describe your first cattle showing experience

[kanshow]

MYT..  do you realize the implications that pictures would have?    We would have people splitting sides open, choking on food, blowing drink out the nose ..  with laughter!!

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

MYT..  do you realize the implications that pictures would have?    We would have people splitting sides open, choking on food, blowing drink out the nose ..   with laughter!!

You would have to try and find pictures in some museum of some of us! RW

 

[kanshow]

You would have to try and find pictures in some museum of some of us! RW

I think they are called stone etchings or cave drawings... (lol)

 

[oakview]

I showed a home raised (by grandpa) Shorthorn and a purchased Angus steer my first year 45 years ago.  We bought the Angus at a club calf sale in Story City and paid $165 for him.  My brother bought an Angus steer at the same sale for $155.  Our Angus steers won their classes at the county fair, they weighed from 925 to 965.  The champion steer was the only steer in the show that weighed more than 1,000 pounds.  There were at least 200 calves at the fair in those days.  No one in our family had any experience whatsoever showing cattle, so we learned the hard way.  The calves were tame, so we tugged and pulled our way to breaking them.  We had a wooden show stick with a nail in the end, wide strapped leather show halters, and did very little clipping back then.  We used dip, a liner, curry comb, and a narrow scotch comb for what grooming we did.  Lacquer was sprayed on the hooves.  I remember holding my first place ribbon in front of my calf's face to show him what we had done and he promptly tried to eat it.  I still have the crinkled ribbon someplace.  We had the old 8mm movies from the 50's and 60's put on DVDs a few years ago and have some excellent footage of the calf and I.  For several years after that, Ted Aegerter (Jeff's dad) bought some calves for us from Thedes in the Dakotas, both heifers and steers.  I still have the sales tickets, most of the calves cost in the $125-150 range.  Several of them won the Shorthorn division at the county fair and one was reserve champion at the State Fair in the late 60s.  There are still some descendants of those heifers in the herd as well as the first cow we purchased, Lady Anna, in 1963.  I have her pedigree in my office.  Priceless memories that we have been fortunate to pass down to our children and grandchildren.  We're thankful to have been able to share their cattle show experiences and memories as well.

 

[FutureBreeder2013]

heres the steer ill have my first showing experience with

hes also mt display pic

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

You would have to try and find pictures in some museum of some of us! RW

I think they are called stone etchings or cave drawings... (lol)

Cattle shows - so easy a cave man can do it! RW

 

[oakbar]

I showed a hereford steer when I was 10.  My older brothers were also showing hereford steers that we had kept in a small pen in the barn, fed them like crazy, and broke them to lead by hooking them up to the back of a hayrack and tractor and pulling them up and down the driveway.    They weighed about 1100 pounds and mine was a chronic bloater.  Sure enough, the morning of the show we had to "let him down" because he looked like an LP tank with legs and red fur when I came out to the cattle barn to wash him.  Even so, when I took him in the ring the judge commented that he" looked like he'd had too much wind for breakfast".  In those days we showed in a ring made of snow fence that had a big tree smack in the middle of it and several poles holding up the roof over about half of it.  I don't remember how I placed but I wasn't really crazy about showing cattle--I like showing hogs & horses better.  The one thing I did enjoy was getting the calves washed and then using a  grooming tool to put crisscross lines on the hindquarters of the calves.  Did anyone else ever use the checkerboard grooming pattern?  Did you  know they gave stone tablets to the winners back then instead of trophies!!

 

[Gary]

Tall,long and tubular in my day and could they sure drag you. We had shaving cream,saddle soap and black shoe polish.
My kids found my old record book and they had a blast with that.

 

[LN]

My first show heifer was a traditional colored yellow Simmental. I named her Sassy and the name suited her perfectly. I wanted to show because my uncle was at the time, and we went together to our first show and they told me to follow him in the ring. I did exactly what I was told and when the judge pulled my uncle's calf I started following, but the judge wasn't ready for me yet, because I got last place. Oh well, then I took her to the county fair and won champion european heifer. That heifer had a bad attitude, or maybe she knew I was a young inexperienced shrimp, but after her I had a complex for about a year where I threw up right before I showed. Thank God I finally got over it!

 

[MYT Farms]

MYT..  do you realize the implications that pictures would have?    We would have people splitting sides open, choking on food, blowing drink out the nose ..   with laughter!!

Good heavens! I never fully considered the implications of my post!  Actually, my first year wasn't so much funny because my steer was awful gentle. However, being a bucket calf, he was one of the sorriest animals I ever brought to a show. Weighed 1001 pounds. Minimum for market was 1000. I think the show management had something to do with helping my steers make weight that year. And I am forever grateful.

 

[Dixie]

First year I had a hereford X steer (Hereford Bull and a Black Baldy, God only knows just what her breeding was at the time). I loved that calf, spent countless hours in the barn brushing and talking to him. I don't recall how I placed at the county fair, but do remember the entire experience was more fun than I had ever had HOOKED from that point on. We showed in an open arena, there was a small airport not far away and every year someone from the airport would fly low over the arena on show day and someone would always loose their calf during the show to one of those planes!
Yes Oakbar, I remember the crisscross patterns on the hind quarters, had alot of fun with that one. Did anyone else put glitter on the calf for sale night?  Basic grooming supplies were a Lining comb, Rice Root brush, Curry Comb, Grill Brush (for cleaning the hooves) Saddle Soap, Dippity Do, Aqua Net Hair Spray and Lacquer for the hooves. Homemade rope halters, and yes a chain around their necks at fair as an extra added precaution in case they would get their rope halter untied. Everyone had a large (heavy) wooden show box made by Dad to store it all in. No one ever dreamed of Blow Drying a calf, and grooming chutes, what were those?. I had a wide stapped leather halter (always Brown or White at that time) and an adjustable showstick. Alot more fun than stessing about whether or not the kids are going to get everything done correctly these days. Everything was simple and uncomplicated on show day then, makes me kind of miss those days!

 

[oakbar]

We also had the wide leather halters and I remember a local Purina dealer gave away a few that had the red/white checkerboard pattern across the nose and all the kids that didn't have them were really jealous. 

I don't worry too much about pictures because cameras had not been invented yet--at least that't what I've got my daughters believing!!  Ha, Ha!!

 

[kanshow]

No cameras & probably only half of the people had trailers.  Most of us hauled in pickups or 2T trucks w/ stockracks.  I can still remember pulling onto unfamiliar grounds & my dad telling us to look for the loading chute or a ditch. 

 

[txshowlamb]

I made this video last year which was my first year showing I learned so much I had so much fun in the process.. The  video really sums up my whole experience http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgPFlaz2kTw
This was the last video I made of Harley and it also sums up how hard it was to say good bye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2YVElZWhLI

 

[bjs]

I'm not up for typing a lot, but in my first year at the steer auction, I was drug by my steer in the ring where he gets bid on, and the first thing the auctioneer said was, "Did ya get all of the sawdust out of you pants young man?" 

I was embarrassed at the time, but 10 years later, I can look back at it as a great and funny memory!

 

[taylor tay]

This is my first year showing and I have a purebred shorthorn steer, his name is Cash., I was originally supposed to get a xBred(shorthorn and simmental) Named Tank but the breeder gave it to my best friend and i got this one.  It is going good

 

[forbes family farms]

My first heifer was the tamest heifer one who cooperated the first time you put a halter on. I didn't win but yet she treated me great, we did really well in the showmanship class thanks to her for cooperating. My experience made me think oh training calves is easy NOT because not all calves are ones that cooperate the first time you put a halter on them.

 

[flacowman]

My first steer was Blackie (I was so creative when I was 5).  He was a bottle calf that actually turned out all right, taking 2nd in his class at the fair and I won peewee showmanship.  The only part of that first project i regret was having to load him in the trailer and take the halter off and say bye.  I did everything myself and that's how my entire show career went.  All the way up no one over that age of 17 ever touched any of my calves as far as fitting goes and then it was still all me except for a couple of times.  I think the fact that I always did everything myself was why I still love it to this day.