2013 Texas Major Steer Judges

[chambero]

In case those who care haven't already heard:

Fort Worth – Dr. Mark Johnson, Stillwater
San Antonio – Scott Griner – Virginia Tech
Houston – Mark Hogue

Any experience with them?

 

[rackranch]

Has anyone placed steers in front of these judges? Thanks

 

[DCC show cattle]

Scott Griner did houston 2009 loved his type of cattle granted we had the reserve AOB under him there with the white calf behind bartons champion calf. Takes them kinda like shake did in houston. Likes them stout, sound, and stylish.

 

[JY]

Have actually shown under all three. Greiner and Mark Hoge both do a real good job. Probably like simular kinds of steers. Don't really think Greiner judges anthing like Scott S. Mark Johnson  is more a a big question mark.did not care for the cattle he used but that was several years ago.

 

[DCC show cattle]

i didnt mean cattle like shake as i think he takes them with a little more raw power than greiner but meant that he did a real good job for us and likes good complete cattle. I have heard nothing but negative on johnson at fort worth...

 

[mooch]

Some of those must be for the hogs and sheep.

 

[chambero]

No - those are the steer show judges we have next year.

 

[JY]

Mark Hoge does judge alot of hog shows also, and I believe Scott Greiner also judges lamb shows but there sure isnt anything wrong with judges being able to judge more than one species on a natioanl level. The list of competent, honest steer judges is a very short one as it is. Greiner has judged 3 other times at Texas majors. Each time he did a very honest job, and you could follow him. At San Antonio he used alot more muscle than he did at Houston the last time, but it seemed he tried to keep them sound when he judged at HLSR. Mark Hoge was easy to follow when he judged the Belt Buckle last year, not political there either. Mark Johnson judged the Saddle and Sirloin several years ago and was very hard to follow.

 

[travis214]

I feel like I need to defend Dr Johnson as he is an extremely capable judge as well as a good guy. He isn't a judge who is simply going to choose the heaviest muscled steer to win every class or the nicest balanced steer to win every class like many so called easy to follow judges do. He is going to weigh the pros and cons of every animal and choose the most complete to win. And apparently this method works as he has coached several national champion livestock judging teams. 

 

[Bradenh]

out of the 2 slick judges, who would you guys say is the more consistent with his americans? i know some guys tend to get really lost in that deal wanting calves all over the place

 

[chambero]

Usually the trouble is with judges who haven't seen them before (actually the same deal applies to guys judging their first slick show).

These guys have all been there and done that.

 

[twistedhshowstock]

I have seen all 3 judge and I personally think all 3 are good judges.  I tend to agree that with Griner and Hoge after the first couple of classes of the day, you can probably pretty much tell where you are going to place, they are easy to follow because they tend to pick a more uniform type and kind throughout the day.  In my experience the cattle in their champion drives will be very uniform.  On contrast, Johnson doesnt necesarily follow as specific trait pattern, the thicker made ones may when one class, while the prettier ones may when another.  Personally I tend to like Johnson because our judging patterns are very similar.  The ones that have the most holes in them will be at the bottom while the ones that have the fewest holes will be at the top.  The trick with Johnson is to have the calf as complete as possible, with some judges you can sacrifice a little style or structural integrity for more power or visa versa, but with Johnson sacrificing anything could get you into trouble.  Personally I think thats the way they should all be, but thats my opinion.  When it gets down to the ones that have pretty even holes in them, just different holes, experience tells me that Johnson will use soundness over muscle over style. And I definately think lately soundness seems to have trumped all for both Griner and Hoge, but I think they all 3 tend to follow the trends pretty close.

And Showstopper, as Chambero said, these guys have all 3 sorted Americans before, but beyond that they are all good evaluators so the Americans shouldnt give them any trouble.  Not saying everyone will always agree with them, because they probably will knock some of them for leather etc. And lots of people thinks that means they dont know Americans or what to do with them, but really even the American breeds are trying to clean their cattle up and this is a steer show so leather equals waste equals a hole that should be penalized.  I think these 3 will do just fine.  But like always the people who win and place well will love them when the show is over, and the people who dont place well will hate them and say they are blooming idiots that dont know what they are doing and the placings were all strictly politics.  I mean hey, thats they way stock shows go!