairy ears are considered unbecoming even on swine--while dairy goats and sheep were subjected to full body clips.

In the market lamb section of the barn, 23-year-old Lance Hill from Cal State Fresno perched his black-eared beast on a stand, getting it ready for a clip.

“The best way to look at it is like when you look at a model,” he said. “Like an hourglass figure--that’s how you want it to look.

A few feet away, Kim Bartlett, 20, admonished a couple of intoxicated young men who dug their fingers into her sheep like it was a house cat.

“Don’t touch her!” she said.

The men got the message and moved on to coo at the goats nearby.

“It leaves little holes in the wool,” Bartlett said after they left. “And it’s very difficult to get them out.”

An agriculture major at Cal Poly Pomona, Bartlett distinguished her quiet, all-white breeding sheep named April from Hill’s market breeders.

“Muscling is important, yes, but you also want the judge to see the size of her legs, how proportional she is and most important, how well she’s bred.”

Back at the Wade family’s corner of the barn, Gary Wade whispered that the black steer was plump enough to be served up for dinner. Apparently oblivious to its fate, the half-ton creature enjoyed the doting treatment, drooling with pleasure on 11-year-old Trevor as the youngster struggled to brush on the mousse.

Today’s County Fair Highlights

Grandstand (Racetrack):

Horse Racing

First post--1 p.m.

Entertainment:

Peking Acrobats--3, 6 and 9 p.m., Pepper Street Stage.

Tower of Power--8 p.m., Fairplex Hill Stage.

Cody Bryant--3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m., Gold Mine Western Stage.

Pacific Rider Band--5, 6, 7 and 8 p.m., Chuck Wagon Stage.

Chuck Jones’ Festival of Magic--2, 5, 7 and 9 p.m., Plaza of the States Park.

Gale Webb BMX/Skateboard Stunt Thrill Show--4 and 6 p.m., Plaza of the States Park.

Bryan Sheyer--noon to 3 p.m.; Tyrone Anthony, 5 to 9 p.m., Wine Garden Stage.