I was talking with a friend of mineethi s morning and sthe subject of people spending thousands of dollars for their kids show calf came up. I referred to it as "cattlemans little league". Pretty well sums it up
We know of someone who went to a steer show where there was 10 head and the final show of the year and were butchered and graded after the show. He said the class was almost exactly backwards by carcass compared to the judge's placing.dun":3g1fnrw1 said:What brought the subject up was the annual 4H/FFA market calf sale put on by the local fairboard and FFA alumni. Our fair jdges partially based on carcass value for dtermining the final placing of the market steers at the fair. The FFA alum/fairboard go around the area and find a few good quialty calves from each year that will have good carcass (ultrasound) and are sowy and auction them off to the kids for next years fair. This year the high seller was $855. A couple of the members had gone to a sale for clubby type calves last week and calves were selling for multiple thousands of dollars and a few of the local kids were there and paid those kind of prices. In past years the clubby type calves do very well in the beauty contest part of the show but place lower when the total scores are tallied because they don;t have very good carcass data.
pwilli3":zgp3cnos said:I just was at the Jr. Premium Livestock Auction at the American Royal last night. It was my second year in attendance. I was again FLOORED by the prices paid for animals that were available only for slaughter. Granted, the price is more an investment in the future of the children showing, and the Royal itself, but I saw a steer go for $140k last year. Hogs were going for $5k when I left last night. I sure hope reallity is being taught to these youngsters, as well as charity.
dun":10x2p4lm said:I was talking with a friend of mineethi s morning and sthe subject of people spending thousands of dollars for their kids show calf came up. I referred to it as "cattlemans little league". Pretty well sums it up
I couldn't agree more. We had show cattle for a long time and really enjoyed it. My wife showed growing up through 4-H and open shows. All of her sisters and her father all would go to shows and it was really a family affair. When I met my wife and would go to watch her show she'd have six or seven calves at almost every show. When we got our own place we continued to produce show calves that our nephew would show for us. It's a good hobby to have as long as it doesn't get out of hand. We've spend A LOT of money on a single calf, but not nearly as much as some who spend $20-$50,000! We made some money, but we spend whole lot more. Our neighbors bought a huge fifth wheel camper two summers ago and it has moved five times and twice was to put it away for winter. 'Nuff said I think.iowahawkeyes":1tbqznob said:This has been discussed time and time again. Showing cattle is a hobby, just like boating or camping. It's not going to make you money but for our family it's something we do as a family. People spend a lot of $ on a boat or a camper that sits in a shed 8 months a year (around here) but nobody gets on their case about it. :???:
tom4018":2q23nxhh said:We know of someone who went to a steer show where there was 10 head and the final show of the year and were butchered and graded after the show. He said the class was almost exactly backwards by carcass compared to the judge's placing.dun":2q23nxhh said:What brought the subject up was the annual 4H/FFA market calf sale put on by the local fairboard and FFA alumni. Our fair jdges partially based on carcass value for dtermining the final placing of the market steers at the fair. The FFA alum/fairboard go around the area and find a few good quialty calves from each year that will have good carcass (ultrasound) and are sowy and auction them off to the kids for next years fair. This year the high seller was $855. A couple of the members had gone to a sale for clubby type calves last week and calves were selling for multiple thousands of dollars and a few of the local kids were there and paid those kind of prices. In past years the clubby type calves do very well in the beauty contest part of the show but place lower when the total scores are tallied because they don;t have very good carcass data.