Imke knows she is something special. After all, she is the former Miss East Frisia.
Now, with her head held high and proud, she lets herself be groomed, stepping elegantly around the long water hose lying on the floor of her ... stall.
This is no ordinary beauty contest. Imke is getting ready to compete for Thursday's "Miss Germany" contest in Oldenburg, but this will not be a contest between young women in bathing suits, but a challenge for the title of most beautiful dairy cow.
In her training camp in Leer, in the eastern Frisian region of Germany, Imke is put through the final paces for her appearance. She is showered and scrubbed, then shampooed, dried off and brushed down. For days now, Imke and her bovine colleagues have been kept on a special diet.
"They are fed the best feed and hay from Austria, seasoned with herbs from mountain pastures," says Anne-Mette Evers, of the East Frisian Cattle Breeder Association.
The association is sending 20 red-and-black spotted cows to the Oldenburg show. Altogether, around 200 Holstein cows from Germany and Luxembourg will be competing in the German Holstein Show pageant for the Miss Germany title.
So what makes one cow more beautiful than the next one? Jury members will be looking for strong legs and a powerful bone structure. And a voluminous udder. Skinny cows simply have no chance.
So Imke and the other cows in Leer are allowed to eat as much as they please. Each cow consumes about 25 kilograms of feed per day, in addition to a great deal of hay and other tasty cow treats.
About 20 helpers tend to the cows in Leer. They carefully prepare the cows for the event, pampering them around the clock.
Every day the animals' sleeping stalls are prepared with fresh new straw and sawdust that creates a soft layer for them atop the hard concrete floor.
Island, the current Miss East Frisia title-holder, has made herself at home. Above her head a fan whirls to provide fresh ventilation. At the foot of the stall there is a bucket - which helpers quickly rush to hold beneath her when nature calls and she lifts her tail.
The cows' hides are to be shimmering and the hair neatly falling, so the attendants immediately brush down the hair right after the daily shower. And to assure the very best hair, two specialised cow coiffeurs were flown in from Canada.
Attendant Meike Kruse uses a rubber brush on the tail of Helena. The hairs on the tail are soft and curly, but unfortunately still too short to meet the conventional idea of beautiful cow hair. But Meike says this won't be a problem for Helena at the beauty pageant.
"She will be given a toupee."
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