INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — About twice a day, the Dickerson family lines up the brushes and blowers in their barn, working through a careful routine to prepare their heifers for the show ring.

“I’m conditioning this heifer because it helps replenish their skin and their hide,” Graham Dickerson said, who has learned the process step by step alongside his family. “Her hair’s special, so there’s a certain way you comb it. Once you get them blown dry, it just makes them look so much better, because they’re clean and they’re done.”

The regimen — washing, combing and blowing out the hair — is equal parts discipline and showmanship. For Graham, presentation matters as much as pedigree. “It doesn’t matter how good your he...