SMALL COUNTY FAIR HARD FEELINGS

[BABYTEX]

I am actually the mother of Babtex but just wondering if anyone out there shows at a small county fair?  We show at a very small county fair with primarily South Devon breed cattle but we show primarily club calves.  This year we have actually pulled a fairly decent registered Angus from our commercial herd to show which we had no hopes for when she was born but about 1 month ago when weaning we came across her and said she had a lot of hopes.  Also one of my daughters is getting into raising her own Chianias but they appear to be more clubies as we have some Sunseeker breeding behind this herd. 

To the point now.  The others who have shown at our county fair state we have a "lot of guts" to go out and buy our animals when we have a commercial herd at home with a small percent of registered Angus that we could show.  This is they main reason we will show the Registered Angus along with our Chiania/Clubbies.  I don't think these people understand that we do not just buy a winner for our children.  My children work very hard.  From April through September they are working at least three hours a day working with their animals.  The also spend a lot of time the rest of the year but being in cold Minnesota this is not quite as easy.  If we do buy our children animals they are bought very young and are also on a very good nutrition program so in essence I do not feel we are just buying a champion as some of the parents and children are saying. I feel that a champion does not come without a lot of hard work and dedication. 

Has anyone else came across this same issue at the local county fairs.  It is quite frustrating and my husband and I dont know quite how to approach it.

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[shortyjock89]

The best  advice I can give you is to pretty much ignore all the naysayers and just keep doing your best. Just because you might buy a few calves a year and do well shouldn't be a bad thing. If you can raise a champion on your own, that is great, but buying a baby calf and taking it to the next level is cause for merit as well.  We have a small county fair too, but it is very competitive, and if you don't bring out the absolute best you can, then you're left in the dust.  If you show at a higher level like state fairs or even larger, you will find less criticism for buying good cattle because if no one bought cattle to show at State and national level shows, we wouldn't have much money floating around the show cattle industry at all.

 

[shortdawg]

You can breed the best calf ever and if you can't finish the deal with a sound feeding program and care you are not going to win. We too show at a small county fair and some may say we just buy a winner but that couldn't be further from the truth. We have won the county raised steer and heifer divisions as well as the overall grand and reserve with calves we've bought and some we've raised. Champions are fed not bred in my opinion. You could give everyone the ET sibs out of the same mating and the same kids would still win because they know what it takes to be a winner.

 

[SKF]

Shortdawg- "You could give everyone the ET sibs out of the same mating and the same kids would still win because they know what it takes to be a winner." This is sooo true!!

 

[stangs13]

One of my fav quotes ever...winners are bred, champions are fed!

 

[kanshow]

I've always heard that you use the 3rds rule..      1/3 genetics, 1/3 feed, & 1/3 showmanship (which to me includes preshow hair prep, etc)

 

[SHAGGY]

Most of it comes from jealousy, we dont buy cattle but when we do well showing even some of our good friends start making comments like we know the judge or we have "the name" which could not be further from the truth. Just let the kids know that they will have to deal with this type of behavior from people all there lives, not only in the cattle industry, and to keep on doing what their doing. The way i look at it, it takes knowledge of cattle to pick a good one whether you buy it or raise it, isnt that one of our goals, to become better picking the "right" cattle. I know its hard but its best just to ignore ignorance. 

 

[afhm]

Nobody cares what you do until you beat them.

 

[Show Heifer]

This worked for me:  When everyone was talking smack about my projects, I hosted several "workshops" at my farm (some were held at the fairgrounds with the help of others).  The first was on selection, and training. The second was on daily care and nutrition. The third was on grooming and showmanship.  When people saw how hard I and my family worked, they finally realized that they could be competitve to, IF they were willing to do the work.  It sure shut them up. Plus, it looked great in my record book!!

 

[Diamond]

people are jerks, so just let it go in one ear and out the other. I hate the green eye monster and I learned that lesson the hard way this past year. I bought a nice simmi heifer the first real nice heifer I ever bought and got blackballed by 'friends' for it. So much so that I wasn’t allowed to show at my last show. Now, I spent the year before I bought her working overtime and skipping outings to get her.  I also pay all my feed bills verses others that show agents me. So tell me how is it, wrong, for people to buy their cattle if they put the extra effort into it. I agree those who buy cattle with kids who don’t work for it don’t deserve to win, but the same people could breed there own, still shouldn’t win. However, for those who bust there butt, go the extra mine, can do what ever they like.

 

[Sunset Hills]

People are sore losers
Part of life 

 

[GONEWEST]

County fairs can be bad. Here, where it's not really "cattle country", sometimes the judges aren't exactly up to par. It might be a swine or poultry expert from a nearby state that judges all species. In the late 80's we had a calf that was calf champion at the Canadian Agribition. She was 5th in class at our country fair and there were more people who were happy about that calf placing poorly than about theirs placing well.

I'd say you just need to develop a thick skin and enjoy the fact that your kids enjoy doing the work it takes to be successful. I'd also agree with shortdawg in that it takes more than just buying a calf to do well. However, I think that can be a misleading statement.  We all need to remember that you can't make chicken salad out of chicken pookie. If two kids are willing to do what it takes to be successful and one begins with an animal superior to the other one, the best calf will win. There seems to be more kids willing to put out the effort here than ever before and when those kids with the best animals will do the work, they win. But the other side of that is somehow we have to remember winning isn't the only reward.

 

[Eberth]

I have always said the easiest way to get a good one beat is to take it to the county fair.

 

[shortyjock89]

I have always said the easiest way to get a good one beat is to take it to the county fair.

Very VERY true.

 

[rtmcc]

County fairs are the toughest deal all year.  Too many 4-H parents involved that think the County Fair is "The Big One" of the year.

Just remember to be a gracious winner or looser,  try to be helpful, especially with the new & younger exhibitors, and then load both barrels and show them what you got and how hard you have been working on them.
   One parent mentioned to me that since I was a cattle buyer and also in the pure bred business, my kids had an unfair advantage.  I asked what he did and he replied that he raised cash crops.  I mentioned to him that that may give his kids an advantage over ours in the agronomy projects as their dad is a "professional crop raiser."  He actually smiled and agreed some what but mentioned that it still wasn't the same thing.
Just guessing as to who your South Devon buddies are up, I wouldn't get too worked up.  They are kind of that  .....

Beat them with a home raised one and make sure its good enough so there are no questions and they don't forget!

Good Luck

Ron

 

[Torch]

If you ever want to see people who otherwise are decent, hard working, and do anything for you, be but heads, just go to the county fair. (And after the Royal I'd have to add any cattle show for that matter).

Sad but true.

 

[Cattledog]

When you go to a county fair it doesn't take long to figure out who is serious and who's not about showing cattle.  I can usually just glance at a stall and tell if this is just some 4H project and the county fair show is the last stop for particular individual. 

At our county fair there are three families that realistically compete for the steer show and three maybe four families that compete for the heifer show.  I will say that all these families bring something that can compete at the state level.  We've won the heifer show pretty consistently and my cousin said that some of the other kids were pretty snotty to him this year saying that the show was won before it even started.  I told him they were right.  He's one of the top showman, he put in a ton of work(more than I require and that's alot), and he easily had the best heifer.  To me that adds up!

The problem with winning is when you do it a bunch people get sick of you succeeding.  They always start on the political rant.  Anymore, I actually get a kick out of people rooting against us!  At least they know who we are(that's not saying much from our county)!

At the end of the day...it's just a county fair.  We always leave our best one home due to our state fair being a week later.  I'm actually considering skipping the county deal entirely but know my cousin would be dissapointed so that will just have to remain on my wishlist.

 

[justme]

My kids probably have the smallest county fair on this board, but its tougher than you will ever imagine.  (Res. Angus from 2009 Ak-sar-ben and Reserve Maine MO state fair came from our little fair last year along with 4 other state fair class winners)  We get "double whammied" because we are not "from" here originally.  Its a tough club we are not invited into evidently.  My kids had a rough time at first.  Rumors, acusations, ect were hard on my daughter.  I told her, they never talk about someone that isn't a threat.  They only talk about the ones that they are worried about.  It's been a valuable lesson for her to learn, but she needed to learn it.  Win or loose she's the first one to congratulate her competitors and one of the firsts to help you out.  That (regardless if we win) makes me one proud parent

 

[shortdawg]

We skipped our County Hog Show last year for the 1st time since the early 80's. The reason is we had a great set of cattle and felt like we would do well with them and we did. But if we show hogs we are going to try to win that as well because it takes just as much feed and care for a mediocre hog as it does for a good one. So, we skipped it so that those locals who want to put my kids through hardship if they win wouldn't have any extra ammo. I think that is sad but its true. I love the hog deal but I'm not going to let my kids be exposed to that if I can help it.

 

[NHR]

A couple years ago at our county show there were rumors flying around that we spent $30,000 on our heifer so we could win the county show. It was funny watching everyone come by and point and whisper about my daughters heifer. My daughters heifer, according to the judge, easily won the show. Not bad for a $1500 heifer.

Of course the rumors started the folowing year about one of her new heifers, but i had to break it to them that she was bred and owned.

This year we have one heifer and she is bred owned. She is probably our best heifer yet.

I used to get all worked up about what people said and thought, now I just sit back and relax because it really does not matter.