What are everone's opinions on this?

[cowman]

This is the same flawed logic that says all kids deserve a trophy for little league.

Thank you Alfie Cohn

OK that makes no sense, Kohn would be against competition and differing reward levels for performance so your argument makes no sense, he would agree with YOU not me.

 

[simtal]

This is the same flawed logic that says all kids deserve a trophy for little league.

Thank you Alfie Cohn

OK that makes no sense, Kohn would be against competition and differing reward levels for performance so your argument makes no sense, he would agree with YOU not me.

Notice he said ALL the kids, not just the winners. I agree he is agianst competition and the rewards that come with them, but one his ideas is give all kids a trophy, or ribbon so everyone is equal.

 

[Cowfarmer65]

Mixed feelings here.
Growing up we bred and fed our own and used to always do well. On the other hand the reality of this is that it teaches children from an early age what they will deal with their whole life...........I realize that I don't have the funds to compete in bidding on high dollar cattle like some others or like some of the ones who will mortgage the farm to buy them............A keen eye and picking a diamond in the rough is worth far more than going out and buying a sale feature. Chances are that the sale feature has been a pretty one since birth and hasn't gone through any ugly spells...........If there hasn't been a point in their development that you've looked at them and said "Oh God what happened to you", they're not going to develop into a good mature animal.
They are out there. I've proven it to myself..........Twice now I have purchased one of the lower end of the Agribition Sale, dollar wise......I repeat....."dollar wise".
The following day they were both class winners..........did this 5 yrs ago and again last fall....I've done it at production sales as well. My most profitable cow was bought as a calf 12 yrs ago for $ 650. Her mother was an All American yearling and she never misses......Ok that sounded like bragging and that's definitely not my intention here. Just reaffirming what 'forcheyhawk' stated earlier. Teach your youngsters to look through the fitting jobs on prospect calves and appraise the animal. I get ragged on all the time when judging shows cause I look past the fitting. Complaints usually are that because I custom fit cattle I shouldn't knock the fitted ones. I've even gone so far as to announce on the mic with my first set of reasons for the fitters in the barns to take a day off with pay......You'd be surprised how quick they catch on and start sendin them to the ring without being loaded with glue. I usually tell the complainers that as I was asked to judge I didn't feel the need to get my hands all covered in glues and paints to feel the rough hocks or narrow asses.......I was supposed to stay clean and look pretty........that winds them up.
Ok enough dribble......next.

 

[lcattleco.]

We have a steer pool around here to.  It happens every friday, its called the sale barn!  Wait i guess thats not fair either, because some people bring better cattle and they bring more than the poorer cattle.  I guess life just isn't fair!

 

[vc]

There are winners there are losers, sometimes they earn some, times they buy it, sometimes you they flat luck into it. As long as you do your work and your project reaches its max potential you should be satisfied at the job you did. The playing field is even at most county  fairs, you have to own and have possession of the animal for 180 days, the exhibitor is responsible for the care and up keep of the animal, you get to select your animal, (the animal you are showing is one you picked out) yes some people have more money and that means they have a larger group to select from. Do your work the best you can with the animal you have and the chips will fall where they fall.

I know of a county fair that only allows animals from the county be shown in it, so the ranch that raises calves in the county and buys calves from the rest the country will let them know when they are taking "culls" to the sale barn. There is always a way for people to get around rules the more you make the more people will find a way around them.

 

[Part Timer]

It is kind of a double edge sword. Money drives the show industry but it is the money that is killing it at a county level. The cost of competing is driving people into other cheaper projects or out of it altogether.

 

[lcattleco.]

Economics driving people out of showing cattle.  Hmm, most people on here say that showing cattle has nothing in common with the real cattle business!

 

[George]

I was raised buying my calves, didn't live on a farm, rented space to raise them.  My dad, sisters and I did all the work.....I remember hearing more than once from my dad "this isn't my project, if you aren't going to do the work, we aren't going to do it."  Those were some of the best days I had growing up,learned how to work,  learned how to win, learned how to lose, when I had my "teenage attitude" working on calves, was the only time my dad and I could talk and had some of the best times together.  Never bought a steer for more than $1500.  Doing the same with my kids, setting a price limit.  Will we ever win the big one?  Time will tell.  We have done great with our calves, have been acused at  the county level of spending too much money and guess what the $1500 limit still works for me. (even showed the detractors the cancelled check on the purchase) Just try to find calves that will work for us, feed them right, try to fit them to the best of our ability, and it is our family.....all of us that work on the calves together.  My daughters have won the county more than once, beat some higher dollar animals at the Beef Expo and have been beat bad by more expensive and less expensive.  We do not complain about what someone else pays, if they can afford it and it works for them more power to them.  We set our limits, set our goals, work hard, learn something new, make new friends and try to enjoy every minute of our showing and 4-H experience............OH yeah and we are competitive every year.......nothing wrong or bad about being aggressive and making something out of nothing.  <beer>

 

[rf21970]

I have been lurking on here for almost a year, and after reading this thread decided to join and post.

I want to commend everyone for their posts on what could be a touchy subject. I can see all sides of the discussion, but like everyone here, I think a cap is a bad idea and goes against most economic principals we all believe in. I would also be against some type of steer pool or lottery. An eye for good cattle cannot be bought and a steer pool would take that edge away from those that have that gift. I also believe those economic principals will eventually level the playing field. I feel that if you want to have the "win at all cost" attitude, then that should be your right. We look at our steer program as an opportunity to learn about more than winning and those lessons have all already been mentioned in this thread.

I would like to say thanks for all the info provided in the forum. Last May, we (me and my 12 and 15 yr old sons)decided to try to raise our own steers and the info from this site has been invaluable in that decision making process. We are having our first calves born right now and this is adding a whole other dimension to the lessons learned from our steer project.

 

[loveRedcows]

Just a comment on the "true" rewards of working hard with what you have...last year my grandson picked out his own heifer (a daughter of a cow he had shown years ago), worked with her constantly & loved every minute.  At the show all the other heifer class exhibitors stood out in the hot sun waiting for another exhibitor to finally get his heifer up to the arena.  This was an awsome heifer, perfectly, professionally fitted & of course she won the class.  Ok fine -- that's the show ring.  However, in the showmanship class my grandson's heifer was an absolute machine responding to voice command due to all the work he had put into her -- he won this class against some really high powered high cost heifers & is prouder of that accomplishment than the anything else.  Keep in mind that money & power cannot buy or produce the kind of ethics & sportsmanship so vital to a youngsters future.  Only teaching them the proper values can do that & they will go a lot further in life than those without.

 

[Torch]

Just a comment on the "true" rewards of working hard with what you have...last year my grandson picked out his own heifer (a daughter of a cow he had shown years ago), worked with her constantly & loved every minute.  At the show all the other heifer class exhibitors stood out in the hot sun waiting for another exhibitor to finally get his heifer up to the arena.  This was an awsome heifer, perfectly, professionally fitted & of course she won the class.  Ok fine -- that's the show ring.  However, in the showmanship class my grandson's heifer was an absolute machine responding to voice command due to all the work he had put into her -- he won this class against some really high powered high cost heifers & is prouder of that accomplishment than the anything else.  Keep in mind that money & power cannot buy or produce the kind of ethics & sportsmanship so vital to a youngsters future.  Only teaching them the proper values can do that & they will go a lot further in life than those without.

I never can understand why some of these "halter candy" kids do showmanship. What do they expect?

IJS