Update on Daughter's first Year Beef Project

[SandyB]

I am finally getting around to updating on my daughter's first year of having a steer(or any cattle for that matter). To refresh, we bought a steer from Trausch Farms sale last year. He was a April smokey colored steer by Blueprint and out of a HooDoo cow. We sure learned a lot this first year and my daughter sure got him nice and broke. He was a great first year steer. She showed him at a couple jackpots to practice. The first jackpot she made the showmanship cut(her first time showing). By the second jackpot, she won her Showmanship class and her steer won his class. She then showed him at one of our fairs and they won Novice 4H Showmanship and then won Champion Feeder Steer. Our terminal fair was the first weekend of September. Her steer weighed in at 1,441 lbs. We did our best to hold him and shrink him since we know that being over 1,400 is not ideal. However, he was a big framed steer and needed the weight to look right. He also had a ton of hair, and he was not kept in a cold box. He was in a small field, that was shaded by a huge tree and there was a fan on him. Not to mention he was rinsed and blown every day. They moved up to Junior Showmanship for this fair and they won that class. Then they won their heavyweight market steer class and as fate would have it, they were crowned the Supreme Champion Market Steer!  <party> Talk about crazy excitement. The judge could not say enough nice things about the steer. He showed great and looked great. I am so proud of my daughter and how incredibly well she did her first year. I also have to brag, that she also won her Junior Sheep showmanship class and went for the Reserve Champion Drive with her 4H market lamb too. She then qualified for the "Master Showmanship" competition where she had to show pigs, meat and dairy goats, besides sheep and cattle. She had never handled a pig or goats until that day. She ended up coming in 2nd place in the Mater Showmanship class.
Here are some pictures from fair and from her buyers letter.

 

[SandyB]

OOOOPS! Here are the rest of the pictures.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

Wow! Excellent job. Looks like a lot of hard work really paid off for your daughter. And by the way, that is a pretty great steer that would have competed really well at some of the bigger shows around here recently. I don't know where you're from, but judges in the midwest really liked the big smokey and blonde steers this summer! Congrats! <party>

 

[SandyB]

Thank You Boot Jack! We are in Auburn, California. Yes, I was told I should have had my daughter take him to state fair, but he was not finished at that time (2.5 months earlier, than our fair). We were lucky as the judge was from OK and did not mind that he was over the 1,400 lb mark. If it had been a California judge, I doubt he would have came out on top, or at least thats what I was told.
One thing we did, was we fed well. We never skimped on feeding and were always on top of the needs of the steer. I know what goes inside reflects what appears on the outside. I learned this from the performance horses we breed, raise, train and show. My daughter also put countless hours in to rinsing and blowing and just spending time with her steer. It showed. It was hard to part with him and many tears were shed for sure, but one thing is for sure… we will never forget the incredible first experience or that awesome steer.
My daughter has already purchased her next steer project. Its a MAB and out of a shorthorn cow. We can't wait to get him here and start all over again.

 

[cowpoke]

Refreshing story about the real reason to have a 4-H project.There can be so many positives if done for the right reasons.