Show Steer Prospect

[gallowaygirl]

Hi everyone. I was hoping to get comments on this steer. He is one of our full-blood Galloways, black (obviously, that's what sell ;-) )
Anyways, here is a picture of him. He is only 3 months old right now, still nursing, and on grass pasture with his momma. I'm hoping to keep him with mama as long as possible, and then bring him home and grain him (not sure how much, this will be my first steer) So, first off, I would appreciate comments on how he looks, and if everyone thinks he will fill out in time (by August '09) to be "show ready." I'm not big on the fatness and overfeeding of show steers, so I'm going to go with little grain and as much hay/grass he can have that is high quality and won't give him a big belly. OK, I've rambled enough. Here's a picture:

Let me know what you think!

 

[dun]

I didn;t know there was anywhere that had Yak shows.

 

[K2011]

Do his front knees look funny to anyone else? Maybe it is how he is standing....but other than that I can't see anything to make a judgement

 

[dun]

Do his front knees look funny to anyone else? Maybe it is how he is standing....but other than that I can't see anything to make a judgement

I think it's the "bloomer" affect. Hairy bloomers to the knee and not as much below

 

[6M Ranch]

Unless they have a breed show for Galloways, I don't think he would be very competitive. If there's a minimum weight, it will be hard to make without feeding grain.

 

[Limomike]

Really hard to tell much at just 3 months old. more photos would help.

 

[gallowaygirl]

Yes-he is definitely the hairiest of all our calves this year, but no, he's not a Yak. He is kind of small, but our other steers have grown out well, so I'm hoping he does. There isn't a breed show at our fair for Galloways (he'll be competing against the other "Open class" market steers) at about 14 months of age. I'll try to get more pictures, but for the time being, he's kind of flighty in the field. He's obviously not as "fat" as most market steer prospects, but, like I said, I want something that can at least stand up to the competition (or at least not be last) that is still good to eat, not too fatty or overly-marbled in the end, because, since he will be in Open class, I am going to be the one taking him home to eat!

 

[dun]

I didn;t know there was anywhere that had Yak shows.

I hear you on that. Don't yaks have horns though?

Crossed with angus they would be polled!

 

[gallowaygirl]

I always thought he looked kind of like a really dark buffalo or something. Up close, his hair is sooo thick, it almost looks unreal. It's weird, because his parents aren't any hairier than the regular Galloway, and none of our other calves came out that hairy, so I don't know what happened. I think he's cute though!!

And yes, Yaks have huge horns, smaller than a longhorn, but they are still there.

 

[larryshoat]

Do you have any others to pick from? If you do maybe we could help you pick your best steer .

Larry

 

[gallowaygirl]

I do have another, but I don't think he will be able to do what I want him to. He was born May 22nd this year, but was bottle raised-his mom didn't do well, he was large for her first calf, and no one was around to pull for her, so she was too exhausted to get up for him. Anyways, he kind of has that "pot-belly" because I didn't give him as much grain as he should've had when he was weaned. He is larger than the black calf, and is filling out more daily as I am giving him grain now. However, his grain isn't weighed, it's just measured by my scoop. I'm going to find out how much he is eating in pounds today, as I think that will help him fill out more. He also gets horse quality grass hay and whatever else he can find in the pasture or steal from the big cows.



He is my first pick between the two. I will admit, he was too young when I weaned him, only at 5 weeks, but I knew absolutely nothing about bottle-feeding calves, except how to hold the bottle. If I had known feeding him for 3 more weeks would've helped him fill out more, I gladly would've done it!

 

[gallowaygirl]

Oops, I guess I forgot to put the picture in there. Also, if anyone has any ideas to help fill him out more, let me know!

 

[MoGal]

We have a Galloway bull, but in all honesty he's not that hairy. Are you by chance in Canada? or perhaps somewhere much colder than southeast missouri at any rate.

Our bull is also solid black and throws black calves and a few of the calves have "nappy" hair as I'd call it because its a little thicker, drier texture, however we don't have any galloway cows so he's been used on crossbreds (charolais, angus, holstein, red poll crosses).

Okay, enough of my rambling.... what are your objectives? Is this your first year of showing? Are you wanting to get your feet wet in the show ring ......... or are you going to be angry if you don't place in the top three???
What do your parents say about you wanting to show one of them and what I mean here is do they know you have an interest in showing one of these calves? Are there other Galloway breeders near you that show?? Is your calf going to be odd man out because no one else has shown galloways in your area? ( I don't mean it unkindly but there are some around here that want to raise longhorns and then complain because they only bring 20 cents a lb when they sell em, good grief this is a beef state, what do they expect.)

You do realize that you will have to feed grain in order to get the size, weight and bloom on the animal so that he will show his best. Your post says that you don't plan on feeding a lot of grain and I don't think anybody that shows would tell you that they get there without it.

If you are in 4H or FFA, do you have a show leader or whatever they call them that will give you advice?

 

[gallowaygirl]

We are in NW Washington, but it's not super cold. He's been that hairy since he was born, and it never shed out. I don't really have any specific objectives, other than to get the word out about Galloways, as they are kind of rare around here.

This will be my second year showing, but only my second show, if that makes since. We went to the County fair last year, and that was it. It was pretty intense, we were surrounded by Angus, dexters, and red angus, so obviously the crowd was dominated by a specific "type."

I'm worried about getting first, second, or third, or last for that matter. We did fine in our Galloway classes (because we were the only ones in our breeds) but in Overall Bull and Overall Female we didn't do so well. We were fine with that though, we had fun, and learned A LOT!!

Yes, they know I am going to be showing. We are going to the same show as last year (county fair) and will be going to the NILE (one of the major Galloway shows in the country) and maybe another fair or two in between those two.

There is one other breeder near me, but she shows the Belted Galloways. She is my new "mentor", so hopefully she will be a wealth of information, as she is already proving to be.

I'm not in 4-H or FFA, so that puts me a disadvantage, however, it also means that when I'm done showing, I'll get to take him home with me and eat him!! :banana:

 

[Angus Cowman]

showing in an open class with more recognized breeds will be hard but the main thing is for you to enjoy it and learn from your experiences so have fun and goodluck

 

[gallowaygirl]

Yes, the way we showed was VERY hard, especially when the judge said (he literally ANNOUNCED it while judging) that he was an Angus guy-no offense, but he was really rude and when I tried to show my appreciation for his judging (I was honestly being nice, I was told good sportmen thank the judge) and he completely ignored me and walked away. So, our main disadvantge was 1) we didn't know what in the world we were doing, and 2) our breed didn't really help us in the "fitting in" crowd. Oh well, we're going back, just to prove that we aren't there to win, we're there to have fun and show people our cows!! :tiphat:

 

[HEREFORD ROADHOG]

Gallaway girl, your calf should do fine, but he is going to need more feed than it sounds like you are planning to get him to look his best, & be able to compete well. The judge that treated you that way should be ashamed of himself & I would hope that the fair wouldn't ask him back.Some people let the power they think they have go to their head. As for the yak comments, all those bozos would LOVE to have a steer with that much hair to work with. :nod: Good luck with him & never give up.

 

[gallowaygirl]

Thanks everyone for the helpful and encouraging comments. I am going to try to feed him as mush as possible without him getting to the boxy club calf look, personally those kinds of cows look fake to me. We (well, I..) am debating over whether to keep him hairy or clip him to look like an Angus. Clipping would make me fit in more, but leaving him hairy will show his true Galloway heritage. Hmm, what do I do? :?

 

[Limomike]

Thanks everyone for the helpful and encouraging comments. I am going to try to feed him as mush as possible without him getting to the boxy club calf look, personally those kinds of cows look fake to me. We (well, I..) am debating over whether to keep him hairy or clip him to look like an Angus. Clipping would make me fit in more, but leaving him hairy will show his true Galloway heritage. Hmm, what do I do? :?

Decisions.. decisions... to clip or not to clip... that is the question... :help: :lol:
Since it will be open class.. maybe just a light trim.

 

[dun]

Thanks everyone for the helpful and encouraging comments. I am going to try to feed him as mush as possible without him getting to the boxy club calf look, personally those kinds of cows look fake to me. We (well, I..) am debating over whether to keep him hairy or clip him to look like an Angus. Clipping would make me fit in more, but leaving him hairy will show his true Galloway heritage. Hmm, what do I do? :?

Decisions.. decisions... to clip or not to clip... that is the question... :help: :lol:
Since it will be open class.. maybe just a light trim.

That would be a polish haircut. Once around the block and easy on the corners!