How Much $ for Show Calf

[Diamond G]

I have been the financial side of the show calf business, the heifer we have is placing about middle of her class each time, she looks really good and was sold to us to be a top of the class animal, unfortunately she is not, And my nephew has put a lot of work into her ( done his part ) Question how much up front money does it take to buy a champion exotic heifer ? I am going to buy another heifer this spring any suggestions of breeders to look at, would be appreciated

 

[Anonymous]

My suggestion: Showing isn't all about winning. If your nephew is putting in the work, and placing at shows, that's great. Hopefully he's learning a bit too, so that he knows what improvements he can aim for when breeding his heifer.
Buying a 'champion' doesn't necessarily mean the heifer will always be a champion. Judges opinions vary, as do cattle trends, and I think you will find, if someone has a 'champion' heifer, they will be reluctant to sell.
JMO

 

[SKF Show Cattle]

How much money you spend does not mean you will win. The first thing you need to do is learn to know what to look for when looking for a show calf. Remember when you go to look for a calf they will do a lot of growing and changing after you buy them so always start with their feet. If they don't have good sound feet when they are young they will not get better. Look for natural witdth by the way they stand naturally. Look for pleanty of flex in their joints, make sure they have a strong topline and they mantain a stong topling when they walk. Plus look for depth and body shape. If you learn what your looking at you can find some really good deals from of the smaller breeders. When you go to a breeder and tell them your looking for a champion calf there's a lot of breeders who will take advantage of you because they are going to assume you don't really know what your looking for. There is never a guarentee when buying a show calf. I've seen a $1000 calf beat a high dollor calf so you never know just go out there and have fun.

 

[EAT BEEF]

I'll find you one but first tell me how much money you have :cowboy:

 

[Diamond G]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions, I agree with you he has learned a lot. I dont mind buying a good heifer but at the same time I enjoy seeing him work with them and and try to make them the best they can be. Like I told him if we do our part then we know at the end the calf is what the calf is Good or Bad, but we won't have to look back and think if we could have done something different. I agree it's not all about winning but sometimes a kid deserves it. So I guess what I am saying is looking back I think maybe I should buy him a better calf this year
Thanks
Again

 

[Avalon]

I have been the financial side of the show calf business, the heifer we have is placing about middle of her class each time, she looks really good and was sold to us to be a top of the class animal, unfortunately she is not, And my nephew has put a lot of work into her ( done his part ) Question how much up front money does it take to buy a champion exotic heifer ? I am going to buy another heifer this spring any suggestions of breeders to look at, would be appreciated

We've beaten $20,000. heifers with our reasonably valued home raised heifers. And also gotten stomped by heiefers that were priced lower than the ones we paid too much for. There is never a guarantee. Breeders can only speculate as to the quality of the animals they sell when it comes to the show ring. You never really know what competition will be out there. In order to get a good one, you've got to be the one who developes the keen eye or learn to rely on someone you can trust to help you pick them out. A friend of ours raised the champion Angus heifer at Ft. Worth, san Antonio and Reserve at san Angelo. He knew he had a good one but never dreamed he even had a shot at a major show champion until they all lined up. Mind you this is a home raised heifer that beat a lot of really expensive heifers.
I am in texas so if you let me know what breed you are looking for I'll PM you some names.
No guarantees just reputable breeders known to raise competitive calves.

 

[Diamond G]

Avalon
Thanks for the reply, I think this year we are going to look at buying a Simmental or Limousin.
We are going to breed the Maine see how she looks with a calf at side for Ft. Next year. If possible PM the info you spoke about it will be much appreciated
Thanks again

 

[6M Ranch]

The other factor is, everyone else is buying high dollar heifers. If 10 people go out and buy winners, there is still only one first place.

 

[Diamond G]

6 M
I totally agree that's what makes these show calves so aggravating it seems to take a certain amount of money to participate ( Kind of takes the sport out of it ) What ever happened to walking out in the pasture picking one out of the heard and saying I think that will work. Don't get me wrong I agree with good breeding and everything but it seems like there should be a limit to it. Some kids are not fortunate enough to have the high dollar calves, so I am sure there a lot missing out on some good experience due to that fact.

 

[Misty]

For a breeder to tell a kid, "here is a champion" is not responsible. He can't gaurentee anything.
Decide what you can afford and stick to it. Learn to judge. Having your kid judge livestock for a local team will prove valuable lessons in selection of livestock. They will know what the judges will be looking for. She has been placing consistant so listen to what the judges are saying as to why she is lower than you thought. Find a heifer to fix that.
Good luck.
His hard work will pay off eventually.

 

[6M Ranch]

I would like to see a limit, but there's no way to police that. There's also the fact this is a free country, and if you want to spend $50k on a steer to hang a ribbon in your house, that's your choice. What I've been pushing here, is a ranch raised class at the fair. At a minimum, only animals raised by breeders in the county could show. Eventually, only cattle that the exhibitor raised would be allowed. We're already doing DNA and retinal scans here at check in, so verifying parentage of the winners wouldn't be too hard.

 

[dlwardell]

We have a "County Calf" class at our County Fair and the calf has to be born in our County to be eligible. When the 'regular' judge places the class, the announcer gives the number of the top two county calfs and they come back at the end of the 'regular' show to compete against each other. The local cattlemans group and others donate money and top 3 split around $1000.00. There are alot who think the entire county fair should be county calves - but that's a whole 'nother debate!!

 

[Diamond G]

Yea they have county bred at our county show also, but as you would know some people will go up North buy a trailer load of calves bring them back AI or breed to bull they bought, then the calves drop in that county ( There you go county born ) then they choose the best of the load. I know everyone has the right and that's good but it seems they are taking lot of the fun out of it. I agree it would be very hard fix the issue. I think it should be more focused on raising USDA Prime.
Agree whole different topic sorry

 

[show steer up]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions, I agree with you he has learned a lot. I dont mind buying a good heifer but at the same time I enjoy seeing him work with them and and try to make them the best they can be. Like I told him if we do our part then we know at the end the calf is what the calf is Good or Bad, but we won't have to look back and think if we could have done something different. I agree it's not all about winning but sometimes a kid deserves it. So I guess what I am saying is looking back I think maybe I should buy him a better calf this year
Thanks
Again

Hi, just wanted to say,I agree with you, "a kid deserves it."
I have been showing for over 21 years now. My kids do most of the showing now days.
You have to set a price for yourself and no matter what anyone else thinks, do what you think is best for your family. This year my children spent seven hundred on two show animals and five thousand on the other two animals. We bought the animals from local ranchers. One ranch shows their stock all over the four corners area and they kick butt. The other rancher never showed an animal in his life. I went out in his field with the kids and showed them how to pick an animal on the walk. It was a little more chalanging for them because the animals were not tied to a fence. All in all it was a great experience. Of course the more exspencive animals kick butt over our budget animals but the money return is far better.
Give the kid a choice, let him make up his minde what is more important to him. The pocket book at the end of the adventure or the win and all its glory for all that hard work. Maybe just placing a few animals up the line will be all he needs. Also, my kids hold more weight on their showmanship trophies than anything else. They still have not won round robin and that is their goal. My kids that show are 11 and the other is 13. They financed there own way, everything we own for the cattle they have bought including the hourse trailer,electric walker, and cooler barn. I hope you get the chance to buy a real nice animal for him, every child deserves a chance to go for the big one. No matter how much or little you have to spend to get it. Good luck.

 

[AAOK]

Diamond G, This is a real good topic, with lots of good replies. From my 16 years of experience as a MA breeder and our 11 years of showing, I say there is no right or wrong answer to your question; only opinions. Opinions are what the Show Ring is all about. The judging is completely subjective! Of course, the same guidelines are used by all, but each show rests on the opinion of one person, based on an always changing criteria.

A "Big Name" breeder I know well has two sales each year. I have been watching closely for many years how these calves(mostly heifers) perform in the showring. Rarely ever does a calf excell that was not kept by this breeder to be fed, fit, and groomed every day by his staff. The majority of the best calves do stay with him at a cost which might surpass the auction bid by the time the calf ends her show career. This is proof positive that no matter how good a calf is both genotypically and phenotipically, Professional daily care is a great determining factor of show ring perfomance.

The best advice I have to anyone, is to pick a breed, and get active in both the State and National organizations of your breed. A Junior exhibitor(and parents, grand parents, uncle) can absorb more about this "business" at one Junior National Show's week of contests and exhibits, than will be learned in 5-10 years of showing at the County and even State levels.

Proper selection is extremely imporportant when buying a show calf. At a major sale, it will probably take at least $8000 for that "winning" heifer. The same can be purchased from a breeder for $2000 - $3500. In Texas and Okla. the MA breed is plentiful. At any bigger show, the difference between the 1st place calf and the middle of the class is usually determined by Feeding, Fitting, Grooming & Showmanship; not the price of the calf.

 

[TheBullLady]

I agree with most of the above posts... you can pay high dollars for a calf that the breeder will tell you will win everything, and someone, somewhere will have one that is better. That's the nature of the beast. Also something to keep in mind.. many times a calf won't be as good as a youngster, and then as they get older start placing better. That's happened with calves I've sold more than once. (Simmentals and Simbrahs). A few years back I sold a Simbrah to a young man in central Texas. He placed in the middle of the class through the first year or so, but when the heifer got to about 14 months old, she won consistently.

I've seen kids buy calves at the registered sales for $5000 - $12,000, but you have to keep in mind that at the Texas sales, the "made" calves bring high dollar. If you have a good eye, or know someone that does, you can buy a green calf for much less.

 

[Diamond G]

Sorry for such a late reply but I have doing a lot of traveling, we got our rear end whooped in Houston with the Maine. I did purchase a nice Chi from Bar A Cattle and we have great expectations for her. Thanks for all the replies on this issue, you all have been a tremendous help and I have enjoyed the hospitality from everyone.

 

[show steer up]

So, please tell..........What did she cost and have you shown her? I bet the youngin is very happy and has re-newd hope

 

[Diamond G]

Well I would like to say what she cost but I can tell you she was not cheap, but I think she will do well and your right the nephew broke the first few days to lead and set up fairly good. I think the first jackpot will be the end May, So we will warm her up there that will get her some exposure before the Beltbuckle in July

 

[Cowboy 2.0]

We'll be at the buckle too with a chi heifer so I guess we will see you there.