kobo_ranch said:
I've been around showing steers in Texas since the mid 80s. Back when you could pretty much do what you want - and we followed along and tried some of the stuff mentioned previously in this thread along with some other things. NONE of them made a hill of beans difference in the calves.
Back then, we didn't have access to the legal things we do now. You can put as much or more muscle than most calves can stand using Revalor implants and Optaflexx. The legal stuff does just as much as anything else they might be trying.
Whoever is telling you that these "substances" are the reason you are getting beat doesn't know what they are talking about. If they didn't tell you what those things are specifically, there is a 99% probability they are talking out their ***. The people that really use them have enough sense to keep their mouth shut. I'm sure some people try plenty of things I don't know about now, but they are primarily wasting their money and taking unncecssary chances. Drug tests at major shows are the proof. Although Texas shows keep things pretty confidential, there aren't many at all DQd. One of my high school classmates is the official vet for one of our majors. He says by far the most common thing caught is dex with antibiotics being a close second. And even those usually only amount to a calf or two per show per year.
It is an easy crutch for people to think they are getting beat because they aren't cheating. Don't fall into that trap - it won't help you. In reality, there are just some really, really good calves out there. It's not easy to raise them or even find them to buy. You can do everything right, spend lots of money, and it still doesn't always work. There are hundreds if not thousands of people, each with anywhere from a few to a few thousand cows, trying to raise these steers. The best of the best find their way to Texas. That's what is beating you. Just enjoy the "trying". Or, you can go spend a bunch of money with one of the prominent steer jocks and improve your chances, but don't think that's a guarantee for anything.
When you see a calf that is dwarfing yours in thickness, etc. - more often than not you are looking at a spring born calf showing against your fallborn. People pull them back hard for the prospect shows so the show weights are similar. That's what a lot of the monster calves at Fort Worth are - spring borns, regardless of weight. Things even out in a hurry by the time you get to San Antonio and Houston.
The implant/Optaflexx combination is pretty stout. A few may have access to the other feedlot additive out there (the really, really expensive stuff). I was tied across from two breed champ/reserve steers at Houston this year that were obviously pretty hopped up on hormones. Not that I was staring, but I was impressed that both (along with some other calves from their area) were able to have full, prolonged erections. That was the first time I'd run across that to that extent. However, whatever it was had to be legal because it was obviously still in their system and more than one of those calves placed in the actual carcass contest.
A New Orleans Saint football player two or three years ago got caught with Clenbuterol in their system. I knew another football player at a small college I went to that tried the same dose of Lasix on himself that he used on his pigs and nearly killed himself trying to make "weight" that a coach set for him. He was a lineman of course. I figure some of the stuff associated with the Balko investigations you hear so much about got tried on steers at some point, but don't think for a second folks aren't a lot more careful after the authorities got serious on the Clenbuterol.
