T said:
It's boring, they have no clue what's going on, and so they move on.
And now to my idea ... finally:
I think there needs to be some sort of announcer. I propose this for a trial run at Fort Worth only because I really know the venue and the public traffic in the area. I think it should be tried out on the weekends. It's a great way to tell those spectators what is going on. Some of the things could be breed-specific (ish).
I envision this as someone who does read the entries, but then follows up with WHY they are walking them around and what the judge is looking for, WHY they set them up the way they do - and what they see from that, WHAT it has taken to get them that far in their show career, etc.-Traci
i like those ideas.
that's why i think blowers in the background interfere with the announcer. part of the problem with describing the entries is that the judge is not supposed to be biased as to who is on the halter, what the breeding is, unless they are allowed to refer to epd's at which point, the pedigree should be invisible.
the other problem that people have with "over" describing the animals, is that people get offended. i commented on here one time about how a heifer needed to come out of her withers higher through her neck and got a response somewhat like, "she's got a great front end, what are you talking about?" it's hard to rate "who brings the most good" as people will rate this differently, though like you, i agree they should.
here's a scenario. lets say they judges overgive their reasons in the early classes. with all the classes, this could go on forever. if they do it in the later classes, the exhibitors will get upset for criticism of their animals and that the judge is hurting the marketing of that animal or bloodline.
then, they change the policy to water down the comments so no one gets offended or the judge talks one on one with the exhibitors so other people don't have to listen.
i wish people would get a little thicker skin and quit complaining about opinion. everyone complains that the same people win, yet when a judge shows up who is different, the people that thought they should have won under their favorite judge complain. what a joke. it's amazing some of the supporters of the show don't wake up and take the whole thing away.
T, i agree with your assessments. we need to make this more fun for everyone, including non-cattle people, who look to us to provide them a diversity of products.
i personally would like to see a steer class that was based solely on yield instead of any ability to marble since 50% of the market is for that kind of cattle, even though a lot of those cattle are culls. lower quality outlets still use the premium cuts and the rest goes to taco bell etc.
there is no "one" kind of steer. it's about time we had classes to portray that. the way it is today, carcass results notwithstanding, is a little unrealistic due to the age of the animals, at least to me. to me, the industry makes just as much money on the low end animals as they can discount them the most. meat is what sells, for the large percentage of the market, not fat.
