oakbar
Well-known member
We entered a steer in the Midwest Steer Show this year for the first time. This show has been held annually for 40+ years at the Mower County Fair in Austin, MN. It is a "run 'em in the ring and sort 'em" show where animals are chased into the ring in pairs and two judges choose to send them to the "Save" or "Cull" pens based on their opinion of their overall make up and predicted cutability. When all cattle have gone through the ring(34 steers in this case) the judges go through the "Cull" pen to make sure they didn't miss anything and then choose a Top 10 from the "Saved" steers. Most animals entered in this show come directly from the feedlot with a few show steers thrown in. All animals then go to market and are evaluated for their carcass value.
The steer we entered was a registered Shorthorn that we raised(Oakbar Weston) out of Ar Su Lu Tonic and our Sonny/Charmer cow. Some of you may remember his picture from last fall(I've posted it below). He placed 6th overall in the live segment of the show and, I believe, was the only non-black animal in the Top 10. We received the carcass information today and he topped the entire show. He weighed 1335 with a 831 pound carcass wt. He also had a 15.8 REA, .4 fat cover, USDA Yield Grade 1, graded Choice -, and had 68.21% retail product.
He was also the Reserve Champion Prospect Male at our fair in June last year and he weighed 720 pounds at 205 days of age. I recommended him to several local people who stopped by last fall as a commercial bull. I was dissapointed when absolutely no one showed any interest in him as a bull so we steered him knowing that Shorthorn steers don't sell very well in our neck of the woods. He was extremely gentle, sound as a cat, and I thought he could be pretty good so we kept him as the first ever 4H steer that either of my daughters have shown. As it turns out he would have been a tremendous commercial bull, but I guess we're pretty happy with the extra $290 of premium money we got from the show. We are currently using his full sib "Oakbar Sonic" as our cleanup bull. Sonic sired some really nice calves in a local commercial herd this year without any calving difficulties on either cows or heifers.
Who says Shorthorns with "Show ring" bloodlines can't work in the commercial world!! Ha, Ha!!
The steer we entered was a registered Shorthorn that we raised(Oakbar Weston) out of Ar Su Lu Tonic and our Sonny/Charmer cow. Some of you may remember his picture from last fall(I've posted it below). He placed 6th overall in the live segment of the show and, I believe, was the only non-black animal in the Top 10. We received the carcass information today and he topped the entire show. He weighed 1335 with a 831 pound carcass wt. He also had a 15.8 REA, .4 fat cover, USDA Yield Grade 1, graded Choice -, and had 68.21% retail product.
He was also the Reserve Champion Prospect Male at our fair in June last year and he weighed 720 pounds at 205 days of age. I recommended him to several local people who stopped by last fall as a commercial bull. I was dissapointed when absolutely no one showed any interest in him as a bull so we steered him knowing that Shorthorn steers don't sell very well in our neck of the woods. He was extremely gentle, sound as a cat, and I thought he could be pretty good so we kept him as the first ever 4H steer that either of my daughters have shown. As it turns out he would have been a tremendous commercial bull, but I guess we're pretty happy with the extra $290 of premium money we got from the show. We are currently using his full sib "Oakbar Sonic" as our cleanup bull. Sonic sired some really nice calves in a local commercial herd this year without any calving difficulties on either cows or heifers.
Who says Shorthorns with "Show ring" bloodlines can't work in the commercial world!! Ha, Ha!!