Just to be clear:
For springtime terminal shows in Texas, you have to "push" a calf if they are Septembers/early Octobers to get them to a weight and maturity level that they can compete. Septembers/Octobers are considered young. Late October calves rarely work, except for American breed calves which are faster growing. Calves that are being held are Aprils/Mays and summer borns.
Most of the time, you are better off having to hold a calf - especially since we have to get them so fat now for the slick sheer shows. You can hold one pretty easy. On the other hand, you can only push a calf so hard. There is a limit to what they will grow and gain. You can get lots of young calves there in regards to weight, but you can't escape the maturity issue in most cases. There are always exceptions. For example, you can usually have a little better luck pushing a Charolais-X calf if they have purebred Charolais on the top or bottom because those calves will gain a little faster. If you have the Heat Wave genetics or much of the small-framed Maine genetics anywhere (i.e. Irish Whiskey, Lifeline,etc), you can forget it.
Unless your goal is just a lightweight class, you are more often than not wasting your time with anything younger than an October calf. Even in a lightweight class, its iffy. For example, an ag teacher at my hometown does very well in the Red Angus breed. In fact have more than a few major junior show overall breed champion heifers, including this year. They had a couple of Red Angus steers at Houston that were real young (Decembers I think) and great looking. But they were young and didn't get anything done because apparently they just weren't mature enough - even though they were there for weight.
