Fire Sweep Ranch
Well-known member
Well, we are just getting home from a long, hot week in Arkansas. It was the simmental regional show, where 146 head of cattle and 100 plus junior members met to compete in several contests. The Fire Sweep crew had a pretty good time, making new friends and meeting up with old ones. We had an exciting week, and fared well! This is not just a cattle show, but in fact a great way for juniors to learn about all aspects of the industry! There are 7 contests, and members must compete in 5 of the educational ones in order to show their heifer/bull in the actual cattle show. Our daughter placed 9th overall in the senior division of Sales Talk (this is her first year as a senior competitor). Sales talk is where the junior has to attempt to sell their animal to two judges. They are scored on how well they know their animal, pedigree, how that animal would fit to the judge's operation, and just general salesmanship. It is not an easy contest, since they need to set a fare price and haggle with the judge. She is in the red shirt in this picture, with a junior holding her heifer next to her so she can "sell" her...
And our son attempting to do the same. He is in the maroon polo, and his heifer to the right of him. That heifer was 10th overall percentage heifer for Bred And Owned. She had her picture taken at the back drop, but I was not able to get one with my phone since I was trying to get her ears up! :lol:
The next contest is Public Speaking. It is very much like Extemporaneous Speaking in FFA; the junior picks three cards that have topics on them, then they get to select one of the three to do a speech on. They are given a small packet of information to help, and 30 minutes to prepare a speech. The speech must be at least 3 minutes in length, but no longer than 7. Our daughter again placed well, 7th overall Senior, in that contest.
A new contest was added this year, the Genetic Evaluation Quiz, which is a 50 point test that goes over genetic differences in cattle using the punnet square, epd's and many other tools. Juniors need to know how to evaluate bulls based on genetic merit and select the best ones for the scenario given. Our daughter again placed well, 10th overall, in the senior division!
Other contests include Livestock Judging (with a keep/cull class), Cattleman's Quiz, and Showmanship.
Our cattle did well. Our daughter took her embryo heifer, Dotty, who is a Upperclass x Zsa Zsa. This heifer has done well all year for us, and she placed in the middle of her very large class. Judge was spot on when he pointed out her faults (a little light boned, and lighter muscled than her contemporaries). We did not take a backdrop picture, it was too rushed!
Her other heifer is a Revival heifer, and she was last in a big class. She did not move free enough for the judge. He was a big structure guy, which is nice to see for a change!
Our son took three head. His first one, a Cut Above x Beefmaker x Pioneer is a November percentage. She was 2nd in her class and 10th overall Percentage Bred and Owned heifer. He was super excited. I will post a picture when they are uploaded from the professional company that took them. His second heifer is also a bred and owned, but purebred and November born. She is sired by Elevate out of an HPF Optimizer cow. She was 6th overall heifer. Again, I did not snap one with my phone at the backdrop, so will post it later. Here she is in class:
He also took the heifer we bought from Ron. She was 5th overall in her very large class. She was not the biggest, but stood up pretty good against some tough competition!
And, many of you do not know, but I am the junior advisor for the Missouri Junior Simmental Association, so I had my juniors take a last minute picture at the backdrop before we received our awards and went home. They are wearing the t-shirt they had to wear for showmanship AND the cattle show both, so some are pretty dirty, including my son! lol
I had the distinct pleasure of working with this fine group of juniors all week. I am super proud of them and all the awards they took home from the numerous contests.
Now I get to clean up while both of my kids are at 4-H camp! Ron says I work them too hard, but they get lots of play time too. I raise them like my parents raised me, and I turned out OK I think! :tiphat:
And not to make the week any crazier.... our matriarch Corgi was due to have puppies on Friday. I packed accordingly, since we were in our motorhome. This would be her 5th litter, so she knows the drill (we only produce one litter a year, until this crazy year). She decided to whelp Wednesday night, and kept me up most of the night (I am a worry wart, I love my dogs!). She ended up with 4 puppies:
(not sure why it is sideways...)
Not to be outdone, her daughter was due NEXT TUESDAY, so I did not pack for a second litter. She decided to go early, and started having puppies Thursday! This is her first litter, and she quickly figured out what to do. She had her last puppy 11 hours after she started, just after midnight. SEVEN!!! Yeowsers....
We had to rush to a laundry mat to get all the towels and blankets washed so they would have clean, dry ones! We ended up putting Ziggy and her puppies in the shower, since that was the safest place to stay out of the way and warm. We will spay Penny, her mom, and just go back to having one litter a year next year. We love the puppies over the summer, but 11 is just WAY TO MANY puppies to play with!!! lol :heart:
SO, a CRAZY but good time. Now time for a nap.... :nod:
And our son attempting to do the same. He is in the maroon polo, and his heifer to the right of him. That heifer was 10th overall percentage heifer for Bred And Owned. She had her picture taken at the back drop, but I was not able to get one with my phone since I was trying to get her ears up! :lol:
The next contest is Public Speaking. It is very much like Extemporaneous Speaking in FFA; the junior picks three cards that have topics on them, then they get to select one of the three to do a speech on. They are given a small packet of information to help, and 30 minutes to prepare a speech. The speech must be at least 3 minutes in length, but no longer than 7. Our daughter again placed well, 7th overall Senior, in that contest.
A new contest was added this year, the Genetic Evaluation Quiz, which is a 50 point test that goes over genetic differences in cattle using the punnet square, epd's and many other tools. Juniors need to know how to evaluate bulls based on genetic merit and select the best ones for the scenario given. Our daughter again placed well, 10th overall, in the senior division!
Other contests include Livestock Judging (with a keep/cull class), Cattleman's Quiz, and Showmanship.
Our cattle did well. Our daughter took her embryo heifer, Dotty, who is a Upperclass x Zsa Zsa. This heifer has done well all year for us, and she placed in the middle of her very large class. Judge was spot on when he pointed out her faults (a little light boned, and lighter muscled than her contemporaries). We did not take a backdrop picture, it was too rushed!
Her other heifer is a Revival heifer, and she was last in a big class. She did not move free enough for the judge. He was a big structure guy, which is nice to see for a change!
Our son took three head. His first one, a Cut Above x Beefmaker x Pioneer is a November percentage. She was 2nd in her class and 10th overall Percentage Bred and Owned heifer. He was super excited. I will post a picture when they are uploaded from the professional company that took them. His second heifer is also a bred and owned, but purebred and November born. She is sired by Elevate out of an HPF Optimizer cow. She was 6th overall heifer. Again, I did not snap one with my phone at the backdrop, so will post it later. Here she is in class:
He also took the heifer we bought from Ron. She was 5th overall in her very large class. She was not the biggest, but stood up pretty good against some tough competition!
And, many of you do not know, but I am the junior advisor for the Missouri Junior Simmental Association, so I had my juniors take a last minute picture at the backdrop before we received our awards and went home. They are wearing the t-shirt they had to wear for showmanship AND the cattle show both, so some are pretty dirty, including my son! lol
I had the distinct pleasure of working with this fine group of juniors all week. I am super proud of them and all the awards they took home from the numerous contests.
Now I get to clean up while both of my kids are at 4-H camp! Ron says I work them too hard, but they get lots of play time too. I raise them like my parents raised me, and I turned out OK I think! :tiphat:
And not to make the week any crazier.... our matriarch Corgi was due to have puppies on Friday. I packed accordingly, since we were in our motorhome. This would be her 5th litter, so she knows the drill (we only produce one litter a year, until this crazy year). She decided to whelp Wednesday night, and kept me up most of the night (I am a worry wart, I love my dogs!). She ended up with 4 puppies:
(not sure why it is sideways...)
Not to be outdone, her daughter was due NEXT TUESDAY, so I did not pack for a second litter. She decided to go early, and started having puppies Thursday! This is her first litter, and she quickly figured out what to do. She had her last puppy 11 hours after she started, just after midnight. SEVEN!!! Yeowsers....
We had to rush to a laundry mat to get all the towels and blankets washed so they would have clean, dry ones! We ended up putting Ziggy and her puppies in the shower, since that was the safest place to stay out of the way and warm. We will spay Penny, her mom, and just go back to having one litter a year next year. We love the puppies over the summer, but 11 is just WAY TO MANY puppies to play with!!! lol :heart:
SO, a CRAZY but good time. Now time for a nap.... :nod:
