The judge is looking for his Ideal type, if we went by what the packers wanted, the show would not be very pretty, no more zipper fronted, whale a$$ed, huge hipped, big boned cattle. Some of the best feeding steers Ive had were short necked, heavy brisketed things that just burned through the feed and put on the pounds, don't mind eating them just don't thing I want to see a ring full of them either.
What has the ideal weight been over the years, in the late 70's early 80's what was it, I know I had the heaviest steer at our county fair 3 years running, 1207, 1203, and 1207, and we weighed them full, now they would be considered small.
As far as the packers it was not long ago I remember some one saying that the calves where getting to big, the steaks were getting so large they had to cut them thinner to keep them in the rite weight range for the average consumer, the thinner stakes were coming out tougher because it cooked to fast.
As trends come and go has the 1300 range seemed to stay in the middle, maybe that is why the judges stick to that range?