showing your own cattle?

[herefordfootball]

if you arent cheating you aint trying.

Isn't that statement an oxymoron? Cheating is a form of laziness. So one would not really be trying then, if they are cheating.

I agree with Show Heifer. There will always be some one who gets a promotion at work because they know the boss or take credit for your hard work. The sooner a kid learns these hard lessons in life the better chance they have seeing them as minor speed bumps than mountains that stand in their way. Just be thankful that you can be with them to help them when they first encounter this stuff.

IRH - It can be very disappointing when ones hard work goes unrewarded. But at the same time I think it is great that this is a multi-generational family affair. You can hardly find many families trying to accomplish a shared goal like you can in showing and raising cattle. Anyone who would say it is a waste of time is lesser for it. I find it sad when a kid is driven to a show by the fitter their parents hired and the parents are MIA.

It is somewhat easier to do better when you buy a heifer or steer but if you are standing in the top half with your own stock I call that success. Any one can buy a race car, few can build one.

JMHO

Very well said.

 

[beattieclubcalves]

personally in my opinion "irh"  if anyone should be thinkin they are gettin cheated it should be the grandkids not you. you shouldn't even be doin the work personally from my point. i show in one of the hardest counties in iowa and we have the same thing we place 2nd or even in the top but dont win. (always) but we dont get all down and pissy and say the jocks are cheatin. where im from the jocks went to high school with my parents and we all hacve respect for each other and their calves. and i know im only a young one but i have been showing all my life and my father has never bought a show calf or any cattle stuff for me cuz he wants m to learn it all my self. which maybe if your grandkids did more work on them there would be no whining

 

[box6rranch]

Lots of people have made great observations and stated honest opinions on this topic. I can tell you that I was born and raised in the city. Moved to the country when my daughter was in 5th grade. We joined 4-H but she didn't start showing cattle till 7th grade. First heifer and steer were bought off our friends who own a ranch in Nebraska. Heifer wasn't anything special, the steer was nuts and my daughter couldn't show him.
I totally agree with the person that said you need to go to other shows besides county fair. If you are raising quality competitive cattle they can't possible do bad at ever show. If that is the case you need to change your breeding program.
As far as county fair goes we watched the same people win each year. We started watching the winners at each show and trying to figure out what made then winners. We weren't shy and asked a lot of questions. We started out buying some quality heifers and bred to good quality bulls.
We had some luck and worked really hard. We've done pretty dog gone good. Won some big shows at State Fair and consistently do well at county fair. We now are only showing what we've bred and raised. We have a really great consistent bull and we study the bulls and decide what each heifer is lacking and can get from another bull's breeding for a calf. As this is my daughter's last year to show we too are working towards being able to sell club calves to the local county 4-H kids. We've just sold our first heifer. She's really nice and we got a good price for her. Best advice I can give you is if you are still pointing your finger out at others you need to point it at yourself and figure out what you need to improve on.

 

[dori36]

Yes, we go to other shows usually stand fairly good, we've been told though you have to have winners to sell cattle.  You people don't live in our county so you don 't know the whole story. Believe me we've done 20 years of losing and some winning .  But I see this was a useless situation voicing my opion on here.  When your grandkids are young they can't do all the work themselves and I told you their parents have to work away to make a living, excuss me for helping my grandkids out.  Signing off now thanks for all your comments.  Still got our veiw points though..

I'll just make one last comment:  The really sad thing is that you think that "....this was a useless situation voicing my opion (sic) on here."  This forum is made up of people in all differenr kinds of cattle raising/showing/selling, all different an varying ages (from kids to old farts like me) and each one's opinion is valid and offered with honesty.  You may not like what you heard but it's never "useless" to ask for advice here.  It's only "useless" if you don't/won't learn something from the differing opinions.  Good job, Planeteers!

 

[aj]

Why are there shows? I have read that showing cattle was a way to promote say a seedstock breeders cattle. So people will come and buy ththe genetics at a ranch. 4-H shows are different as they are to teach kids(in theory anyway). I think there is a disconnect with the cattle and the the showring industry today. It was the same with the belt buckle cattle of the 50's. The commercial ranchers didn't go for this type either. Very few cattle people who sell say 100 bulls a year promote their cattle in the show ring. There is some crossover. If a Angus breeder is linebreeding for carcass traits he won't care about showring results of the National western unless there are carcass virtue involved. Seems like to me that now in order to win  in the shows you have to concentrate on show ring traits and convenience traits and natural selection is ignored. Since so much enviroment can be manipulated and falsified and so on there will always be hard feelings. I was always amused with the fact that a champion steer is probably a genetic defect carrier and probably had a 120 # bwt. Yet these cattle are held up to be the champion beef type. So it is what it is. If you go out and try to win a feedlot pen contest there are less excuses for not winning a prize.

 

[Cattledog]

Why are there shows? I have read that showing cattle was a way to promote say a seedstock breeders cattle. So people will come and buy ththe genetics at a ranch. 4-H shows are different as they are to teach kids(in theory anyway). I think there is a disconnect with the cattle and the the showring industry today. It was the same with the belt buckle cattle of the 50's. The commercial ranchers didn't go for this type either. Very few cattle people who sell say 100 bulls a year promote their cattle in the show ring. There is some crossover. If a Angus breeder is linebreeding for carcass traits he won't care about showring results of the National western unless there are carcass virtue involved. Seems like to me that now in order to win  in the shows you have to concentrate on show ring traits and convenience traits and natural selection is ignored. Since so much enviroment can be manipulated and falsified and so on there will always be hard feelings. I was always amused with the fact that a champion steer is probably a genetic defect carrier and probably had a 120 # bwt. Yet these cattle are held up to be the champion beef type. So it is what it is. If you go out and try to win a feedlot pen contest there are less excuses for not winning a prize.

You know, I have always enjoyed showing cattle and can be just as competitive as the next person.  One thing that threw me off this summer was when I had a talk with one of my cousins about her steer.  I was trying to tell her how to alter the feed ration so her steer would look as fresh as possible with a nice finish( basically, cut his feed way back and then start him over).  She looked at me and told me she wouldn't cut the feed because she was trying to win the rate of gain.  I was kind of shocked and then proud of her.  She was actually making it a point to prove that my family's genetics could produce a fast gaining steer.  The best part is she won it with a gain of over 4lbs a day.  She was the first person in my family to ever win that award.  The rest of us had always taken ourselves out of contention trying to fall into a certain weight category. 

 

[forcheyhawk]

At the end of the day, championships, money, and achievements won't make your life more complete.  You should probably seek other means of accomplishing that and enjoy the fact that you have the opportunity to work with your grandkids in something that you both share a common interest and enjoy doing.  There are many grandparents/children that don't get that same opportunity for many reasons.  Life's way too short - enjoy the ride.

 

[Steer4Caddy]

I need those jocks doing whatever it is they do because I need a nemisis.  Part of the allure of Showing is outbreeding, outfeeding, and outshowing them.  Our family raise our own calves and there's nothing better than beating a $10000 steer.  We do get beat, but that makes winning even sweeter.  Life is about competition and the kids need to learn that you don't always get a fair shake but it CAN still be done.  The good guys do win sometimes.

 

[OH Breeder]

noone has quite learned yet in this day of age. it all depends who you know and if you arent cheating you aint trying.

This statement is obviously made to generate controversy. No one who has any sense of morals would think this statement is acceptable.

VERY WELL SAID! Below....
Posted by: Torch 
Isn't that statement an oxymoron? Cheating is a form of laziness. So one would not really be trying then, if they are cheating.

 

[rtmcc]

We show almost all bred and owned calves.  Mainly breeding heifers at this stage as our kids are 9 and 7.  We only have about 15 calves a year but have been very competitive at many jackpots, state fairs and the county level.  It sure is fun when you know you have beet a heifer that somebody paid a lot of money for.

Last years show string produced this years show string and they look like they will be very powerful in three different breeds (Angus, Simmi and Charolais)  If we get beat by a $10,000 one, so be it.  We don't have those kind of resources. We have beat those heifers also and that feels great  to say the least.

The kids understand this and also enjoy going home to the pasture and seeing the dam and grand dam of their heifers.  I suppose if We get into the steer deal We may have to purchase something but We bred a few that way this year to give it a try. At least we will know what we are starting with that way and how they might feed.

Showing cattle is what we do as a family and with our friends.  I don't know if I would want to have $20,000 and go out and try and find one that I felt like was really worth $20,000 and not getting screwed on.  The kids have learned a lot but having to work very hard on what we have and enjoying the  success!

Ron
<cowboy>