65% of the Shorthorn breeds current design is based on show heifers.

[aj]

I'll probably get in trouble for this but were show cattle aged back in the say 50's........was there really a need to even do that back then?

 

[justintime]

I'll probably get in trouble for this but were show cattle aged back in the say 50's........was there really a need to even do that back then?

I think there have been cheaters since time began. I have no idea when the first cattle show was held, but I expect there was people trying to cheat to win back then. I remember hearing my grandfather tell stories of breeders back in the 20s and 30s who would slap the animal so much with rubber hoses so they could either loosen the hide enough so mineral oil could be injected, or enough to make them swell over the tail head so they would look thicker through the rear quarter.
I remember him also telling me about breeders who would actually roll the animal over and surgically open the skin in the flank and then stitch it up so it looked like it was lower in the flank. I was only a teen ager when I helped a well known breeder at a bull sale. His cattle always seemed to be so deep flanked. When no one was around I would check his bulls in their flank, and I could actually feel the stitch marks on the inside of the flank where this had  been done. I have never heard of anyone in modern day do stunts like this, but I am sure there has been some. There will always be cheaters and there will always be those who will do anything to win. That does not mean that we all have to do this. I still maintain that honesty, fairness and customer service will get you more customers than any ribbon you could ever win.

 

[shortybreeder]

I'll probably get in trouble for this but were show cattle aged back in the say 50's........was there really a need to even do that back then?

I think there have been cheaters since time began. I have no idea when the first cattle show was held, but I expect there was people trying to cheat to win back then. I remember hearing my grandfather tell stories of breeders back in the 20s and 30s who would slap the animal so much with rubber hoses so they could either loosen the hide enough so mineral oil could be injected, or enough to make them swell over the tail head so they would look thicker through the rear quarter.
I remember him also telling me about breeders who would actually roll the animal over and surgically open the skin in the flank and then stitch it up so it looked like it was lower in the flank. I was only a teen ager when I helped a well known breeder at a bull sale. His cattle always seemed to be so deep flanked. When no one was around I would check his bulls in their flank, and I could actually feel the stitch marks on the inside of the flank where this had  been done. I have never heard of anyone in modern day do stunts like this, but I am sure there has been some. There will always be cheaters and there will always be those who will do anything to win. That does not mean that we all have to do this. I still maintain that honesty, fairness and customer service will get you more customers than any ribbon you could ever win.

Look back on this site to "Big Mac" the champion steer that was painted black to look like an Angus, though he was actually a Charolais.

 

[JTM]

Being good at presenting cattle is fun and a good thing. It's fun to teach young people and get them into livestock and cattle. There is a dark side though. The ones that get "too good" at it. The pumping of fluids, the cutting of flesh and sewing back, the surgical removal of briskets and sheaths, use of steroid enhancers, use of air to separate skin from muscle to create scar tissue that appears as muscle, lying on birth dates by 2-3 months and sometimes more to gain advantage in purebred classes, and many other things that I can't think of right now. I am so pleased to be in an industry where I am judged by the quality of product I produce instead of judged by someone's opinion among all these things that people are doing to win. That's what I want for my children and that's the kind of business ethics that I will teach them.

I do not think being called a Master Fitter has to include a bunch of unethical practices to try to win at any cost. In fact, my definition of a master fitter would only include those who do their best and never have to have anyone question their ethics.

I wasn't making any connection to the "Master Fitter" comment and I don't know the person that they were referring to. I was just referring to the vast ethical issues within the show industry.
Olson, I agree with you that the majority of what I was describing are issues that are seen in the club calf scene. The one thing in the purebred Shorthorn show circuit that is ridiculously out of control is the moving of birth dates on animals. I never moved birth dates even a day and that always hurt us even in our local county fairs when we showed. It's ridiculous when we are moving birth dates by 2-3 months on these animals and then you see the animals in the right age class sitting in the back of the class. It's sickening to watch anymore. We need a puking emoji...

 

[Dale]

In the early '60's at the state fair a very successful owner suggested that his herdsman may have changed the birth dates, when asked about how their cattle seemed very large compared to the others in class.  The herdsman, when asked, said the owner might have moved the birth dates.  Everyone knew that they fudged on the date of birth, but not the identity of the perpetrator. 

 

[mark tenenbaum]

Being good at presenting cattle is fun and a good thing. It's fun to teach young people and get them into livestock and cattle. There is a dark side though. The ones that get "too good" at it. The pumping of fluids, the cutting of flesh and sewing back, the surgical removal of briskets and sheaths, use of steroid enhancers, use of air to separate skin from muscle to create scar tissue that appears as muscle, lying on birth dates by 2-3 months and sometimes more to gain advantage in purebred classes, and many other things that I can't think of right now. I am so pleased to be in an industry where I am judged by the quality of product I produce instead of judged by someone's opinion among all these things that people are doing to win. That's what I want for my children and that's the kind of business ethics that I will teach them.

I do not think being called a Master Fitter has to include a bunch of unethical practices to try to win at any cost. In fact, my definition of a master fitter would only include those who do their best and never have to have anyone question their ethics.

I wasn't making any connection to the "Master Fitter" comment and I don't know the person that they were referring to. I was just referring to the vast ethical issues within the show industry.
Olson, I agree with you that the majority of what I was describing are issues that are seen in the club calf scene. The one thing in the purebred Shorthorn show circuit that is ridiculously out of control is the moving of birth dates on animals. I never moved birth dates even a day and that always hurt us even in our local county fairs when we showed. It's ridiculous when we are moving birth dates by 2-3 months on these animals and then you see the animals in the right age class sitting in the back of the class. It's sickening to watch anymore. We need a puking emoji...//// DONT FORGET THE BWS-IF A JUDGE OR PROSPECTIVE BUYER ASKS O0