I've got responses for both XBAR and DLD so pick through this.
XBAR -
I'll use a small town Texas sports analogy. Whether or its football or baseball, everyone says they want to win state. Even if you really are good enough to have a chance, for the most part it's the same schools that have the best programs year in year out - sometimes due to some inherent advantages related to affluence, proximity to urban areas, etc. When you are building a program, your "goal" is to win state; but as a coach - you are setting your kids up for failure if there isn't some intermediate goal to help keep your program and kids positive and headed in the right direction.
I forget which classification Pottsboro is now (I'm assuming 3A), but Pottsboro isn't going to run the Celina/Argyle/Prosper triumverate successfully in the playoffs every year. Those guys have the combination of funding/tradition/good coaches/pro athlete kids that make it really hard to do. Not impossible, but hard. You played baseball knowing you probably weren't going to win state, but that wasn't going to keep you from trying.
Showing steers is no different. It is too much work and too expensive (even with "cheap" calves) to mess with if you aren't going to try to win. I agree with you in that showing for "the experience" is BS if your kid is really serious about it. Teaching your kids to accept futility is harmful.
You don't have to spend a dump truck full of money to compete at what I call a mid-level (by my definition having steers that can make sales at Texas majors more often than not) - but it's still not cheap. I've never bought a $20,000+ steer. But if I add up what I spend breeding my own, running around all over he** and back trying to find a good sleeper, + buying them - I frankly could put it all in one pile and do that - as could a bunch of people like DLD. I hate adding it all up at tax time when were are doing our income tax for us and the kids as to how much we really do spend on it. But some of us are hell bent and determined to do it our way - and there is a really good lesson for your kids doing it that way - akin to teaching them to build a business.
DLD -
As my family strives to get better and improve results each year, I'm figuring out that it's still a long ways from placing to "winning" at majors - particularly in our "crossbred" breeds in the medium weights and heavy weights. That last little bit of difference in calf quality from placing calves to class winners is getting more narrow all the time - and more expensive all the time. That quality difference is getting so small I'm finding it's actually turning my judging ability into being a limiting factor. Hence why I say the prices are more about access to knowledge and skill than it is actual calf value. You never stop learning and I'm finding I need to "buy" some access to that knowledge even to get the most out of my own calves.
This past weekend is a great example of why it's fun for my family. We took 4 steers to their first show of the year, a pretty big show down in College Station. 3 we raised and 1 we bought. Class sizes are around 5-10 head (two separate rings under two judges). Our results were two firsts (medium wt Chi), three seconds (lt wt Angus, lt wt Chi), one third (med wt Maine), and a dead last (medium wt Maine). Our calf we showed as medium wt Maine is a really good black calf that acted like a jackass in the ring for my oldest son and he got buried because of it in one of two rings. For where he's at in his show career, he was much more upset about the last than he was happy about winning tougher classes with his other calf. He had legitimate breed champion aspirations for both - one he got close but ran into the $$$ wall there were the heavyweight calves at this show and the other he didn't get his end of the deal taken care of and fell flat. He was mad at himself and the judge, but didn't say a word to anyone about it but me, and then was over it by the time he got the glue out and calf washed. Those experiences make him appreciate when he does "get it done". Over the course of the day, my kids beat a bunch of calves - but were one "notch" below the $$$$ calves. I try really hard to teach them to not accept losing, but at the same time being happy with successes they do have while figuring out what they need to get better at themselves.
DLD said:
I understand what you're saying, and I guess if having grand is the only thing that's gonna make you happy it makes sense. I'm just saying that there are a lot of placings besides grand in those shows that a lot of people can be happy with. And I don't argue with what you and Chambero are saying about there being more $20K steers than there are classes for them to win - especially in Texas, where there are way more steers being shown, way more premium sale slots, and way more premium money to be had than anywhere else. That's not taking away from any other state - I'm from Oklahoma and it's extremely competitive here too, as I know it is many other places as well. But even in Texas, not every class winner cost $20K either - I sold a class winner in Houston this year for a small fraction of that. I wouldn't say there are more $20K steers than there are classes to win at OYE, but there are some $20K+ and a lot of $10K plus but my daughter won a class with an $1800 one this year.
Chambero said that with those high dollar steers you're not only paying for the calf, but the service that goes with it. I'd take that one step further and say you also buy into the name of the jocks and the breeders and the politics that goes with them. Some people can't afford to or simply don't want to invest in those options - they'd rather just buy the calf and take it from there on their own.
