I took Jeff's post to be what it was - a commentary on just how much money it takes to play this game. Hardly anyone with enough money to buy/feed/fit a steer good enough to win - even make the sale for that matter - at a Texas major doesn't exactly qualify as the charity case the general public thinks these kids are (mine included).
Ft Worth.
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CAB
Well-known member
Kind of funny Kobo_ranch. You do that Jeff was making fun of himself, right? He's the one that wrote and published his opinions on his own blog. LOLkobo_ranch said:
illinoisfarmmom
Member
Jeff - when I read that blog post yesterday I laughed out loud, and made sure my husband read it last night. It was an ironic, humorous spin on every kids' reply, "I'm using it for college". LOVED IT!
Texas Dude
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Oddly enough, Brian Martin's kid said in his interview after selling his reserve that he was going to increase his herd....Atta boy.
So, not the usual "saving it for college"
So, not the usual "saving it for college"
Texas Dude
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^^^^^^ You are correct^^^^^
twistedhshowstock
Well-known member
After Jeff commented I understand where he is coming from. I just couldnt tell from reading what the emotion behind it was. I can see it being irony but it also could have come from distaste. Lot of truth to some of the things said though, I wasnt arguing those points. It takes a lot of money to get to that point. Heck even if you get lucky and find a cheap calf that turns into a barn burner it aint cheap to raise one to that point. A lot of kids do use that money for college, but a large portion of that money does go to pay the bills that piled up getting to that point.
Its like that old saying it takes money to make money. The only people that can afford to buy those caliber of calves are the ones that can afford to take the loss if that calf doesnt end up winning the big show. Other thing to remember is that kid doesnt get all that money either. Part of the money goes to Scholarship funds, calf scramble funds, educational funds, etc. The ones that really took a hit to the pocketbook were the ones that spent just as much money on a calf and got left standing and didnt make the sale.
Its like that old saying it takes money to make money. The only people that can afford to buy those caliber of calves are the ones that can afford to take the loss if that calf doesnt end up winning the big show. Other thing to remember is that kid doesnt get all that money either. Part of the money goes to Scholarship funds, calf scramble funds, educational funds, etc. The ones that really took a hit to the pocketbook were the ones that spent just as much money on a calf and got left standing and didnt make the sale.
twistedhshowstock
Well-known member
WJ Farms said:
Oh sorry if I mis quoted that then...I grew up in Louisiana and have only been in Texas about a year and a half. I asked someone that question the other day and was led to believe that all the majors in Texas put a cap on how much the kid gets. Sorry if I was wrong there.
kobo_ranch
Well-known member
CAB said:
I do now... it was funny but kinda true to an extent... guess he's the only one who can joke about it without getting chewed on...
Still think he's a smart a**. (knowing that's NOT a RESPECTABLE comment) Cowgirls that shovel cow shit now and then can't always be respectable!
JSchroeder
Well-known member
Kobo, let me take a moment to explain the differences for you since my blog evidently went right over your head. You claiming that what I said and what you said are in any way similar is the second most disrespectful thing somebody has said about me in the past month, one spot behind a rant a former mail order bride guru went on a few weeks ago.
First, I didn’t claim or imply anything was rigged or that somebody’s success was due to politics. You weren't joking, you have a history of claiming shows are rigged by politics.
Secondly, what I said was meant as satire, not petty barn gossip about politics. Granted, that form of satire has a tendency to go over some people’s heads but it’s not meant vindictively. I have nothing but respect for just about everyone that blog even vaguely refers to.
Thirdly, what I posted was grounded in reality. You? You are claiming you didn’t like a calf you previously said you didn’t even see.
And lastly, and in my opinion most importantly, I don’t throw a hissy fit, act like a victim, and call people who reply to what I said names. I reply to the criticism because in my opinion when you say things, you should take responsibility for them.
First, I didn’t claim or imply anything was rigged or that somebody’s success was due to politics. You weren't joking, you have a history of claiming shows are rigged by politics.
Secondly, what I said was meant as satire, not petty barn gossip about politics. Granted, that form of satire has a tendency to go over some people’s heads but it’s not meant vindictively. I have nothing but respect for just about everyone that blog even vaguely refers to.
Thirdly, what I posted was grounded in reality. You? You are claiming you didn’t like a calf you previously said you didn’t even see.
And lastly, and in my opinion most importantly, I don’t throw a hissy fit, act like a victim, and call people who reply to what I said names. I reply to the criticism because in my opinion when you say things, you should take responsibility for them.
Bradenh
Well-known member
https://www.barronphotografix.net/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=10242#image=127095
^ pictures are up, posted a link to the steer i showed this year going back to my county in june, the brindle tiger at 1000#s is mine and the black calf to the left is my brothers
^ pictures are up, posted a link to the steer i showed this year going back to my county in june, the brindle tiger at 1000#s is mine and the black calf to the left is my brothers
ranch4profit
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- 45
If they did a interview with the breeder of the Champion Steer at a major this is how it might go if the breeder would answer the questions honestly
Reporter- So congrats on breeding this wonderful animal that just won the big show.
Breeder- Thank you its been a life long dream to have a calf of mine win such prestigious show.
Reporter- Is this the first major champion that you have raised?
Breeder- Its the first one that I know for sure that I have raised but I think that there might have been another one. I seen a calf in a magazine that won a big show and it sure looked like the calf that I had sold a guy. But never got a straight answer if that was my calf or not?
Reporter- Well how do you not know for sure ?
Breeder- You don't understand some of these guys that buy these calves they just don't want to be reached. For example they wont ever answer their phone or return messages. They instruct me I need to call them to see if I can cash the check they gave some trucker that I met on the interstate 3 months after my sale day but they don't answer the phone. I finally decide just to cash the check hoping it does not bounce. I try calling a couple more times during the year to see how the calves are doing but still not answer or return of my messages. Then they show up the next year for my sale and say I need to give them credit on last years calves because one was too wild, one got too straight and a couple just plain didn't turn out and they lost money. But they come back and outbid the local family's on my top end calves almost every year. I sell my calves to the highest bidder the more bidders the better! Some of these calves bring a fair amount of money so you can deal with some headaches.
Reporter- Umm... Well it must be an amazing feeling to know that you raised what the judge of today's show said is the perfect market animal.
Breeder- Yes it is! I should invite you to my farm to see the 3 flush mates out of 14 embryos that we froze and put in recips that we got out alive. We just took one to the locker that walked with a limp because we pulled his tendon away in his stifle at birth and we could not take him to the sale barn. There one is a heifer about ready calve and she looks like she has about enough milk to feed a mouse. If we can get it out without doing a c-section on her she will enter the donor pen and hopefully we can sell some eggs in an upcoming online sale. We left one of them a bull, he is really, really good but he looked way too wild to break. We will turn him out on our own cows hoping he calms down. There were two other calves born that looked really good. One was backwards and we had to do a c-section, cow died and calf looked awesome at first! We were so excited that we sent a cell phone pic to the bull owner of this 6 hour old calf and he put him on his blog. We were so proud! But then he started to get too straight and eventually "locked up". We ended up selling him to a local ethic family that buys crippled calves to butcher and eat. The other one we pulled and when we got him to his hip he hip-locked and he died the tape said he weighed 130#, cow was down for three weeks but she eventually got up and we got her to the sale barn.
Reporter- Oookay.......Sounds like this was quite a process to raise this calf.
Breeder- Yea.....We flushed his mother two times, the first time we got 38 eggs but all were non fertile and the embryologist blamed it on bad semen from the young new hot bull that just froze semen, bull stud blamed it on embryologist for overstimulating the cow . Then a friend of mine seen this new hot young bull at the bull stud and told me I was lucky that no eggs were made because he looked nothing like the picture on the internet. On the second flush we went back to the old proven bull and backed our FSH dosage down and we had good results. Sometimes I just wonder if I should just turn out a good high performance bull out and raise good feeder cattle that calve on their own, wean off at 650-700# calve in a 45 day window. But if I did that I wouldn't be here talking with you today would I?????
Reporter- Ahhh....Sounds like you have quite an operation. Good luck to you. Well thank you for your time sir.
Reporter- So congrats on breeding this wonderful animal that just won the big show.
Breeder- Thank you its been a life long dream to have a calf of mine win such prestigious show.
Reporter- Is this the first major champion that you have raised?
Breeder- Its the first one that I know for sure that I have raised but I think that there might have been another one. I seen a calf in a magazine that won a big show and it sure looked like the calf that I had sold a guy. But never got a straight answer if that was my calf or not?
Reporter- Well how do you not know for sure ?
Breeder- You don't understand some of these guys that buy these calves they just don't want to be reached. For example they wont ever answer their phone or return messages. They instruct me I need to call them to see if I can cash the check they gave some trucker that I met on the interstate 3 months after my sale day but they don't answer the phone. I finally decide just to cash the check hoping it does not bounce. I try calling a couple more times during the year to see how the calves are doing but still not answer or return of my messages. Then they show up the next year for my sale and say I need to give them credit on last years calves because one was too wild, one got too straight and a couple just plain didn't turn out and they lost money. But they come back and outbid the local family's on my top end calves almost every year. I sell my calves to the highest bidder the more bidders the better! Some of these calves bring a fair amount of money so you can deal with some headaches.
Reporter- Umm... Well it must be an amazing feeling to know that you raised what the judge of today's show said is the perfect market animal.
Breeder- Yes it is! I should invite you to my farm to see the 3 flush mates out of 14 embryos that we froze and put in recips that we got out alive. We just took one to the locker that walked with a limp because we pulled his tendon away in his stifle at birth and we could not take him to the sale barn. There one is a heifer about ready calve and she looks like she has about enough milk to feed a mouse. If we can get it out without doing a c-section on her she will enter the donor pen and hopefully we can sell some eggs in an upcoming online sale. We left one of them a bull, he is really, really good but he looked way too wild to break. We will turn him out on our own cows hoping he calms down. There were two other calves born that looked really good. One was backwards and we had to do a c-section, cow died and calf looked awesome at first! We were so excited that we sent a cell phone pic to the bull owner of this 6 hour old calf and he put him on his blog. We were so proud! But then he started to get too straight and eventually "locked up". We ended up selling him to a local ethic family that buys crippled calves to butcher and eat. The other one we pulled and when we got him to his hip he hip-locked and he died the tape said he weighed 130#, cow was down for three weeks but she eventually got up and we got her to the sale barn.
Reporter- Oookay.......Sounds like this was quite a process to raise this calf.
Breeder- Yea.....We flushed his mother two times, the first time we got 38 eggs but all were non fertile and the embryologist blamed it on bad semen from the young new hot bull that just froze semen, bull stud blamed it on embryologist for overstimulating the cow . Then a friend of mine seen this new hot young bull at the bull stud and told me I was lucky that no eggs were made because he looked nothing like the picture on the internet. On the second flush we went back to the old proven bull and backed our FSH dosage down and we had good results. Sometimes I just wonder if I should just turn out a good high performance bull out and raise good feeder cattle that calve on their own, wean off at 650-700# calve in a 45 day window. But if I did that I wouldn't be here talking with you today would I?????
Reporter- Ahhh....Sounds like you have quite an operation. Good luck to you. Well thank you for your time sir.
kobo_ranch
Well-known member
Jeff_Schroeder said:
afhm
Well-known member
The Martin kid gave a different answer, he said he was going to expand his cowherd, of course he is a little young to be considering college yet.
Two years ago the girl from Graham that won Ft Worth, I think her last name was Buckalew. That calf did not come from a "string" nor was he high dollar. Im gonna say that kid really did use that money for college. I would say that money changed those peoples lives (I know it would change mine). It's storys like that one that should be publicized. That was a true David and Goliath story. Just an honest hard working family that did it on a shoe string budget and beat all the big dogs with the big budget calves and did it with good honest sweat! I dont hate the game at all, it is was it is. But storys like that are what keeps the average people coming back!
Not really wanting to stir the pot, but here it goes anyways.
As an educator and a breeder and after I read the blog for a second time I still feel the same way. I did not respond after the 1st reading of the blog because I wanted to take it all in and read it again at a later time.
First- I fully believe that after reading cattle.com for awhile and actively visit this site for updates before I go to any other site Mr. Schroeder meant no wrong as he wrote this blog.
2nd- The blog took me by surprise. I can definitely see the humor, but.... I am not real sure that we want to portray this end of the show cattle industry in Texas. I realize that this is a definite part of it, but a far cry from the majority. The current purchaser of the Grand Steer in Fort Worth is a huge supporter of Texas youth and probably knows both ends of the spectrum. Mr. Schroeder I believe was a one time recipient of a FFA scholarship changing his degree form one engineering degree to another. The purchaser of this years steer at the sale on Saturday is one of the largest scholarship donors to the FFA. Not really thinking that we should portray this industry as a bunch of rich kids that are just trying to win banners and are not at all concerned about the money they spend or what college costs. As a breeder I know which cattle feeds my family and it isn't those high dollars that come and go, it is those cheaper end cattle that are successful that keep customers coming back.
3rd- Maybe this blog is over my head and I did not take it the right way. I would say in the last 4 years more of those stories like the previous post have come true. As we have changed from pure power, to balance and structure first, we have found more of the middle of the road (price) cattle winning. No doubt as we all have starting catching onto the newer version of what a show steer is supposed to look like those structually sound good balanced ones are going to cost more and more and those heavy muscled freaks less and less. I think of several right off the top of my head that are true success stories that started in the cheaper range of show steers and have been real successful the past few years.
Finally- I know it is a blog and you have all the freedom in the world, so write on and I will continue to follow.
As an educator and a breeder and after I read the blog for a second time I still feel the same way. I did not respond after the 1st reading of the blog because I wanted to take it all in and read it again at a later time.
First- I fully believe that after reading cattle.com for awhile and actively visit this site for updates before I go to any other site Mr. Schroeder meant no wrong as he wrote this blog.
2nd- The blog took me by surprise. I can definitely see the humor, but.... I am not real sure that we want to portray this end of the show cattle industry in Texas. I realize that this is a definite part of it, but a far cry from the majority. The current purchaser of the Grand Steer in Fort Worth is a huge supporter of Texas youth and probably knows both ends of the spectrum. Mr. Schroeder I believe was a one time recipient of a FFA scholarship changing his degree form one engineering degree to another. The purchaser of this years steer at the sale on Saturday is one of the largest scholarship donors to the FFA. Not really thinking that we should portray this industry as a bunch of rich kids that are just trying to win banners and are not at all concerned about the money they spend or what college costs. As a breeder I know which cattle feeds my family and it isn't those high dollars that come and go, it is those cheaper end cattle that are successful that keep customers coming back.
3rd- Maybe this blog is over my head and I did not take it the right way. I would say in the last 4 years more of those stories like the previous post have come true. As we have changed from pure power, to balance and structure first, we have found more of the middle of the road (price) cattle winning. No doubt as we all have starting catching onto the newer version of what a show steer is supposed to look like those structually sound good balanced ones are going to cost more and more and those heavy muscled freaks less and less. I think of several right off the top of my head that are true success stories that started in the cheaper range of show steers and have been real successful the past few years.
Finally- I know it is a blog and you have all the freedom in the world, so write on and I will continue to follow.
DLD
Well-known member
mp said:
Exactly.
All of this (not the post I quoted, but most of the past few pages of discussion) must be at least part of why the Texas majors have the rule that once an exhibitor has won grand in a market show, they can't come back in that division.
fed_champions
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2010
- Messages
- 400
I won a major show, and yes i did use the money to go to school. I also did not have a dozen $XX,XXX steers in my barn. I only had 5 high dollar ones in my whole career. The rest stayed around that 3-8,000 dollar range. Yes my 2 most expensive ones were the two that i did the best with, and i probably wouldnt suggest spending that kind of money on one, especially if u don't have the experience, or access to the expertise to get that steer to the major show.
Also, after i bought a steer, he was mine, there were no steer jocks sticking their hands in my pockets at the time of the sale. I never understood letting them retain interest in the calf. They certainly aren't willing to take part of the losses if he doesn't turn out, so why should they reap the benefits if he wins.
If you get into this industry expecting to buy banners, you better have a real good friend that can help watch your back. Some of these guys will raise prices the moment you walk in the barn, its a very bad idea to price shop for show cattle.
Also, after i bought a steer, he was mine, there were no steer jocks sticking their hands in my pockets at the time of the sale. I never understood letting them retain interest in the calf. They certainly aren't willing to take part of the losses if he doesn't turn out, so why should they reap the benefits if he wins.
If you get into this industry expecting to buy banners, you better have a real good friend that can help watch your back. Some of these guys will raise prices the moment you walk in the barn, its a very bad idea to price shop for show cattle.
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