Ft Worth steer show

I've been trying to figure up the words to describe the actions of the judge as well as those in the stands. The guy was out of his league starting yesterday and his inability to find a good one, if he found them he wasn't using them to win, and if they won their class. I worked on several that should have won, but nonetheless I'll leave that there. His preaching soundness throughout the week was overshadowed by the strong use of structure issue cattle. I liked the shorthorns, lightweight was very good but just that a good lightweight, agreed the 6th heavy wins for fun. The angus, American and the exotic champion were all good cattle. Exotic winning handedly. He struggled all the way to class 11, which is the heat class, he pulls great cattle places them well and then talks them better than ever. Then in the very next class he returns to the Wild selections, structure issues, etc. Very disheartening that this was allowed and unfair to the children who have worked so hard all year for their moment to shine to only be judged by someone so far detached from real world cattle for these steer shows. I'll say we got our wish no political ties and he chose what he truthfully wanted to use and I respect that.

I always enjoy Showstoppers posts because he brings it with both barrels and has the experience to back it up.  I was not there, so it has been fun reading from everyone.  I think its fair to critique a judge's decision.  He accepted the job willingly and with that you put your decisions on display for all to see, good and bad

I dont buy into, that this kid worked harder than that kid and he got cheated out of a win.  90% of the kids are working hard, the other 10%, somebody else is doing the work.  They should have stayed home then, slickem off and go to San Ant or Houston.  Showstopper did point this out way back.  If you dont make the sale, they can bring the steer home for the next Major.  The drama is fun and the passion that show people have is awesome, but parents take it way too seriously. Its for the kids anyway.  Losing makes winning that much more enjoyable, and it helps if you pick your steers depending on the judge. Hopefully, the parents will move on and the bitterness will not get passed down to kids.  Most kids are competitive, but I think they like shows to hang out with friends and get out of school.

We will have heifer in SA /Houston and steer in Houston, so hope to see you there!

Does anyone know anything about the American steer that won reserve?  I heard he was good, but never saw a picture or hear anything about his breeding. 

Video of Champion Drive on The Pulse, about page 10 this morning.  Yes, he was very good.  Floyd in West Texas is listed as breeder.  As stated above, this year's steer show was to put it mildly, very interesting and lots of opinions floating around.  You had to be there to believe what was going on.  And I'm in no way bashing the Judge.  At times I felt he was so overwhelmed that I felt sorry for him.  But we also had three steers from our county make the sale, so I'm really happy for those kids.  I also feel kinda bad for the very large group of awesome steers that did not make the cut, especially the Herefords, Polled Herefords and Shorthorns.  But that was his opinion on that day.  I'm sure those families will shake it off and move on to SA and Houston.  Best of luck to them.

Why does a show of that caliber (and number) not have a panel of judges?

Truthfully not sure a panel of judges would work because of the ability to communicate between the judges. Theres no way to talk with each other about one calf and not miss several. And if you let each pick cattle then you run into a problem of having still too many after the first pull to get a good look.

jagster said:

Does anyone know anything about the American steer that won reserve?  I heard he was good, but never saw a picture or hear anything about his breeding.

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McIntyre family from Brazoria county raised him and Floyd sold him. I asked the family that raised him about his breeding and he's out of their registered purebred simmy bull and a crossbred American x cow

No clubby genetics in him to be listed I specifically asked about that

Hope that helps

Mainevent said:

Truthfully not sure a panel of judges would work because of the ability to communicate between the judges. Theres no way to talk with each other about one calf and not miss several. And if you let each pick cattle then you run into a problem of having still too many after the first pull to get a good look.

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Back in the day (80's and 90's) when AKSARBEN was one of the biggest shows in the country they had a 3 judge panel.  You would line up and lead into the center of the ring single file.  Two steers would set up side by side at a white chalk line where the 3 judges where standing.  They would evaluate and handle your steer and then direct you to a posted number (1-50) along the rail of the arena or you would be directed to the opposite end of the arena.  Then the judges would split up and 2 would stay at the one end of the arena and the 1 judge would go to the far end of the arena.  They would parade the 2 sets of steers and do final placings and talk the top 10 steers or so.  One end of the ring was purples and blues and the other end got reds and whites.  Always a crusher when you saw kids get directed to the far end of the arena from your county.

Show stopper 95 said:

jagster said:

Does anyone know anything about the American steer that won reserve?  I heard he was good, but never saw a picture or hear anything about his breeding.

Click to expand...

McIntyre family from Brazoria county raised him and Floyd sold him. I asked the family that raised him about his breeding and he's out of their registered purebred simmy bull and a crossbred American x cow

No clubby genetics in him to be listed I specifically asked about that

Hope that helps

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Thank you sir, that is about what I had heard, but was not sure.

The panel seems to work fine at Denver

I like the Denver system, and I don't think communication is necessarily the issue there (I believe each judge evaluates and places the class independently, then the placings are sort of averaged together using 2 judges results while the third is the tiebreaker, on a rotating basis) but I don't see how it could work with the huge class sizes at Fort Worth.  An associate judge to help mostly with the sift seems like a workable idea to me, but I doubt that's ever going to happen either.

Steve123 said:

Mainevent said:

Truthfully not sure a panel of judges would work because of the ability to communicate between the judges. Theres no way to talk with each other about one calf and not miss several. And if you let each pick cattle then you run into a problem of having still too many after the first pull to get a good look.

Click to expand...

Back in the day (80's and 90's) when AKSARBEN was one of the biggest shows in the country they had a 3 judge panel.  You would line up and lead into the center of the ring single file.  Two steers would set up side by side at a white chalk line where the 3 judges where standing.  They would evaluate and handle your steer and then direct you to a posted number (1-50) along the rail of the arena or you would be directed to the opposite end of the arena.  Then the judges would split up and 2 would stay at the one end of the arena and the 1 judge would go to the far end of the arena.  They would parade the 2 sets of steers and do final placings and talk the top 10 steers or so.  One end of the ring was purples and blues and the other end got reds and whites.  Always a crusher when you saw kids get directed to the far end of the arena from your county.

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I am glad you brought this up because I agree that this can be done today.  You either turned left or you turned right.  Occasionally a steer would get moved from the bottom half to the top half, but usually, they had them about right.  Back when AkSarBen was so big, the 3 judges consisted of 1 Actual Judge, and 2 Assistant Judges of the Actual Judges choosing.  Often times if the Judge was a University Professor, he would bring a couple of his staff members.  So what we had was 1 person's opinion, and 2 people assisting that shared common opinions. 

The idea is to basically get the cattle about where they need to be, and then sort them from there.  I really don't understand why Fort Worth has not gone to this type of system.

I agree that a true 3 Judge panel would be very challenging, especially if one of the judges is just completely lost.

With all the commotion and feelings (ill or good), I wouldn't be surprised to see Ft. Worth go to a "blow and go" steer show starting next year-ZERO CLIPPING.  That in itself, should eliminate much of the heckling and yelling.  Many of those guilty individuals would have no need to be there (if you know where I'm coming from).

4C said:

With all the commotion and feelings (ill or good), I wouldn't be surprised to see Ft. Worth go to a "blow and go" steer show starting next year-ZERO CLIPPING.  That in itself, should eliminate much of the heckling and yelling.  Many of those guilty individuals would have no need to be there (if you know where I'm coming from).

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That's not happening. Fort Worth will not go to slick or blow and show. They pride themselves on being different and won't change because some people are heckling the judge. As far as people not needing to be there where is the proof to back up your accusations. It could have been family of showman.

4C said:

With all the commotion and feelings (ill or good), I wouldn't be surprised to see Ft. Worth go to a "blow and go" steer show starting next year-ZERO CLIPPING.  That in itself, should eliminate much of the heckling and yelling.  Many of those guilty individuals would have no need to be there (if you know where I'm coming from).

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From my perspective in the stands it was more likely to be parents than fitters... few fitters stand around the bar at the ring side- too expensive they're back at the coolers. It's parents and Breeders at the beer stand and they'd be there regardless if it's slick or fit

Slick blow and go or fit are all irrelevant discussions when it comes to the judge being a clown. How you get one ready has nothing to do with that

Agreed big house. I'm one of those fitters and I only am at the beer stand at the end of the day and if the boss is paying otherwise I'm at a cooler.

Mainevent said:

Agreed big house. I'm one of those fitters and I only am at the beer stand at the end of the day and if the boss is paying otherwise I'm at a cooler.

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that's how you know you must have won something  <beer>

Saw this on Tony Austin Cattle's Facebook page.  Classy comments about the Ft Worth Steer Show from a pro:

Congratulations on making the sale 3 years in a row to the Robinson family and for or all their hard work. It was fun working on this one all year!
For those of you that weren't at the show and putting ur opinions on FB, here was our personal experience this week. Our 6th place and our shorty that made the lap,
We just didn't have the right type and kind this year.
I will say the red steer that one the show was very deserving and Congratulations to Grady and Maddox and crew. They obviously work hard for their success in the steer barn and the hog barn.

Yep,  very diplomatic. But I thought the thing to do these days was to speak your mind and forget all that PC culture stuff. Mr. Austin has had a hand in as many good ones in the last 20 as anyone and I'd bet my left foot he knows in his heart that judge dun goofed.

4C said:

With all the commotion and feelings (ill or good), I wouldn't be surprised to see Ft. Worth go to a "blow and go" steer show starting next year-ZERO CLIPPING.  That in itself, should eliminate much of the heckling and yelling.  Many of those guilty individuals would have no need to be there (if you know where I'm coming from).

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I would be EXTREMELY surprised if Ft. Worth changed their format any, they caught enough flack over updating the barns (even though they redid them EXTREMELY well) that changing the show would be totally out of the question.

Mainevent said:

Agreed big house. I'm one of those fitters and I only am at the beer stand at the end of the day and if the boss is paying otherwise I'm at a cooler.

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Heck I'd rather be at the cooler 90% of the time...