I thought I'd get to this quicker, but I've been real busy for the last week and honestly it's taken a little while to sink in. Most of yo uon here already figured out my son won Grand Champion in Ring B (4th Overall in Ring A) at the BBB in Waco last week. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's the biggest prospect steer show in Texas (and probably the country - or at least it used to be). It have been held in Texas since the early 1980s. I went to my first Belt Buckle Bonanza in 1987. For years I watched the Priesmeyer's, the Wise's, the Rash's, and other families win it - really with a sense of awe for a very long time - because it is so hard to get calves that look like that. And you'd watch Bobby Maddox, Mark Copus, and others that are just masters at what they to help get those calves into the ring.
Overwhelmed is quite the understatement for my reaction when I watched the judge pick our steer for Grand in Ring B. Apparently it was quite noticeable based on the commentary from Chris Terembes on the Livestock World TV video. I know I didn't say anything but I really don't remember what I did other than turn and walk away from the ring. Everyone tells me the arena just got dead silent - most of the people there these days don't really know us. You just don't win this show unless you are tied to one of the big operations. But we did.
I didn't raise the calf, we bought him. From my original county agent that got me started showing steers in 1985. At the time, I showed pigs. My dad had recently died and she saw something in me and knew I needed a strong male influence. So she basically got me adopted by a family from hometown that literally hauled me around the world showing steers. She's an OSU grad and has a little known, but remarkable record for handling steers that win down here. I don't think any of her stepdaughters ever had a steer that wasn't a breed champion (I think exclusively Shorthorns) in the 90s. They didn't show very long, but I know there were two and probably three. Then she helped another family with Herefords that I don't know how many times they had Champion Herefords or Polleds in the last 90s early 2000s. I've always stayed in touch with her and she called me last winter and told me she had raised a good one. So we had enough sense to buy him.
My boys really like taking care of their calves and showing and are now big enough to do most of the work at home themselves. My 10 year old mixes their feed more carefully than I ever would. I'll go two or three weeks at a time without touching them. My 13 year old son - Conner - who showed this calf really deserved this. He's done pretty well in the past, but has had some spectacular, "character-building" failures in the ring. Three years ago in Fort Worth, his steer had gotten mean on us at the end and wound up running over him in the ring. The officials wouldn't let me get him out till the rodeo doctors checked him out. Quite embarrassing. In Houston one year, he had a yellow steer he had actually won some shows with. But the calf got too heavy. The judge pulled him real quick in his class, but once he pulled a few more and realized how big we were, he kicked my son completely out of the ring. Conner was heartbroken. That was a long ride home. Last year, we screwed around and missed his class at Fort Worth with a very good Hereford steer. As a result, he took that calf to San Antonio. He let his little brother show his good black steer. Little brother got 4th, Conner was one spot out of the sale. At Houston, little brother placed with his calf again, big brother didn't. He never did anything but be happy for his little brother. Little brother also beat him for Reserve Grand at our county show last year.
So, on top of everything else, you can imagine how proud I was for him getting rewarded after a run of tough luck. But as many of you know, the pride in the win doesn't last very long - its the people that do. I hope someone from Stock Martin's family reads this. That kid has been taught right about winning and losing and walks the walk. He needs a big pat on the back for that. Stock won Ring A, but got reserve behind us in Ring B. He was amazingly nice and congratulatory to my son. He went way out of his way to congratulate my son and talk to him afterwards. I'll root for that kid in every champion drive I see him in the future, and there'll be plenty of them. People like Billy Rash, Ryan Rash, Bobby Maddox, and others that have known me for a long time went out of their way to congratulate us and talk to my son. I hope those folks realize how how big of an impact they make on a kid when they do that. It makes them feel very special. My lasting memory really will be how people treated us afterwards and how good that felt.
The Belt Buckle Bonanza has gotten a real bad rap for being "political" and I think that and the economy has caused its numbers to dwindle from its heydey. I always figured it wasn't intentional, but the same groups of folks do usually win it. The fact we pulled it off proves that if you've got one good enough, you can do well at it.
It's real easy to get a little jaded about showing cattle sometimes. I try real hard to avoid that, but you can't help it sometimes on "down" days. I'm glad the "tarnish" got rubbed off of the program in my family's eyes and I hope the rest of you that love it as much as we do will get to have this same kind of experience someday. It's pretty cool when you tell your son if he tries hard enough for long enough that he can do anything - and then get to see that happen for him in a big way.
Overwhelmed is quite the understatement for my reaction when I watched the judge pick our steer for Grand in Ring B. Apparently it was quite noticeable based on the commentary from Chris Terembes on the Livestock World TV video. I know I didn't say anything but I really don't remember what I did other than turn and walk away from the ring. Everyone tells me the arena just got dead silent - most of the people there these days don't really know us. You just don't win this show unless you are tied to one of the big operations. But we did.
I didn't raise the calf, we bought him. From my original county agent that got me started showing steers in 1985. At the time, I showed pigs. My dad had recently died and she saw something in me and knew I needed a strong male influence. So she basically got me adopted by a family from hometown that literally hauled me around the world showing steers. She's an OSU grad and has a little known, but remarkable record for handling steers that win down here. I don't think any of her stepdaughters ever had a steer that wasn't a breed champion (I think exclusively Shorthorns) in the 90s. They didn't show very long, but I know there were two and probably three. Then she helped another family with Herefords that I don't know how many times they had Champion Herefords or Polleds in the last 90s early 2000s. I've always stayed in touch with her and she called me last winter and told me she had raised a good one. So we had enough sense to buy him.
My boys really like taking care of their calves and showing and are now big enough to do most of the work at home themselves. My 10 year old mixes their feed more carefully than I ever would. I'll go two or three weeks at a time without touching them. My 13 year old son - Conner - who showed this calf really deserved this. He's done pretty well in the past, but has had some spectacular, "character-building" failures in the ring. Three years ago in Fort Worth, his steer had gotten mean on us at the end and wound up running over him in the ring. The officials wouldn't let me get him out till the rodeo doctors checked him out. Quite embarrassing. In Houston one year, he had a yellow steer he had actually won some shows with. But the calf got too heavy. The judge pulled him real quick in his class, but once he pulled a few more and realized how big we were, he kicked my son completely out of the ring. Conner was heartbroken. That was a long ride home. Last year, we screwed around and missed his class at Fort Worth with a very good Hereford steer. As a result, he took that calf to San Antonio. He let his little brother show his good black steer. Little brother got 4th, Conner was one spot out of the sale. At Houston, little brother placed with his calf again, big brother didn't. He never did anything but be happy for his little brother. Little brother also beat him for Reserve Grand at our county show last year.
So, on top of everything else, you can imagine how proud I was for him getting rewarded after a run of tough luck. But as many of you know, the pride in the win doesn't last very long - its the people that do. I hope someone from Stock Martin's family reads this. That kid has been taught right about winning and losing and walks the walk. He needs a big pat on the back for that. Stock won Ring A, but got reserve behind us in Ring B. He was amazingly nice and congratulatory to my son. He went way out of his way to congratulate my son and talk to him afterwards. I'll root for that kid in every champion drive I see him in the future, and there'll be plenty of them. People like Billy Rash, Ryan Rash, Bobby Maddox, and others that have known me for a long time went out of their way to congratulate us and talk to my son. I hope those folks realize how how big of an impact they make on a kid when they do that. It makes them feel very special. My lasting memory really will be how people treated us afterwards and how good that felt.
The Belt Buckle Bonanza has gotten a real bad rap for being "political" and I think that and the economy has caused its numbers to dwindle from its heydey. I always figured it wasn't intentional, but the same groups of folks do usually win it. The fact we pulled it off proves that if you've got one good enough, you can do well at it.
It's real easy to get a little jaded about showing cattle sometimes. I try real hard to avoid that, but you can't help it sometimes on "down" days. I'm glad the "tarnish" got rubbed off of the program in my family's eyes and I hope the rest of you that love it as much as we do will get to have this same kind of experience someday. It's pretty cool when you tell your son if he tries hard enough for long enough that he can do anything - and then get to see that happen for him in a big way.
