Grand Champion Steer

Help Support CattleToday:

M

madbeancounter1

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 8, 2005
Messages
230
Reaction score
0
Location
NW Arkansas
Just thought that I would share with you that my boss' son showed the Grand Champion steer at the the Washington Co AR fair last night.

Both steers that he showed won their respective weight classes and from that he took Grand and third place over all.

Next stop Fort Smith and the AR/OK State fair and then on to Little Rock for the AR State Fair.

Sorry the digital still has yet to be found so I can't share a pic.
 
No, he'll sell premium only ... he did have the option though but they had already decided that no matter the outcome this week that they were going to go to the other two fairs.

As for breed... they were Maine X.
 
Hey Terry, I was at the show - those were some great looking steers. I really like the potential that the lighter one has if he continues to eat!!

Txcountryboy, for some reason AR has never caught up with most of the rest of the world & we still show only by weight not by breed. Sometimes it's interesting to see the American cross steers out there competing with the maine x and such.
 
Just wondering why those steer shows are not terminal? Here all county fair shows are terminal. The state fair show is terminal to champion and reserve, maybe top 5 I forget.

So you folks in AR can have a county champion and take him to other shows? State fair champion and not have to eat him?
 
They have the option here anyway. Same thing for Benton County where we will show next month.

I've not been that close to it long enough to give a more detailed answer than that. Probably have to defer to cattlemom.

When I was in 4-H back in the stone age and lived in Indiana the Champion and Reserve had to sell but if they were going to state the buyer wouldn't get the animal until after the State fair.

Cattlemom:

That smaller is the better of two in my opinion as well. Easier handling, too. When the boss and family are out of town playing ball the job of caring for them falls on me. For some reason that big one just decided to stop eating last week - didn't want the grain but didn't pass up the hay - thought he might have some stomach worms that the pour one didn't get but then he started eating again so I don't know.

I know the boss went home and told Mrs boss that he didn't think they were going to do anything because he thought there was a club calf in the barn that was better than either of Garrett's.

One thing's for sure... like him or not... he sure knows what he's looking at when he's picking out cattle. We'll just have to see whether my daughter's little heifer stacks up. He says so... I don't know.
 
Sounds like some great calves. Oklahoma shows by breeds in most counties, but most only have Junior shows for steers, so they can only show in their county of residence. Of course, they can go on to Okla. State Fair in OKC, and the Tulsa State Fair. Tulsa is terminal and has a Premium Sale. County shows in Okla. only have Premium sales in the Spring.

Now for really goofy, our county shows prospects only in the fall. No breeds, just weight. A month after the show, they come back for a weigh-in that determines their class at the spring show. In March we throw all breeds together and show twenty to thirty in a class, light, medium or heavy. To make matters worse, they are also in a rate of gain contest from that Fall weigh-in. It usually takes around close to a 5lb. gain to win it. The top low point seven from each class based on a score combining the placement on hoof plus rate of gain, make the sale. Drives the Judges insane before they finish the show.
 
All of the county shows in our area are not terminal. I think they started this because they get more representation at the state fair this way. A kid doesn't have to raise two steers to show at both shows. Our district fair is terminal however. It seems to go in cycles - some years everyone brings their stuff they need to dump - if the sale goes really good that year the next year everyone will bring the good ones. Actually, our state fair is not even terminal. The top 18 get to go through the premium sale & they are drug tested, but not butchered. I for one think it's great - that's less cattle I have to buy.

AAOK - sounds like a pretty crazy deal in the spring for you guys. It's funny that you have 20-30 in a class though. Washington County probably had 22 or so steers total. At Benton County we have about 40 entered for the whole show....
 
Most of our classes for steers are part of the general show with stud cattle. There are some exhibitions that are just steer shows. They usually have from 80 to 200 head. Usually crossbred but pures are accepted as well. Individual stud classes have a class for steers,they usually have to be pure or show a lot of the breed characteristics (usually about 3/4 content of whatever breed). The winners of these breed classes compete against each breed for champion steer. Recently at the Royal Queensland Show in Brisbane there were 200 head shown of varying breeds and crossses. The major winners were Limousin,South Devon and Angus crosses. They have lightweight,medium and heavyweight classes all who compete on the hoof and then on the hook. Each weight range only goes against their own classification. Seldom does an on the hoof winner go on to do any good on the hook.
Thats my little bit of info from Australia.
Colin
 
Most of our classes for steers are part of the general show with stud cattle. There are some exhibitions that are just steer shows. They usually have from 80 to 200 head. Usually crossbred but pures are accepted as well. Individual stud classes have a class for steers,they usually have to be pure or show a lot of the breed characteristics (usually about 3/4 content of whatever breed). The winners of these breed classes compete against each breed for champion steer. Recently at the Royal Queensland Show in Brisbane there were 200 head shown of varying breeds and crossses. The major winners were Limousin,South Devon and Angus crosses. They have lightweight,medium and heavyweight classes all who compete on the hoof and then on the hook. Each weight range only goes against their own classification. Seldom does an on the hoof winner go on to do any good on the hook.
Thats my little bit of info from Australia.
Colin
 
Australian Cattleman":22zj8r2g said:
Seldom does an on the hoof winner go on to do any good on the hook.
Click to expand...

Colin, I think this pretty much the case here in the states as well.
The "pretty" steers are not the ones we'd want to eat.
 
I didn't go to the premium auction the other night but I learned from one of the guys down at the mill that the sale got off to a slow start and that Grand Champion steer didn't bring as much as some of the others that ran later.

I am not sure that I heard him correctly but I think that he also said that there were some lambs that brought more than the steer. I haven't talked to the boss since Thursday afternoon but I was told that the steer brought somewhere in the neighborhood of $900 or so.
 
Our steer show is on weight not breed also.Daughter wants to show crossbred steer next year.Weigh in is in Feb for the rate of gain contest.She does not have to sell steer can get premium only.Grand champion brought $2200.00 here at 4-h fair.That was total premium plus the market value.
The county next to us has show and they have an on the rail class also,judge said he wanted to no where the steer that won was when he judged them?He placed it last in class on foot. :shock:
Our county fair has open show and jackpot steer also that the 4-H kids can and usually do participate in at the same time of reg 4-H show makes things interesting.
Daughter had only hereford at the fair for 4-H.Had grand champion hereford heifer :D Everthing around here has black hide and only had a couple char X in steer show for 4-H. Where are we headed with this black hide thing?JHH
 
JHH - Congrats on the heifer...

Washington Co had a few different breed crosses represented across the classes but by and large everything had a black hide. This is my daughter's first year to show in Benton Co. I don't know the competition here very well yet so I am not sure what to expect. Cattlemom wrote earlier that there were only about 40 animals entered over all.

When we live up in the land of Ice and Snow there were at least 150 animals over all.

As for the black ones... I have 'em too but like so many have said, once the hide's off you can't tell a difference without genetic testing. I think maybe worse than that is the fact that if we keep up the pattern there won't be any need for genetic testing since it'll all be one big pool. JMO

I guess I just made a hypocrit of myself since the commercial stuff we are raising is mostly black hided Maine Angus. The registered stuff is MG... interesting how not all of them are actually grey either. The first heifer we got had a black hided purebred MG daddy, mama was grey. She started out dark grey but has migrated toward a dun color.
 
Mr. Hudson is a good hand at sorting them. Congratulations again.
 

Similar threads

J
Show steer prices
Replies
18
Views
1K
Jacob
J
M
How to get muscle on your show steer?
Replies
8
Views
4K
DLD
D
S
Spring Heifer and Steer Show
Replies
3
Views
5K
Steershower
S
A
Help!! Clipped steer too short!
Replies
16
Views
13K
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Jeanne - Simme Valley
H
Opinions on steer?
Replies
7
Views
4K
LLBUX
L

Latest posts

Top