Hernia Repair

I have a serious issue.  My show steer has always been fairly sheathy, but recently I noticed that it seems worse than before.  Two days ago, I started noticing it protruding slightly and being swollen.  Yesterday it was even worse, so I called the vet.  When we looked at him today, the vet said that he probably had a hernia since he was a calf but now that he is getting big, it is showing.  The steer weighs 1220 pounds.  My fair is in August, so he needs to be slowed down already.  Now, I have another problem to deal with.
The vet said she would call Ohio State to see if they had ever done a hernia on a 1200 pound steer.  She said that success would probably be unlikely, but I need to try whatever it takes.  If I can't get a surgery done, what should I do?  The steer normally walks very well, but he now refuses to move - he is obviously in pain.

If he is in that much pain what options did the vet leave you with aside from surgery?  They could probably fix it at OSU but wow you would have to guess that at his size it would be very unusual. 

If it comes down to eat him or show him I suppose you have little choice but to have them give it a shot.

She didn't really leave me a whole lot of options besides trying the surgery.  I think we should run a round of antibiotics just to see if the swelling will go down some, but if I can't get the surgery done, she basically said that I could try to show him as he his.
My concern is that this steer is already huge and I have a job ahead of me to keep him from skyrocketing above market weight.  By August, he will probably be over 1400 pounds and there is a chance of this thing getting worse and worse and having to put him down.
I don't see much option other than to shell out the 1500 dollars and try to save him, whether it works or not.