How Many Shows

[AAOK]

I'm curious as to how many shows people attend each year.  I read these posts, and wonder if almost everyone is stuck at the County level.  We showed at only the County our first year, and then started jackpots, State, and National Shows.  I would guess the the 10 years our girls were showing we averaged 15 -18 shows a year.  My younger daughter's last year, we made 44 shows.  I know of folks in Texas who make 100 shows a year.

Let's hear your stories.  In my opinion, you have never really experienced what Showing is all about until you attend your breed's National Junior Show and Activities.

 

[knabe]

everyone should be able to beat this.  i only just started going to shows, not participating. got cows for when daughter can show.  no room for open competition near me except for state.  showed some in college years ago.  will be eating beef in the meantime.

 

[Clubcalfshowgirl]

i proble average 12 shows atleast!!

 

[cowz]

AAOK, those of you all from Texas and Oklahoma, you really do not know how lucky you are to have literally dozens of regional jackpot shows to choose from.  And year around, too!

In the western states, we are really limited to the opportunities we have.  If we hit one state-wide jackpot every weekend, we would only rack up about 9 jackpots.  Rocky Mountain Beef Expo and Ak Sar Ben are open to all states.  The Kansas and Nebraska shows are only for those state showmen.  NWSS is open to all states, but in return, we cannot show market at the Texas Majors.

So to answer your question, if we did every opportunity available to us, we can hit up to 10 state jackpots, 1 county fair, 2 state fairs (time permitting with school :'() 2 regional shows and 1 national show.  That makes roughly 16 events.  Junior National events are typically in the midwest or southern states, so that makes a lot of extra miles to go!  A friend of ours skipped their county fair to go to the Limmy Jr. National in Lousiana.  Made for a very long trip.

I would really love it if we could organize our jackpots so that they do not overlap and we could squeeze more in.    Any takers?

 

[renegade]

This was my first real year. I started by showing my bull and steer and helping my brother, this means the county fair and the state ffa shows, junior shows, and open shows. There aren't a whole lot of shows around here but they started a new junior association a couple of years ago so i will be joining that and there is one large hereford show/sale at the end of april. Hopefully i will have a few heifers, my bull(which i can't show in the junior hereford show because i bought him not owned his mother then bred her and had him ), and a couple of steers. In the next few years i want to be going to Kansas city, Denver, etc. I would love to be averageing 100 shows a year ;D. I get a "rush" from showing ITS SOOOO FUN. and when I win a class i just can't wipe the smile from my face ;D.

Cowz is right we really are limited here in opportunities and to even find out about all the shows you have to do a lot of research trying to find local associations or just know a few people who show in them because they aren't advertised or anything.

 

[red]

Great topic Dan! actually had to come out of retirment for this one! (lol)

We used to go to as many shows as possible on the both the county, state & national level. Now w/ just the hubby & me, we have cut way back. Typically we go to Louisville & a few local shows. Earlier this year we went to some bigger jackpot show because I had a young man that wanted to show my heifer. Our county fair is right during  corn silage chopping season for us so we don't show there anymore. We also used to go to the state fair but due to farming, heat & health reasons have cut that out. I love our Expo & the NAILE. Those are my 2 favorite shows to go to. We also have a few jackpot shows I like.
Anyone's junior National is the best experience & time possible. We had so much fun as a family & getting to know other people. I will treasure those shows for a lifetime.

Red (welcome)

 

[SKF]

We average about 13 shows plus 3 fairs a year. Wish we had more but that's about it.

 

[Showcalves]

We participate in about 15 to 20 shows minimum a year.  Attend a few more than that.

Melinda

 

[DLD]

My kids are young, we don't jackpot much yet. We've been doing 20'ish shows year, look for that to increase in the future. Clay showed at Denver this year for the first time - there'll be no slowing him down now... lol

 

[shortdawg]

12-15 a year

 

[afhm]

Way too many.

 

[Jill]

The Kansas and Nebraska shows are only for those state showmen. 

If you will remind me when it gets closer to show season, I will send you the show information.  All state shows in Kansas that I know of are open to anyone with the exception of the KJLA show.
This year we went to 1 county, 1 national and 10 state shows, my oldest shower is only 8 so we didn't run as hard as we could, but like someone said earlier there just aren't as many opportunities in Kansas as there are in Oklahoma and Texas.

 

[chambero]

This is our first official year back in.  Since April, we've been to two shows - but we are in the middle of building a new house and moving.  We will go to about two in September, two in October, and then that'll be it till the majors.  Long-term average we'll probably go head out about once a month.

 

[NHR]

We are located in Texas and I can attest that you can hit 8 show rings on just about every weekend in different regions of the state. We are waiting until it cools off before we start the every weekend showing. It looks we will start up on August 25th in Madisonville TX with 4 rings. Last year we hit over 120 show rings with any where from 2 to 4 heifers in each ring. It was a lot of fun for my daughters since we spent a lot of nights in hotels which meant that a lot of swimming occurred. They learned a lot about Texas history and had a lot of good stories to tell their friends. We got to see Charlie Robison at the North Texas State Fair, Roger Creager at the Fayette County Fair and others. Some shows were just for TJLA points but a lot of them were for money and prizes. Last year we went all summer and this year I decided it was to hot.

Most of all it keeps our family close and our kids out of trouble.

 

[shortdawg]

Well said NHR ! The cattle showing deal is a lot of work but, it makes us spend time with our kids that we may not have otherwise. One day we will all look back and cherish all those great memories we are making now.

 

[red]

Well said NHR ! The cattle showing deal is a lot of work but, it makes us spend time with our kids that we may not have otherwise. One day we will all look back and cherish all those great memories we are making now.

Shortdawg- as a parent that did the show route w/ her child, I can say they were our best memories. Someday my daughter will remember the things she learned showing, the good times & the up's & down's & maybe come to her senses.

Red

 

[Dero]

We normaly hit 15 to 20 but now that my niece is 4-H age that number seeems to have doubled

 

[AAOK]

AAOK, those of you all from Texas and Oklahoma, you really do not know how lucky you are to have literally dozens of regional jackpot shows to choose from.  And year around, too!

In the western states, we are really limited to the opportunities we have.   

I would really love it if we could organize our jackpots so that they do not overlap and we could squeeze more in.    Any takers?

If there are enough participants that feel the same way, why don't some of you get together and organize some new shows?

Last Fall, 5 of us got together and started the Southeast Oklahoma Beef Expo in February.  We decided to make it an Invitational open to all 4-H and FFA chapters in the 21 counties of SE OK.  We solicited $100, $200, and $500 sponsorships, securred the Cattle Barn and Arena at our local Agri-Plex, and had quite a show. 

We met one evening every other week for 3 months to make sure we were getting done all the pre-show work.  We had a local Attorney volunteer to Incorporate our group and appy for our 501c3.  They County Extension Agents advertised our show throught their network.  Our toughest challenge was acquiring a Judge.  We were a little late getting started, and we kept getting turned down because they were already booked. We not only found one, but one who did and outstanding job. 

Our little show ended up with 146 heifers, but only 11 prospect steers.  We thought it was too late in the year for people to drag out their market steers, but this next year, we will have both prospect and market.  Our entry fee was $25, 100% payback.  Every entry was guaranteed $5.  Breed Champions (3 to make a breed) all received a silkscreened folding chair.  We gave $500 to our Supremes, and $250 to the
reserves.  All breed champs received an additional $100, Reserves $50.  All payouts were in Cash.  We were told by all that this was the top paying jackpot in the State.

We had enough money left that we will have a website this next year, and the sponsors were so thrilled that we will have more cash next time.  Our hope is that we can double the payout in 2008.  We are sure that we will double our entries.  It really wasn't all that tough.  Just Do It!

In His grip,
Dan

 

[cattlejunky]

We are in Indiana.  We do 7-10 shows per year depending on time of year.  We try to stay within a 2 hours from home and shows that are easy to get to.