Terminal Sale at County Fair

[Still Tryin]

Our county fair is strongly considering going to a terminal sale for all market animals. Anyone else have the same thing out there? And how is it working?

 

[BGF]

Our county does it, and it works well for 90% of kids since they don't go on to other shows.  The other 10% have the choice of having two sets of animals, or just not put them thru the sale.  the real show people 10% don't like it much.

 

[Bradenh]

one of our neighboring counties does it and it is a bout the same as what bgf said. love or hate

 

[iowabeef]

We have one and the support from local businesses is awesome.  Most animals bring 10 to 40 cents a pound above market.  It is the reason the animal numbers stay high at our fair.  If you are a "real" show person and want to take your animal to other shows, you don't have to run through the sale.

 

[fed_champions]

We switched to Premium a few years ago. When it was terminal, we bought cattle specifically for the county show. Being from Texas, we have several majors, and a lot of families, who just showed one or two calves, had a place to take them if they didn't make the sale at a major. When we switched to a premium sale they moved our show to before ft. worth and it dramatically  increased the quality of cattle. Being from Prosper, winning the county  was as tough or tougher than making the sale at a major. The buyers situation was relatively the same, but we've always had a tough time getting buyers. i had to go around to businesses and get donations, like 20 people bought my county calf senior year. (lol)

 

[kobo_ranch]

You might check out OAKIES post "Question" up on top... covers this topic. <cowboy>

 

[rf21970]

In our area we do not have the number of shows available for steers that other areas of the country have. We have a county show (45-50 hd) and 2 weeks later we particpate in an 8 county terminal show (150 hd). This show is well supported by the community as our calves bring 40-60 cents above market. I am a fan of the terminal show for the same reasons alot of what were refferred to above as "real show people" dislike them. It limits what you can spend on a calf and expect to come close to breaking even or perhaps making a little profit and thus helps level the playing field. Everyone is free to spend what they want on their steers and buy them from whoever they please. However, when your champion will "only" bring $3-4 bucks, it doesnt make sense to buy a $5000 steer. The majority of the cattle are fed in a manner that resembles real world economics. Most cattle will gain 3.5 plus. We have a rate of gain competition, carcass contest, live placing with a sub class for "bred and fed" and an all around award called the steer of merit.

I can see the side of the "show people" who, regardless of what they paid for their project, really enjoy the show trail and want to get their moneys worth out of the hard work that it takes to get a show animal to peak condition. We have county fair heifer projects that are really growing in popularity that meet the needs of those people. We enjoy the project, but after the 6 mos  work leading up to the show, and a couple shows we are ready to do something else.

 

[Still Tryin]

Checked out Oakies post some covers this. Here is the background on our sale. Currently, it is a premium sale. Only one animal goes through the premium sale per kid no matter what species. Everything also gets a packer bid. Therefore if a calf sells for 1000 in the premium sale through the ring and the packer bid is 1000 the kid gets 2000. You currently have the option of going through the premium sale and then paying the packer bid to get your calf back. You also have the option of not participating in the premium sale at all. Basically, they want to change it to, if you show up at the fair and show your market animal, it will get on a truck at the end of the week and you will not get it back. Terminal.  A market gilt show was added several years ago with the agreement that the gilt show was terminal. This has led to hard feelings on their part that other species can do what they want and they are being singled out. My children have always went through the premium sale and sent their calves to the packer, but I really hate to lose that option.  Thanks for all your replies. Makes me realize how lucky we are to be in such a well supported sale. I really think that the quality of our show will go to pot as we are right before the state fair and those people who show there will stay at home. This year we were down to approximately 50 steers and I believe this is the lowest it has been in quite awhile. Hate to see a good thing go bad.