Off to the Show!
It’s that time of year again. Time to take the new show calves to their first show. My family and I are headed to the Corn Palace Winter Calf Show in Mitchell, SD today with four calves–two heifers and two steers. My sisters have been working on the calves since Thanksgiving, and Christmas break has been filled with washing, clipping and leading the calves around to help prepare them for their first trip to town. 
While some say that the show cattle industry has no place in the beef industry, I have to disagree. Showing livestock enables producers to showcase their livestock to fellow ranchers. This marketing tool allows an operation to become more recognizable, and winning cattle shows is an even better way to prove that your calves can stack up to the competition. Plus, show cattle can often be extreme in comparison to regular feedlot cattle. While many say that these cattle aren’t fit for the practical production purposes and the retail case, I think these extremes help make improvements for the United State’s beef herd.
So as I load up the trailer to stack my calves against others for the first show of the season, my big question is, what do you think about the show industry? Do you take your cattle to livestock exhibits? Do you ever purchase seedstock at shows and sales such as the National Western Stock Show in Denver, CO or the Black Hills Stock Show in Rapid City, SD? Tell me what you think. Inquiring minds want to know!
December 30th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
I showed some breeding stock back in the 60’s. won my fair share of them. I won the Texas state heifer judging class back in high school and even judged at a few stock shows in the breeding divison. My kids never got a chance to win the big shows in Texas like my Brothers and I did. We liked showing 2-year old heifers with a baby calf at side. Our older childern could lead-in the heifer and our 3 to 5 year old would follow with the baby calf. I always taught the kids that its hard to beat a 2-year old heifer with a proven calf at side with a 2-year old bred heifer.I would love to be able to raise and let some of our grandkids show them. We quit showing cattle when cow/calf paires started getting beat by something that looked like fat steers and have never even seen a bull at age Two.
While some of my freinds say that I should show cattle that the show industry is showing, I keep saying no-Thanks
December 31st, 2008 at 9:39 am
Amanda,
Cattle shows, basketball games, the market place and mall shopping the day after Chritsmas are all forms of competition. Except for the mall shopping I have competed in all.
Forget the mall shopping. Without seeing and compariing how do we progress. We compared open pollunated corn to hybrid corn almost a century ago and there was no turning back. As the function of our cattle confomity changed to meet market demand competition to meet this challenge also evolved.
Communist countries that tried to squelch competition achieved only one thing: A degraded lifestyle. Having gone to China in 1981 and Russia in 1994 which in both cases was soon after they opened their countries it was evident they had remained in the era in which they closed their borders and ended competiton. Only their military advanced as they were competing with the U.S. for all the wrong reasons. Today China, and to an extent Russia, and even Vietnam are emerging because of their acceptance of free market competion.
Show your best. Compare the virtues of your product. It has been the American way and what has made us the envy of the world.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I hear the yard traffic in Denver is SLOW! The show cattle industry, “Buying the Dream” will always have a part in the deal. Unfortunatley, the show ring at one time pointed itself toward functional commercial cattle, has headed in the other direction. Way too much money out there for the “fluff and puff” cattle. I have no problem with the showring….it is -what it is. The real payday for most cattlemen is on the “fairbanks”! Good luck with your heifers!
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment:
Register Here or Log in Here.