I don't believe the point of 4-H is to separate kids depending on what kind of animals they can afford. I thought 4-H was supposed to be training kids in how to become future farmers with real animals that are actually used on farms.
If I'm wrong... then there is something wrong with how 4-H has evolved over time.
I don't the that's the intended point of 4H or FFA at all. The problem is greed ,money, and a market created to cater to a fictional narrative.
I've always said the show ring was a different world than the pasture. Some people will disagree and say that their cattle work in the pasture and I don't deny that they are right, but that is absolutely not the situation with a lot of of show cattle, be it club calves or purebred cattle bred for their own breed shows.
When I was in with registered Charolaismany years ago, I remember going to a big name breeders sale and walking through looking at some of the sale cattle that were in a barn with part of their show string. I remember being confused at first when I saw what looked like a big and I mean big heifer and a young looking heifer calf in a stall with a Holstein cow. Upon further inspection I learned that that big heifer with no sign of having milk was the calf's mother and concluded that the calf was nursing the Holstein. Saw another similar situation with a Holstein cow in with another show string pair in the next stall.
I had bought a bull from that outfit. An ET calf who's sire was a National Grand Champion bull and the dam was a a reserve National Champion female.
I learned why those Holsteins were needed, those females if and if is the operative word, if they got bred and had a calf, they would not milk at all, and if they did have milk it was not nearly enough. Most of them wouldn't even form an udder.
Around that time that one bloodline dominated the show scene and everybody thought that was the kind to have.
Prior to that I had a regional sales promoter looking at my herd and I had heavy milking moderate framed for the time Charolais cows. They didn't have the flashy pedigrees but did have years of selection from longtime registered breeders in their pedigrees. Sales promoter said that I needed nationally recognized cattle in the pedigrees, so I bought the aforementioned bull. Biggest mistake I could have made was to follow that show world, when I wasn't showing and was not about that.
I look and see show bred cattle now of the Angus and Hereford breeds, and can't imagine who would want those funny looking things. It's a good thing that Angus have so many different breeders and that the show ring isn't a factor at all to many of them.
I wish I could say the same of Herefords, they seem to focus on that a lot more than I believe they should.
I have no issues at all with showing cattle. It's a way to advertise, and showcase your cattle,
Its a great activity for children and young people. It teaches responsibility, work ethic and so many life lessons along the way.
What I don't like is the separation between show ring and real world cattle, as well as other animals.
When I see certain prefixes associated with an Angus or Hereford I immediately write that animal off, I can almost always see the difference even before looking at the breeder name though.
I think the hair thing is crazy, we want cattle to be slick haired as early as possible here. Most of mine are slick now, and the ones that aren't all they shedded off are well on the way to it.
The trends of breeding cattle to be short and thick are also taken too far. They need some frame to go along with thickness but need to avoid extremes all the way around.
One other thing that isn't talked about much is the disposition that a lot of those club calf bulls have and pass in to their offspring. I've heard many stories of overly aggressive steers and calves.