I'm stirred up now.
I saw the same thing everyone else did and he did not spend nearly as much time looking at each kid's calf as most judges do.
Most judges at Fort Worth spend more time on the initial sort. That's not even a question. He needs to do that different if there is a next year.
This is my main issue was the amount of time he spent looking yes you had to catch his eye but if you didnt he seemed to not even double check himself to see if he missed one! I saw one kid in class seven who he missed on the walk in and the showmen did everything he could to make him notice him while standing within 20 feet of the judge and when Johsnon finally did see him you almost could see the confused look on his face of how did I miss that one?
There's more than a little exageration going on for someone to say he flat didn't look at most calves. You might have just got a glance either on the walk in or on a quick walk around the judge after being set up, but its not accurate to say he didn't look at any calves in the back half of classes. As I used as an earlier example, the class winner from the class my son was in came from the back end. I did not watch every class, but I probably saw 3-4 of th exotic classes and he pretty consistent about how he operated.
Other examples: in the immediate area of our stalls, there were what I considered to be half a dozen super calves from various towns. After the dust settled - only one of those calves didn't place. I really can't think of any of the "name" calves that have done well under multiple judges all year that didn't place.
of the four classes I saw I can ohnestly tell you that there were calves that I believe he never saw! you can blame it on the kid for not making them selves seen or whatever you like but when a judge follows a calf out of the gate for a good 40-50 feet before pulling him and then once done turns lowers his head and walks back to the gate how can he not miss some calves? I could name a couple of calves that done well that didnt even get pulled but that is pointless as I dont believe he played politics either and that was also class 10 which is always a monster and wouldnt want to have to judge it myself as I would love to have most of the cattle in that class in my barn at any time! One of those was another calf that did really well at the Fall Classic in both rings
As far as playing politics, it would take one heck of a photographic memory to be able to recognize kids when they come in this arena. He might have figured out he used the Martin kids, but I guarantee you there is no way he could remember very many faces. To use specific examples: Mr. Skinner that has answered as part of this post had two calves do very well - Champion Lightweight Exotic and Champion Polled Hereford + I expect some other calves that placed. I didn't know any of the actual kids that showed those calves and I'd bet every penny I've got the judge didn't either. He sure as heck doesn't know us, and my son stood right in front of one of the $50K+ Texas Twister calves that sold last spring. The Champion Angus was shown by a family I grew up showing with and they are very competetive, but not someone that plays politics. They are thoroughly Aggies to boot!
I don't remember if it was here or on some of the Facebook rants I've seen, but he did have a piece of paper in his hand. I'd love to hear what was actually on it, but there was no way it was kids numbers. You can't see the numbers from where he stood when he was pulling calves.
Not so much here but on the FB rants, a lot of the people getting nasty are folks that that drop $10K +/- on calves that that looked real good a year ago. A bunch of those calves "hit the gate doing 98" because they were old, stale, and way past well done. Those folks are screaming bloody murder. Welcome to the other side folks. We finally had a judge that liked cool-looking, fresher calves that aren't too fat and hadn't had 200 lbs pulled off of them. Yes - you can spot those a mile a way and he didn't like them and didn't give them a second thought. Judges have used stale calves in in Fort Worth for forever - even in the lightweight classes. Rule of them has always been to pull off every pound you possibly can and cross your fingers you don't get reweighed. When we landed in Class 9 with a September steer I was pretty sure we were dead meat. You usually need June and older calves to get anything done in the heavy classes at FW.
At this level of a show, I don't care if a judge pretends to like my calf but still give it the gate. Your either in or out and my world has never ended either way. I have had three calves I've raised off the top of my head in past years that have gotten the gate at FW and gone on to win a class or better at San Antonio or Houston.
And yes I'm biased. We did well. I had three other calves there that didn't. Each of them got looked at, maybe not very long, but he checked them out. As bad as I wished they had got pulled, they didn't. But I don't remember recall raising high holy HE** in years we didn't.
Again most of the complaints I have seen have not been on the cattle that he used to win with the exception of a few classes but primarily the objection lies with his speed in trying to judge a 1400+ head steer show and only pulling ten head leaving him no other option but to brand some cattle that were unsound cause they were the only ones left in the ring! Someone else said that if the kid is to continue showing until exiting the ring the judge should continue judging those same cattle until they have left! One of my fondest memories of Ft Worth is my first ever experience showing there myself where my calf had gotten away from me and I was at the back of the line going out the gate when the judge pulled my calf. This was even before the justin arena was built. No that calf didnt make the sale that year but that judge made me feel like he had given me the world by that last look before leaving the gate. This year with the exception of only two classes I heard of he never pulled a calf on the walk out and most of the time had his back turned to the kids exiting and was trying to judge the TEN he had pulled, like it or not that is not an exageration and is unacceptable in my opinion!!
This is not a poorly run shown. It has always been my favorite. Yes its crowwded in the back, but its easily dealt with. We had a 4th place calf that brought just shy of $10,000. Their sale has been like that for years. This isn't a dinky county fair where everyone leaves feeling good. More often than not you are going to be humbled frustrated and wondering why you keep doing it. You teach your kids that the world ain't fair but that anything worth doing is really hard. This show is really hard. The first words my son spoke to me were "Dad - this feels just as good as winning the Belt Buckle this summer!" For a 4th place calf! I manage his expectations and he learned he better be pretty danged good on that halter to get it done. He had made the sale here before, but not in what I call the big boy classes. A bunch of you gripe about kids that have everyone else do their work and they just walk in the ring. That crap don't fly at this show and certainly not with this judge.
You think I give every resume that crosses my desk a thorough reading? You better catch my eye in a hurry.
