showmanship contests

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

The few times I have judged showmanship the first thing I ask is what the animals name is. If the animal doesn't have a name no matter how good the showman I won't use them to win. If someone can't take the time to name a animal I doubt they have invested much time doing anything else with it.

I like that idea. It makes sense.
I've always named all my cattle and my dad's. I started naming other people's cattle too just because names (for me anyway) are a lot easier to remember than a number or tatoo. My uncle's bull is an Ameritrade son so I always call him "Ameritrade" and after he figures out what I'm talking about he laughs at me because he just calls him "the bull" 

 

[itk]

I don't expect every 18 year old boy to have a "Fluffy" or "Snowball" but they should atleast have some sort of way of identifying and to some small degree connecting with their animal even if it is just a tag number or registered name. When me and my brother were growing up we had countless steers named Cannon, Play Ray, Warhorse etc..(guess where we bought most of our steers.) These names did not take any strech of the imagination but showed that the animal was of some importance to us. I use it mostly to weed out the kids who say "why would I name it, I just throw it a couple buckets of grain a day its going to die anyway." Even at most large commercial operations the farmers have a name for atleast one cow no matter if it is "Boss" or "Crazy !@$#@." They have in a small way connected with one out of what could be thousands of cows. Therefore, I don't think it is to much of a stretch for today's youth to atleast call an animal that they are supposed to be working with everyday by a tag number.

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

 


Showmanship is WON and LOST at home.  From a Judges vantage point, it's easy to tell what showmanship work has gone on at home.  A calf which is impecably groomed, always walks at the same gait, and sets into place without the use of a show stick is awfully hard to beat.  Showmanship most of the time should go just about as the show, as far as I'm concerned.  Switching calves that are equally groomed, and behaved can help break a tie.  I know a lot of people will scream that most of the homework is done by the parents or the fitter.  It's usually not too dificult to identify those either; normally with a Feed Question.  If the exhibitor knows how much feed is consumed a certain number of times a day, there's a good chance they are filling and emptying the bucket.  To me, this is a must ask question for a Steer exhibitor.  For heifers, a feed question, and bred/open are good.  That's about as far as the questions need to go. 

What I don't like to see is a Judge who will award Showmanship honors to a 2nd or 3rd simply because the Best Showman has already won the show. 

 

I agree totally, the kids that work at home will rise to the top. It also torques me off when showmanship is awarded to someone that should be second or third. When my oldest daughter was still a junior there were at least three times that this happened to her. Either because she had had a good day with her breeding stock and steers before showmanship, or because the judge recognized her from another show (she showed all of our open class cattle as well from the age of 14) and thought she had an unfair advantage over the competition. Her last year as a junior the judge stated on the mike that he couldn't give the showmanship award to her because she had "way too big of an advantage over the other kids". In this case at least it did not pay to work hard and know your business. Oh.... I did chew off a pretty good sized chunk of the judges hind side later in Denver, first time I had ever confronted a judge, but wrong is wrong especialy when you state it over the P.A. speaker.

 

[pigguy]

The few times I have judged showmanship the first thing I ask is what the animals name is. If the animal doesn't have a name no matter how good the showman I won't use them to win. If someone can't take the time to name a animal I doubt they have invested much time doing anything else with it.

we normally also just use the calves ear tags or we just say heathers steer or karltons steers since we each only have one steer but then when we talk about my heifer we use ear tags. and we use ear tags #'s for pigs.  except we have had a steer name Professer ?#$% &!@$, the judge (crystal covey) really like that name

 

[renegade]

I agree totally, the kids that work at home will rise to the top. It also torques me off when showmanship is awarded to someone that should be second or third. When my oldest daughter was still a junior there were at least three times that this happened to her. Either because she had had a good day with her breeding stock and steers before showmanship, or because the judge recognized her from another show (she showed all of our open class cattle as well from the age of 14) and thought she had an unfair advantage over the competition. Her last year as a junior the judge stated on the mike that he couldn't give the showmanship award to her because she had "way too big of an advantage over the other kids". In this case at least it did not pay to work hard and know your business. Oh.... I did chew off a pretty good sized chunk of the judges hind side later in Denver, first time I had ever confronted a judge, but wrong is wrong especialy when you state it over the P.A. speaker.
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You dont even know how mad i would be. Of course it gives you an advantage but it definatley doesnt fall under an unfair advantage. All of those kids had the same oppurtunity to practice and probably even show as much as she had. What if she had shown at twice as many junior shows, instead of open shows, where the judge hadnt seen her then would it be an unfair advantage. I mean good is good and you cant drop someone from first because they are the best in the class, it just doesnt make since. It makes me soooo mad and it has no direct effect on me but whos to say that wont happen to me or farm boy or any other junior on this board one of these days. Why should someone be punished for being good at what they do, practicing it and showing more cattle than someone else... thats one of those things that just blows your mind, and to say it over the microphone.    ??? : :'( and im over it  . That just shows that even if you do everything right, and your the best you arent going to win them all... she was over qualified

 

[rmbcows]

Sometimes I think judges don't realize what winning a showmanship class means to a kid.  It is a SHOWMANSHIP contest and the BEST showman should win, period.  If a kid has won every class they've ever walked into, and they are also the best showman, then give credit where credit is due and give that kid their trophy!  It would be one thing to think to themselves "well she has won enough today" and use someone else, but to me, to get on the mic and proclaim that's the reason you're not using her, just shows ... well, I'd better not say.  I guarantee you a judge would never stand in a class of steers or heifers and say "I'm not going to use the best one for first because this kid has won too many classes today".  I've seen those excuses sooo many times in a showmanship class and I just think it sucks.  How do they think that makes the kid that they use to win the class feel?  "Yeah, you're not really the best, but here is your trophy".  There's alot of kids that won't even show in showmanship anymore because a judge has pulled that nonsense on them.  Remember... these are just MY opinions.  8)

 

[DLD]

I agree that once you get into the showmanship contest, the best showman needs to win. But also,(in the case of county or other shows, where showmanship follows the rest of the show) what the exhibitors have done (in terms of showmanship) throughout the rest of the day counts just as much as what they do in the showmanship division. All that said, if it's just for a trophy of some sort, and my kid has had a really good day, he doesn't go out for showmanship - but like at our county (or any other in OK) in the spring where winning qualifies you for the state contest, he does.