Back from Houston...

[TJ]

Well, I am back from Houston.  Actually, I've been back a couple of days, but have been pretty busy, including pumping approx. 3 feet of water out of my basement!! 

It was pretty tiring, but I enjoyed the trip.  I took some good help with me... my wife (although she didn't do a lot) & Justin Olson (Shortyjock89 / Olson Family Shorthorns).  Justin was a big reason why I won 2nd place Herdsman & Cindy Jackson made my signs.  I tried to sit back & let Justin make most of the decisions & do most of the clipping/fitting while I minimized my involvement and I thought that he did a real good job.  All my cattle looked good & were well recieved by all.  Matter of fact, the judge even commented on how well fitted my bull calf was! 

The only downside to the trip was the fact that the judge either didn't like us or my cattle all that well & I was disappointed in how they placed.  Cindy's heifer & my bull were the biggest in their classes & I thought that they were either #1 or #2 in their classes, yet, they placed 4th & 5th.  My best heifer (Doc Holliday) was in a class with 21, including the National Champ, Res. National Champ & the Kansas City Champ. She beat the Kansas City Champ, but placed either 7th or 9th.  Honestly, in the makeup ring, I thought that I was a lock to win or atleast place 2nd in 2 classes & I thought that my Doc heifer was at least in the top 3 or 4, with a shot at winning, but the judge disagreed.  Oh well, that's the way the show ring works sometimes. 

Regardless, I was more than satisfied with the way the cattle looked & how well they were recieved by the other breeders.  I also got the rest of my money from the buyer & he was very satisfied... that was the most import part!!

If anybody needs fitting help, Justin does a good job & he puts out a good effort.  He was even able to wash my bull calf while standing beside a Texas Longhorn who gigging him & my bull!!  LOL!!  Anyway, I am glad that he decided to attend the Houston Lowline Show with us & I hope that he will consider doing it again sometime. 

                     

 

[garett]

O water, my sister said they have gotten about 13 inches of rain in the past few days down in SE Missouri

but Congrats on the trip to Houston, sounds like everything still went well for you and Justin
hmm do you happen to have any pictures of your cattle all fitted out and such??

 

[shortyjock89]

Yeah, there was plenty of water down there.

We did get some pics of us showing, but they aren't the best, and we didn't get any of the calves all fit up...we would have liked to, but things just didn't work out that way I guess.

 

[red]

congrats TJ! Justin always seemed like a very nice young man to me too!

Red

 

[TJ]

Thanks, Red!

When my wife gets home tonight, I'll try to post a few of the show pics.  She's not a cattle photographer, her camera doesn't have a zoom lense & it also has a few second delay, so keep all that in mind. 

Like Olson Family Shorthorns posted... we wanted to get pics of them fitted & regret that we didn't, but it just didn't seem to work out... my wife (who had the camera) watched the entire show from the stands & she was past ready to go after all of our animals had shown.  It was after 10PM, we hadn't had much sleep & everyone was getting hungry.  At the time, pics were the last thing that any of us were worried about.

     

 

[red]

I've done the same thing. spend all that time fitting them & realize no pictures. I can't take good pictures in the show ring, lighting never works out right.

Red

 

[TJ]

Here are 2 pics of Justin showing the bull.  Even though it is stating obvious (it should be since Justin is the only male exhibitor in both pics), Justin & my bull are the farthest to the right in both pics.   Not the best pictures at all, but you can see the bull a little bit.  Justin really had the bull looking good in the ring, IMHO. 

 

[shorthorns r us]

You didn't do well because your pro dressed like he had been to a cattle show before.  those other two look like they should be showing alpacas rather than cattle.

saw doc holiday in the PCC newsletter.  that gets him exposed to a few new eyes, eh.

 

[red]

nice looking cattle & good looking young man!! 

 

[TJ]

You didn't do well because your pro dressed like he had been to a cattle show before.  those other two look like they should be showing alpacas rather than cattle.

saw doc holiday in the PCC newsletter.  that gets him exposed to a few new eyes, eh.

You might be right about the alpca comment...

I will admit that overall, that was a really good looking group of Lowline cattle at the Houston Show.  That extremely large heifer class was insanely good!!  Maybe I was a little biased too.  I also could've put more condition on them...  I had them on soy hulls, hay & they were running on corn stalks too, until the last 45 days when I switched them over to a developer ration (over 20% fiber).   They weren't fat, but I thought that their condition was adequate...  although maybe the judge didn't think so. ?

Regardless, Justin was a real asset (he helped me win Res. Champ Lowline Herdsman) & I was proud that he was on my team!  Cindy Jackson emailed me again today & bragged about Justin some more.  We made friends, reunited with some old friends, we made some sales, we saw lots of other genetics & we all seemed to enjoy our time spent in Houston (just not driving all night on the way down Thursday night/Friday morning!!).  I thought that my time spent in Houston was a big success in every area except for the actual showring... that was the only bummer.  Oh well, I did pretty good with the same 3 cattle at Kansas City. 

RE the PCC Newsletter... We've been working on a deal with Kit Pharo for a few months now.  It became "verbally" official a month or 2 ago & I've got the signed contract, so it's now as official as it will ever get.  Kit said that another Lowline bull was his high seller last year & he said that Doc Holliday is already getting a serious amount of interest from his customers.  I wouldn't be at all suprised if he isn't PCC's high seller this year.  It seems like interest in him just keeps snowballing! 
 

 

[TJ]

nice looking cattle & good looking young man!! 

Like I mentioned in the above reply to SRU, I considered Justin to be a real asset while I was at Houston.  Despite being a college freshman, with his better days ahead of him, he looked like a pro, acted like a pro & he got the cattle looking just like a pro had worked with them. 

 

[shortyjock89]

Seriously, I got to see Doc and we took a Doc heifer with us, and he is one of the most impressive bulls I've seen.  He maintains his condition really well, and is as sound as anything.  I liked the Lowlines so much that I plan on getting into the breed, either from breeding my Shorthorn cows to a Lowline bull, or buying some.

 

[TJ]

Seriously, I got to see Doc and we took a Doc heifer with us, and he is one of the most impressive bulls I've seen.  He maintains his condition really well, and is as sound as anything.  I liked the Lowlines so much that I plan on getting into the breed, either from breeding my Shorthorn cows to a Lowline bull, or buying some.

^ Now that is more really good news!