Going whole-hog for Pa. Farm Show

HARRISBURG - Immaculate grooming isn't just a concern for beauty-pageant contestants. At the Pennsylvania Farm Show, Brandy, an 11-month-old Angus heifer, needs to look good, too.

As Jamie Brozman was sizing up the heifer from the Just Enuff Angus farm in Nazareth yesterday morning, her main objective was to de-emphasize the animal's bulging shoulders by giving its coat a closer shave there.

"It's really an art form, like sculpting," Brozman, 27, said inside the cattle exhibition hall over the din of electric hair clippers and blow dryers.

Brandy is among nearly 8,000 animals that will be on display at the 92d annual Farm Show, billed as the nation's largest indoor agricultural exposition. Nearly a half-million people are expected to attend the event, which opens tomorrow and continues daily through Jan. 12.

The show is a key event on the calendar for farm families seeking judges' accolades and buyers for their livestock. Preparing an animal for that much scrutiny requires allowing it to grow a thick coat of hair in the months leading up to the show, then using strategic grooming to accentuate the positives or downplay the negatives of an animal's physique, said Jennifer Hower, Brozman's 23-year-old sister.

The standard for bovine physical beauty calls for a body with a boxy shape. Ed Donough, 55, uses an adhesive material that acts like hair spray on his year-old bred heifer Tyra to make the hair near her tail stand up, creating a straight line along her back.

"You want to have that looking very square," said Donough, of Manheim.

Preparing hogs for show mainly involves bathing them to get the dust out of their hair, said Clyde McConaughey, 75, who is showing seven Duroc swine from his farm near Punxsutawney.

After the hogs are bathed, an oil-based gloss is applied to make their coats shiny, he said.

"You're not trying to hide something - you just want to make them look as good as you can," McConaughey said. "It's like these beauty products that are sold to the ladies."

Besides the livestock judging and displays, the show will feature 10,000 competitive exhibits and 270 commercial exhibitors. Other events include a "sheep to shawl" contest, cooking demonstrations, and a high school rodeo.

A whimsical refrigerated butter sculpture depicting three children and a cow waiting to board a school bus will also be on display. The 900-pound sculpture was unveiled yesterday.

At the end of the show, it will be shipped to Pennsylvania State University and State College High School to be used for projects converting it into biodiesel fuel.

The 2008 Pennsylvania Farm Show opens tomorrow and runs daily through Jan. 12.

Directions: The Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex is just off Exit 67 of Interstate 81 in Harrisburg. To alleviate traffic congestion on I-81, message boards and signs will direct visitors to alternate routes, including Elmerton Avenue and Routes 39, 22/322 and 230.

Admission: Free.

Parking: $5, including shuttle bus service to and from off-site lots.

For more information: Visit the show's Web site via http://go.philly.com/

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SOURCE: Associated Press

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