What do you Think?

[Debbie]

This is our 2011 market steer, he is 13 months old and he weighs 1000 pounds. I would appreciate your opinions on him. Do you think he is worth showing or should we just get rid of him? Our show is in September.

 

[vc]

Is he for your county fair? Did you raise him yourself? The picture is not the greatest to evaluate from but he looks a little light in bone and muscle, 300 more pounds and some fat he may look just fine. If he was for state or something bigger you might want to look for something else.

 

[rackranch]

I really don't understand why you would raise a steer to 13 months of age and then post a single picture of him on the internet and ask if he is worth showing or should you just get rid of him.  Has someone told you he's not worth feeding out?  Is he crippled or something?  What do your 4-H or FFA leaders in your county think about the steer.  I hope someone with your best interest is helping you along because I see no reason for you not to give yourself and the steer a chance.  Do you want to feed him out till September or do you have other interest in mind?  I feel like we are missing something??

 

[Debbie]

He is for our county fair. We live in a small town and people here do not help each other or give advice. We plan on keeping him and showing him we just wanted other peoples opioins. I like people to be honest not RUDE.

 

[Debbie]

And no he is not crippled or something.

 

[lightnin4]

He may not be a world beater, but if you're just starting out that may not be the most important thing.  I've certainly seen much lower quality steers shown at our local county fair.  He's at a weight now that he should finish in time for your fair easily.  If you can do that with a quality steer and present him well at the show then that's success.  Good Luck!

 

[Debbie]

Thanks! We know he is not the best steer in the world ,but he does look better in person. This is only our third year showing a steer and it is also our last. I'm all for experience but, it is nice to get a ribbon once in a while especially when you know you put in a lot more time than some people do.

 

[SFASUshowman]

Where are you showing? What is the competition like there? There are definately some faults with this calf, but he isnt horrible.  I have not only seen much lower quality steers than this show at county fairs, I have seen them win some. It just depends on where you are located and what the competition is like there. Is your show slick or haired? If it is haired I would really go to town on the hair, especially on his legs. My other big fault with him is his front end, he looks pretty wastey in the front. I dont know what your willing to put into him, but pouring some Zilmax to them can burn some of that front end out of them. But it may be a little late in the game to get a whole lot of results from that if he is already at a thousand pounds.
My advice is just do your best with him and go in there and have fun. I know its nice to win, but honestly you can be proud regardless if your 1st, 10th, or 100th if you go in there knowing you put the very best effort you possibly could into it.

 

[texas111]

Winning is not everything.  Quiting because you havent won a ribbon in three years is not the answer.  what are your kids learning from doing this?  prob not what you want them to.  you need to find a reputable breeder and start with a good animal.  your steer looks ok, he is too light.  he needs to have more bone to him as well.  his front end is ragged and needs to be cleaned up.  dont quit.  your just breaking the surface of thing to learn.  rome was not built in a day.  stick with it and you will be happy you did.  honestly you should take some more photos of your calf so others can help you.  everyone on this website will help you all the way through to show time.  what are you feeding and how much?  also how many days tilll show?

 

[Debbie]

what exactly do you mean about his front end? we feed 360# cracked corn 100# kent baby beef 60# soyhull pellets 20# linseed pellets and 25# liquid mollasses. we have it crimped also plus he getts hay twice a day

 

[SFASUshowman]

If you notice his front end is kind of coarse, a lot of people would call him trashy fronted, overall just not really attractive fronted.  Its not a huge deal, for me its kinda like seperating the good ones from the great ones.  A set of clippers can do a lot to smooth that up if you have someone that really knows what their doing and is good at blending with the clippers. Zilmax is a growth supplement you feed to them. There are a couple different supplements that have it and its the same things as Paylean for pigs, just formulated for cattle.  Zilmax promotes rapid lean muscle gain so feeding it can sometimes burn some of that extra fat and loose skin off the brisket area and just make the front end look a lot cleaner and more attractive.  I have mixed results on how well it does, and I generally feed it when they are a little smaller. At this size the calf is probably gonna lay down cover at a little higher rate than lean muscle naturally so I dont know how effective it would be now.

 

[Debbie]

If we feed Zilmax will it keep him from gaining fat. He needs to fill out more, there is five months left till our fair do you think he will look different by that time? He hasn't been clipped yet but, when we do we usually clip the neck and brisket smooth.It's starting to get warm here so he is losing his winter hair hopefully with a lot of hard work we can get new hair on him. Also, we feed showflex the last 40 days what do you think about this product?

 

[Gators Rule]

Thanks! We know he is not the best steer in the world ,but he does look better in person. This is only our third year showing a steer and it is also our last. I'm all for experience but, it is nice to get a ribbon once in a while especially when you know you put in a lot more time than some people do.

Did you raise the calf?  Yes, ribbons are nice, but definately NOT the most important thing.  I never won Grand or Reserve wtih my steers while showing (I did have a lot of success with breeding stock though), but I want to share a thought with you...    I am a pretty successful business owner in Florida, and I give my experience raising, showing, AND SELLING steers credit for 90 percent of my business success.  I'm now 47 years old, and to this day, I still draw upon the knowledge I gained from participating in our County and State steer shows.  I hope you think long and hard about giving up.   

Folks won't help?  NEVER allow other people to determine how successful you are in life.  Seek help first...and if you can't get it...OVERCOME it and succeed anyway!

Now for your steer.  Yes, he appears a little light in the bone, hasn't filled out all the way, but he still is growing, so who really knows how he's going to finish.  Go find you some top notch buyers who have never participated in your fair...and out sell everyone! 

 

[Debbie]

Yes we did raise the calf. what do you mean light in bone? We will do our best and thanks for the advice its nice to know that there are people out there who are interested in helping others.

 

[SFASUshowman]

Showflexx is the same thing pretty much. They are both Ractopamine supplements and I think it will work good for you. When people refer to him being light boned they are talking about the circumfrance of his leg.  In cattle, bulls and steers especially, we like to see a nice big boned animal. Not only is it vissually appealing and makes the calf look a little more powerful, but bigger boned animals ussually have an advantage to staying sound when they reach those heavier show weights.  A lot of bone comes from genetics, but if you really put some elbow grease and management into him and get good hair on his legs that you can pull up, then you can add greatly to the appearance of how much bone he has.

 

[vc]

Since it is for county fair and you raised him yourself I would say "yes, he will be fine to keep and show" See if you can find someone to help you clip him or get a video that will guide you. If you can not find help in your area, pepole will be more than glad to help you on this site get him fed right (that is always the the biggest part to me) You have time and he is a decent steer, he is just not a flashy show steer.
How is his ADG? We learned as we went, he looks just like our first couple commercial Angus calves we showed, good steers would take a feed lot full of them, they just got over powered by the show steers.
If you have the cows and want to breed a little more show into your calves, post some pictures of the cows, ask for some suggestions for AI and upgrade your calves a little. I would stay with bulls that will help add style with out killing my cows. IIWM

 

[Debbie]

We weigh him every month. From March 3rd to April 3rd he gained 95#. I posted what we feed earlier do you think that is a good recipe? We plan on starting him on showbloom sometime this week too.