2009 Fat Steer (Added Fair picks)

[VCC]

Here are a few pictures of the steer my son took to our fair this year, The steer won the 4-H division and stood third over all.

 

[showing71]

nice looking steer. you taking him anywhere else?

 

[SRBeef]

what does he weigh? looks good.

Jim

 

[VCC]

No we will not be taking him anywhere else, he got a tatoo so no more shows. My boss bought 3 head at the fair he was one of them. I keep them at my place until they can be processed.
We weighed him in at 1300 he was closer to 1375

for that club calf bull debate, he is an Invincible who is out of Heat wave.
He was never much of a jackpot calf, he was destined to be a fat steer, he realy came into his own the last 3 months.

thanks
VCC

 

[Australian]

nice steer. Are there many cattle in California? What would be the main breeds?

 

[VCC]

There are still cattle in California, not as many as there used to be, when the land became worth more than they would ever make ranching, a lot of it was sold off. There are a lot of commercial Angus herds, mixed commercial herds and registered herds. We have quite a few mixed unmanaged herds in the back hills in southern California, most of the big outfits, 200 head and up are in Central and Northern California.

Except for the current drought conditions, there is a lot of good cattle land still in California, it just cost anywhere from 1000 to 10000 an acre.

The ranch we get are calves from is about 350 miles from us, they breed show steers and registered Shorthorns and Mains they run about 350 head plus have ties back east where they get some of the steers they sale.

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

To me he looks a little over conditioned but I have heard the US likes a bit more conditioning on their slaughter cattle.

 

[VCC]

He is finished but not overly, his ribs just finished getting adequate cover couple weeks before the fair, He was probably the closet to being finished properly in the final drive, he did carry a little extra fat around the tail head, but that came early. One of the judge's comments was that he still looked fresh, balanced and one of the best conditioned steers he had seen that day. (he had seen 80 head)

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

What I mean is that here our supermarket steers are finished at 7-10mm fat cover but apparently in the US it's more than that. So to me he seems over finished but that's probably normal for you guys. Just putting my 2 cents in but then giving a reason why that probably isn't an issue. I know, worst critic ever

 

[VCC]

Actually our standard is .4 to.5 inches; I think that would be about the same.

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

Actually our standard is .4 to.5 inches; I think that would be about the same.

2.5 cm in an inch so half an inch is 1.25 which is 12.5mm it's close. Hmm. I was under the impression it was more. Oh well. the more you know

 

[VCC]

I added some pictures from the fair.