fair/show numbers

[chambero]

I know the economics in California are quite a bit different than they are in the rest of the country except for maybe the east coast.

Things aren't nearly that dramatic in Texas.  People don't lose jobs here - even government jobs - because they can't speak spanish.  Although speaking Spanish can be very helpful in getting certain ones.  Although I don't think you can get a government job here without speaking english.  I've never encountered it anyway.

I still think immigration is a very complicated issue.  Frankly, I think the whole country would be better off if it were easier to immigrate legally.  That would help prevent people from taking advantage and being taken advantage of both ways.  Our work force is only going to shrink as the baby boomer population ages.

The U.S. isn't hurting too bad right now.  There are plenty of people that have the excess time and money to worry about things like showing animals.  Practically all of the rest of the world can't say that.

Back to the original post.  If an area is having trouble getting enough kids in 4-H and FFA, stop and look who isn't involved.  There might be some opportunities.

 

[knabe]

it is easy to immigrate to the tune of 700,000 per year, more than all other countries combined.  thanks for the gentle reminder about opportunites, though, i respect your temperance.  as for the work force decreasing, our planet can not use that model and survive.  norman borlag aside, we can not fill up this petri dish without consequences.  it will be much harder to transition, the longer we wait.  if we reward "excessive" population growth, we are committing suicide.

on a lighter note, i'll research the who's not involved scenario some more locally.  i still think non-owners should be able to be involved.  perhaps some of them will be future  operators, but have no in to the industry as the rules don't allow them to participate without owning an animal, and if they live in the city, little opportunity is allowed under the rules to play.  i guess that's why i first brought it up.

 

[garybob]

Not to turn this into a Texas discussion, but frankly there is no correct answer to the english/spanish issue.  On the surface, I hate the idea of having to make every kinds of government and most private documents available in Spanish.  I think it is a disservice to immigrants by enabling them to not have to learn english.  The only way to properly learn any language is to be thrown into the fire so to speak without being able to fall back our your primary language.  

Our 2A school district filed the public school version of bankrupty last year so we could start laying off teachers and cancelling contracts in the middle of the year.  Why, because we have so many support personnel and assistant this's and that's.  Seems like an easy problem to fix till you realize how much paper work is required just to account for the bilingual communication requirements.  I remember being amazed at the number of forms I had to fill out when my oldest started kindergarten to certify he wasn't homeless, spoke english, etc.....

We have a very large hispanic population in our small town - due in large part to a huge number of big horse ranches in our area.  Garybob is correct - our 4-H and FFA programs don't really reach out to those kids and families.  It's not necessarily a language issue, but there isn't much of an effort made to get them involved.  Part of that is on the parents also though.  It's something I really hadn't thought about before.  Anybody wanting to get numbers up might ought to open their eyes and look who their neighbor is.

My point was NOT to go Puro-Espanol. My idea was to take ONE little pamphlet, that has already been created ( no curriculum-developmnet expense needed anymore) and copy it, and pass it around, in case Xavier and Lupita need a little "push" convincing their folks that 4H is a worthwhile activity. In areas of the country that have long been "Spanglished", I think NHR is right, however, in areas of the USA experiencing high rates of first-generation immigration, my idea would work. Only a little bit would help tremendously, and, in most cases, would be all that was needed.

 

[knabe]

garybob, i'm taking your suggestions to heart.  95% of the contacts for my heifers are to eat them by hispanics, so, new marketing technique, practice getting them involved in ffa.  they really run fast when i mention the brand inspector if they want to take them off the property, and get upset when i won't let them slaughter my heifer on my property to avoid the inspection.  around here, if someone gets pulled over for a taillight out and has an animal without travel papers, wow does it get ugly fast, uglier if you are a citizen, as usual.  neighbor across the street might be a customer.  new attitude, i'll let you know what happens.  if i can't register my legacy heifers, it might be an option.

 

[chambero]

You get people wanting to slaughter calves in your pasture?  Commonly?  California must really be a foreign country  .

Never heard of that one happening here.  Of coiurse its no big deal to load an animal up and take it to the butcher shop.

 

[shorthorns r us]

You get people wanting to slaughter calves in your pasture?  Commonly?  California must really be a foreign country  .

Never heard of that one happening here.  Of coiurse its no big deal to load an animal up and take it to the butcher shop.

we have some hispanic hay customers that jump on the opportunity to butcher a cripple.  their profeciency at killing, skinning and quartering is unbelievable.  the hide never has a hole in it.  the first time we brake a leg or something equivelant on a pretty roan show calf with good hair i will give them the meat if they will cure the hide for me with all that hair on it.  some folks may think it is morbid but i would love to have a hairy roan hide to do something with.  ;D maybe i will set a new trend in boot fashion -- show steer fuzzy. ;D  how about a vest to match the boots? fancy! (clapping) maybe a shorthorn coat???  wouldn't that be stylish (clapping)

 

[chambero]

OK, we've butchered hurt animals ourselves - but we usually do get them to our barn where we take care of deer and stuff also.  People coming up and wanting to kill and butcher a healthy calf in the pasture is something else.

 

[NHR]

OK, we've butchered hurt animals ourselves - but we usually do get them to our barn where we take care of deer and stuff also.  People coming up and wanting to kill and butcher a healthy calf in the pasture is something else.

It happens quite often.

 

[chambero]

I stand corrected.

 

[knabe]

not only that, but sometimes people do it without permission of course, and it's called rustling.  had that happen to a neighbor two years in a row, 2 miles from town!  carcass, bones, et al, was left in field, and vultures took care of that pretty quick.  next to it was the proverbial large volume miller high life bottles in a bag.

 

[shorthorns r us]

chambero - i wasn't trying to correct you.  my point wasn't as much the butchering as the goofy parts about the hide.  my feeble mind just did the math on the age of your calves when you send them to the feeder.  you don't wean until about 8 or 9 months?  is that accurate?

 

[knabe]

the first pick is the grand champion fat steer.
2nd pick is a pic of how cramped the ring was, especially when judge moved the cattle by twisting their tails.
3rd pic is eventual senior showmanship winner, can't remember if she was overall.

I think only 3 or 4 animals had any amount of hair, and of those, none apperared trained with a roto brush, and then "skulpted"

 

[garybob]

not only that, but sometimes people do it without permission of course, and it's called rustling.  had that happen to a neighbor two years in a row, 2 miles from town!  carcass, bones, et al, was left in field, and vultures took care of that pretty quick.  next to it was the proverbial large volume miller high life bottles in a bag.

Any workable prints off the bottles?

 

[knabe]

excellent garybob, excellent. (lol)  probably how they caught them because in about a week there was a story about rustling, and how the "country" was coming to the city.

 

[garybob]

excellent garybob, excellent. (lol)   probably how they caught them because in about a week there was a story about rustling, and how the "country" was coming to the city.

Kind of unique to see those kids in the 4H uniforms for showing. Everywhere else, I think, the young people dress like they've stepped out of Cavender's, Drysdale's, or ( God forbid--) Sheplers' Catalogs.

 

[knabe]

quote from garybob
Kind of unique to see those kids in the 4H uniforms for showing

actually i was going to make that a poll question garybob.  with Ag's "uniform basically denim's and a nice ironed long sleeve shirt, are 4-h uniforms used everywhere and are they liked?  i never liked them, and i didn't like the ffa jacket either.  i think both could use an update, though we'd probalby get another committee camel.  at some of the booths, people had used white wranglers for sale. i always felt the hat was really degrading, made me feel like i was working at jack in the box and had to pay too much attention to keeping the dang hat on rather than my animal or judge.  i was never in ffa, 4h, or boyscouts either for that matter.  just didn't like the uniform, though i do like every military uniform except the air force daily's

 

[vc]

San Diego County Fair, Swine numbers were down, still had over 200 hogs, beef was up a little around 120 steers total, Sheep about the same, goats were up. We stay pretty consistant numbers Eb and flow but never a real drop or increase. The reasons swine# were down: Show pig prices were higher this year, they were hard to come by without going out of state, and JR. Livestock portion of the fair went 10 days with us moving out on the 11th day, fair is usually 7 days for us. I do not know how it is in your states for 4H but when clubs start getting real big personality conflicts with adults start flaring up and things get uncomfortable fast. People either quit or around here start a new club. We just went to a small fair this past week to show the left over animals from the county fair and I noticed that the host town has 6 4H clubs.

our county fair allows the 4-H Kids To were Blue jeans with a white shirt, tie and hat. 3 years ago it was white pants. Always seemed like a big waste of money for the pants, after my boys were done with them you needed to just discard them.

 

[renegade]

the first pick is the grand champion fat steer.
2nd pick is a pic of how cramped the ring was, especially when judge moved the cattle by twisting their tails.
3rd pic is eventual senior showmanship winner, can't remember if she was overall.

I think only 3 or 4 animals had any amount of hair, and of those, none apperared trained with a roto brush, and then "skulpted"

What are the uniforms they are wearing?

 

[knabe]

4H, some of the kids had the green navy like draping over the shoulder.  i think they were the younger kids. 

http://beaver.extension.psu.edu/4-H/4HMottoEmblemPledge.html

i'm thinking this scenario needs an update.  there is little available in the open show format, hence, my orginal thoughts on fair numbers, other show alternatives in the central coast of CA.  shows are absolutely huge in the central valley from the north to the south.  it's almost like being in texas.  a lot of dustbowlers settled bakersfield and up north around cottonwood.  bakersfield is pronounced bakesfield with the okie drawl.

 

[cowz]

Our fair numbers were very consistent.  At our county fair we showed 108 steers, around 50 breeding beef, 6 catch it calves, 240 hogs, 100 lambs, bunch of goats.  We sold 180 head in our market sale.  This is the largest number of steers ever shown.  This is amazing based on the fact that the cost of calves and corn are both at an all time high.

The kids are all great at our fair.  The lamb showmen tend to dress the most controversially,  lots of Bling! Our extension office frowns on "Too much skin".  I have actually heard that a leader took one young lady back to the camper for a better shirt!  By and large , the steer and swine showmen are pretty conservative and all show in long sleeve shirts and nice jeans and boots.  No one is allowed to show with a hat on.