Fort Worth Steer Show

[afhm]

He missed or rather chose to ignore quite a few structure issues from what I saw Chambero.  there were several higher placing steers that were completely bucked over in plain sight in the show ring.  The res shorthorn was very straight.  There was a black and white steer that was 4th or 5th in a class that was blowed out on both sides in the front.  Looke dot me like he wanted a big top and a cool look for the most part and nothing else consistently mattered.  To say the least I was disappointed in his sorting abilities after seeing the pictures of what he used to win in OKC the past 3 years I expected better.  But like someone mentioned earlier either on here or another forum  San Antonio and Houston will benefit greatly from this their shows will be much tougher this year. 

 

[chambero]

There was one shortie that stood third in either the mediums or heavies - I forget which - that he called BS over the mic for hair.  He was the best looking and moving calf out there, but he noted something to the effect of having a whole lot of hair and wasn't sure what was under it.  I know the Long calf won the medium weights, but in the Champion drive I thought he looked a little overly mature and past "done". 

There sure wasn't much halter judging going on that I could tell.

 

[DLD]

First of all, I want to say I really enjoyed meeting Chambero and Sawboss - wish I could've spent a little more time with them and met some more of y'all, too, but I was staying pretty hooked up. Maybe next time... It was a great trip for us as always, we ate at Joe T Garcia's and Pappasito's (no such thing as too many fajitas ) and sampled Fort Worth's nightlife a bit, too.

The third place heavy Shorthorn came through Glovers, so I spent a little time around him - he was really hairy and very highly fitted, and I can kinda see where you might question what was underneath, but I think he was pretty solid.

For the most part, I think Matt did a pretty decent job. Maybe it's because I've been watching him for awhile, but I felt like I could follow him fairly well - I do agree that he leaves a good one behind sometimes, that's been my biggest complaint with him at OYE the past 3 years (actually 5 - he judged heifers 2 years before the 3 years of steers).  Of course there, he was judging lots smaller classes (I think 25'ish, maybe 30 max) and not sifting.  Not making excuses, but just sifting those 60 head classes may be a little overwhelming.  Just my opinion (and it prob'ly won't be a popular one), but that looks to me like a good situation for utilizing an associate judge.   

 

[chambero]

Fort Worth has been out of hand for a while in regards to number of calves in those exotic classes.  The judges probably need to pull a few more calves.

Another thing to consider - when you are standing up top in Fort Worth watching you've got a pretty different view than the judge.  When it comes to splitting hairs like you have to in those tough classes, it probably makes all the difference.

I think it was the medium shorthorn that the judge questioned on hair.  Was the third place heavy shown by a kd from Eastland, TX?  If so, I ran into him at a little jackpot near home and he was a heck of a calf.

 

[DLD]

Yeah, it seems to me like the judge should be worrying about keeping all of the better end steers in the ring, whether that's 10 or 30, instead of just trying to sort off 15 or so head.  Plenty of times he ended up with top 5 steers that he didn't pull 'til later in the class.  That's just alot of cattle to sort so quickly.

Definitely agree that things can look a whole lot different on the arena floor than from above, plus we've got to remember none of us handled all those steers, either. 

Now I'm scratching my head - I'm not 100% sure if the steer I 'm talking about was heavy or medium, now that you mention it.  I do recall the judge making that comment, though I'm not sure now if it was regarding that steer or the third place one in the other class.  I don't know where the exhibitor was from, but Dan Young sold the steer and he and his crew were fitting.

 

[chambero]

I bet we are talking about the same calf then.  He looked and moved great, the judge just thought they might be fooling him.

 

[shortdawg]

Who was the judge ?

 

[cdcccfite]

The Shorthorn was owned by some people in Electra, TX .  As long as we are discussing Ft. Worth I would like to voice an opinion about the staging area and the ally leading into the ring.  I have a 10 year old and this is his second year in a cross class down there.  I would like to know how hard it would be to have some order going into the showring?  It is a push/shove and run over each other madhouse trying to get into the ring.  Everyone tries to be first because the judge may fill his quota early.  At all of the other majors steers and kids can walk into the showring in an orderly fashion.  Why does Ft.Worth not have some sort of system for getting the cattle/kids into the ring with out a stampede?

 

[chambero]

I typed Eastland but meant Electra.  He was a pretty one.

Amen on the holding area.  My boy is nine and I've made sure to keep him out of the cross classes just because they are so big.  He was in the first class of the show and they pulled them down in the tunnel and then held them for probably ten minutes before letting them out.  I was nervous as could be with him out of my sight.  Not to mention getting a good "hairdo"  beat down.

 

[gocanes719]

We had one we thought was good enough to go for the whole thing that got the gate.  He had won all year.

 

[Joe Boy]

I know that you are both talking about the same steer.  He was a PB shorthorn from Glover's and he was hairy.  He was a real calf.  The Ag Teacher has been at our county livestock show this week.  I have known him since he was born.  Good boy and they were proud of the calf.

My brother had sold 2 calves that were shown in the American Breed and one was second and the other was fifth.  Two of the calves that won classes were not American Breed calves. They had no sheath.  The calf that won weighed out.  His sire was Hard Core, I believe.  A Charolais won it.

Afterwards we had several people to stop by on Saturday evening and sold 3 calves from our Senior Rojo.  My brother sold 3 calves too from Sun Seeker.

 

[okshowmom]

Who in braman; raised the calf? Know a couple of guys up that way.

 

[afhm]

I thought the shorthorn from Glover/Young was stale and was awfully deep chested.  He looked good other than that.  How does his frame compare to other JPJ sired cattle?

 

[chambero]

The Champion American was raised by Schroeders.  They already have him up on their website.  I agree - he was a real good Charolais .  A bunch of them probably had droopier ears when they went through the sift.

I can't talk much though.  Anything goes in those sifts.  We barely made it through the Angus.  If a big kid had been on our calf he wouldn't of.  Too pretty.  A good friend of mine that just started showing had his honest Angus sifted.  I tried to warn him.  I don't know how many calves got sifted out of the Angus, but there were only 27/28 in each class.

 

[Sly]

The steer is a carnac x commercial angus cow.  She is not common commercial cow she throws a good calf every year.  The Breeder is state rep. Dale DeWitt former Ag teacher here in Braman.

 

[chambero]

Thanks for the info.  I bet he's excited.

 

[CAB]

  Do Dewitt's usually have a bid-off sale in the fall in Northern Missouri?

 

[Sly]

no everything is done in oklahoma

 

[CM Cattle]

My son had the 5th place lightweight Angus on Thursday for his first time at Fort Worth.  We were pretty happy.  The calf was a late Oct out of one of our herd bulls and an old 1998 model Angus cow.  We were extremely satisfied with our placing.  The calf was right where he should have been placed.

The steer sale was great Saturday as far as I could tell.  Our calf brought $5.50 per pound.  Tenth place calves (the last ones in) were up around $7-$8 per pound.  Overall, the placing steers brought quite a bit more than last year from what I understand.  I'm not sure anything was down other than the Grand.  They did let it be known they were making a concerted effort to push the money farther down through the sale.  We were pleasantly surprised.  Saturday was a tough day for my son though.

The judge was a big stickler for soundness as far as I could tell.  We had a Class 4 exotic that hit the gate for that reason, otherwise he looked the part.  Honestly, I don't mind a swing in that direction at the expense of a little muscle.  I didn't watch the medium and heavy exotic classes, but the high placing calves and the winners in the breeds were a lot of calves that have done plenty of winning all year.  It's hard to criticize a judge's decisions on those exotic classes.  They are so deep and tough.  I thought his champions looked fine. 

Congrats!!!

 

[SmokesRule]

whats the website to see the champ american steer?