Nebraska State Fair gets tough on doping, takes away titles.

Tallcool1 · Jun 4, 2015

Don't know if anyone noticed any of this stuff, but apparently the Nebraska State Fair pulled some pretty serious hardware from kids due to testing positive for unapproved drugs. Article one is a report of what the State Fair did, and the next two are rebuttal articles submitted by a couple of the families.

http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/state-fair-gets-tough-on-doping-takes-away-titles/article_b5991f77-260e-54a9-ab35-0469857f1d26.html

http://www.theindependent.com/opinion/another_opinion/state-fair-must-be-fair-to-exhibitors/article_00be24ea-fff6-11e4-a6fb-cbe4f5375d1d.html

http://www.theindependent.com/opinion/another_opinion/state-fair-must-improve-testing-process/article_3c1c9894-0651-11e5-8edb-03df38e78a73.html

sizzler14 · Jun 4, 2015

I found it kind of funny that of the three animals that tested positive, none were steers

Warrior10 · Jun 4, 2015

Had heard rumblings of this, was curious to see what would come of it.

aj · Jun 4, 2015

There are three things that are very detrimental to young kids as they are growing up. Alcohol, drugs, and showing livestock. It has become a joke.

Medium Rare · Jun 4, 2015

Did I read that right?

Do they really not clean the barns out between species??

Tallcool1 · Jun 4, 2015

I don't know about cleaning the barn between species. I do know that they completely remove all bedding between Open Class Cattle and Junior Cattle.

There was some mention of cattle being in the hog barn. That was a stretch at best. There were about 10 people that set up blocking chutes on the west edge of the hog barn. The cattle were not stalled in the hog barn.

The thing that stood out to me is all of the "legal speak" in the rebuttal letters. It was almost as if the letters were written by attorneys. (That's sarcasm).

I don't know enough about it to say that drug residue can be passed between animals by way of exposure.

DSCSD · Jun 5, 2015

Pretty sad of Nebraska to do such a thing like that. I know if they blasted 1 of my kids and called them a cheater id be out for blood. Ive been labeled a cheater before... its called jealousy... and Karma is a fickle bitch. Cheaters or not.... you don't go blasting kids names like that. My question is.... how many people on the board had kids that lost to these "cheaters"? hmmm?

Tallcool1 · Jun 5, 2015

I was a little surprised with the fact that the newspapers actually named people as well.

Theres no "parents" on the board. It's a State Fair, not a county show. I know that the head of the Livestock Show was a long time head of the National Western as well as the Arizona National. I am guessing this is not the first time dealing with issues like this.

If the test results were wrong, or they tested positive by exposure, it is unfortunate. If not, then hats off to the people that had the courage to make such a decision.

Tough deal.

knabe · Jun 5, 2015

why do they need the drugs in their system?

Why does someone who purchases the animal at auction need the drugs in their system?

Seems culprits are constantly blaming the fairs for their deeds.

Doesn't seem fair.

I guess at this point I don't see it as the fair getting tough so much as they were following the rules that everyone agreed to by participating.

Perhaps all participants need to sign an agreement that any illegal substances found in animals subjects the fair and slaughterhouse to liability and not informing the public and posting test results could result in criminal prosecution.

Honestly, I will never purchase an animal at a fair as I am more leery about quality/residue issues compared to the grocery store. not only that, but in my area, more than half if not 3/4 of the animals won't even grade low choice as they have consistently shown little cover. I have seen them hanging at the butcher. Obviously other regions are much better and mirror the feed industry better.

People getting caught (and not getting caught) need to look at the larger picture with regard to seeing a story like this in the paper planting doubt in the consumers mind with regard to product

Freddy · Jun 5, 2015

knabe --you pretty well covered it all and did a very respectful way of covering this subject ....

What about the surgery done on some of these calves ,these shows have really gotten out of hand and back the Fair board 100 % ...

oakview · Jun 5, 2015

Has it been 20 years since the Ohio State Fair fiasco? I don't have any idea if the tests were flawed, if the animals picked up the drug from other animals, or what really happened. Ryan Braun was a victim of a flawed test; for a year or two until the truth came out. Others can truly be victims. If the residue was picked up from another animal, then that animal was on it. That needs to stop. Anybody who does that stuff is doing an extreme injustice to the industry, all for a $25 trophy. What a great way to ruin the livestock industry! Let our customers read that what we sell them, what they consume, is laced with illegal drugs. It's too bad testing even needs to be done.

hevmando · Jun 5, 2015

The biggest concern I have in this facet of showing is what prevents a competitor from sabotaging your animal? If it comes up positive, your are guilty. Now I know that is thinking like a cheater but I have seen a showmanship competition where a mom sent her young daughter in from the bleachers to tail a competitors calf to get it to start walking. Some will stop at nothing to win, either with their own animal or someone else's.

Tallcool1 · Jun 5, 2015

hevmando said:
The biggest concern I have in this facet of showing is what prevents a competitor from sabotaging your animal? If it comes up positive, your are guilty. Now I know that is thinking like a cheater but I have seen a showmanship competition where a mom sent her young daughter in from the bleachers to tail a competitors calf to get it to start walking. Some will stop at nothing to win, either with their own animal or someone else's.

I see your point about sabotage thinking like a cheater, however I don't believe that is the context you intended and I will absolutely side with you on a point well taken. I believe one of the families letters made mention of tightening security. However, security won't keep someone from simply walking past a hog pen and dropping in some type of substance. The hogs in the pen will find it and they will eat it!

husker1 · Jun 5, 2015

Very interesting...

Flunixin and dexamethasone are steroids that we commonly use in our treatment regime at our place for many, many situations....I would have to think there is some threshold type of "level" that the residue would have to be at before it would be considered performance enhancing, illegal, or anything of the sort?

How long can the residue last from these steroids? Could this have been given to a young animal as part of a pnuemonia treatment protocol and still show up as a finished fat? I'm curious as to the answers.

I might've been guilty of unknowingly cheating through the years....????

I'm not familiar with the other substances, and am certainly not taking sides...just asking some questions.

knabe · Jun 5, 2015

how does an animal pick up residue from another animal sufficient in concentration to cause a test issue?

one way to minimize sabotage, which, admittedly has to be less of an occurrence than actual illegal drug activity, would be to when animals are weighed in, a blood sample is taken. another is taken for appropriate numbers of winners. video cameras would help. with them being so cheap and kids savvy about installing them, seems to not be an issue.

blood tests much match results, or another test is taken. all that could be written in the rules. one doesn't have to incur the cost of the test by blood collection alone, but duplicate tubes and therefore more tests could be performed to root out this needles nonsense.

granted, as mentioned, there are some appropriate use. not sure what to do about that other than residuals must be met as that's the rules.

knabe · Jun 5, 2015

If Flunixin is administered according to label the pre-slaughter withdrawal time is 4 days and the milk withdrawal is 36 hours.

seems a reasonable amount of time to use for a sick animal. not sure what else it would be used for.

dexamethasone:

Doses greater than those recommended in horses may produce a transient drowsiness or lethargy in some horses. The lethargy usually abates in 24 hours. hmmm. wonder if same thing is observed in cattle. seems like an easily justified show animal use (which it isn't)

Tallcool1 · Jun 5, 2015

I don't know enough about the sheep and hogs to say one way or another what dosage of what drug will have what effect.

If there is in fact a ZERO tolerance rule in place, I would say that is unfortunate. I believe in clear conscience that if your farm houses multiple species, cross contamination is a real and reasonable issue. The steers get Optiflexx, and hogs can't have it, but invariably the same buckets get crossed up and no thought goes into it. If you are testing at a tolerance variable of ZERO, you have a violation.

I highly doubt that any testing is going to be done on a ZERO tolerance basis, but then again I am not the one that did the testing...nor could I. My first thought was that there must have been a fairly substantial amount of whatever detected in order for the board to proceed. I believe one of the letters from the families stated there was in fact a zero tolerance on the testing. Who knows?

Danielle1018 · Jun 5, 2015

Good for Nebraska State Fair! Time and time again animals test out positive for illegal drugs with little to no consequences. So good for the fair.

knabe · Jun 5, 2015

i currently don't buy it that an injectable drug somehow can be transferred to another animal.

perhaps there is a reasonable pathway one could enlighten us besides foul play?

how little contamination is necessary to show up as a positive on a test?

i guess at some level i can't even begin to believe that all these show animals need all these drugs anyway.

to me, why it's even a controversy in the first place is somewhat silly.

back when i showed, small doses of bute was given for the same reason.

everyone did it if "necessary", but i really only saw a couple animals out of hundreds where i could have rationalized to do it. i personally would never do it so a kid could "control" an animal. if it's so necessary, maybe kids need to not show animals.

BroncoFan · Jun 6, 2015

i personally would never do it so a kid could "control" an animal. if it's so necessary, maybe kids need to not show animals.

I agree with this statement. Usually a steer is roughly a 9 month project. Hogs and sheep obviously less. If after 9 months of working with a steer the kid still can't control the steer without some type of drugs then either the steer or kid should not be in the ring.

Nebraska State Fair gets tough on doping, takes away titles.

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