RE my 3 calves... I did pretty well & I thought they placed about where they should have. My 3 calves were by far the least conditioned calves in the entire show, but none of them placed below 2nd!
1st, my fullblood Doc Holliday heifer had some heavy hitters in her class. One of the heifers in her class sold for $10,000 & was the high seller just a few hours before the show. Another heifer in her class was a daughter of the 2 time Res. National Champion female, who is also the $33,000 all-time high seller @ the National Lowline Sale, & was sired by Trungley Tiger's Eye (a hot Australian Grand Champion bull). However, my Doc heifer looked really sharp in the ring & won that highly competitive class!! (clapping)
My Tiger's Eye heifer was the prettiest fronted heifer in her class (according to the judge) & she placed ahead of another really nice Tiger's Eye heifer, but she got "out horsed" by the class Champion, who had been previously named the Iowa State Fair Calf Champion & who was later named the Grand Champion at this show. So I didn't think that was too bad at all & it was hard to argue with the judges choice.
Later all the heifer calf class winners came back to compete for the division, the judge picked the my Doc Holliday heifer as the Reserve Division Champion behind the calf that was later named Grand Champion. Once they all got out into the ring, we thought that my Doc heifer had a really good chance, but like my Tiger's Eye heifer, she also got "out horsed" by the same heifer that had already won calf champion at the big Iowa State Fair Show & my Doc heifer was named the Res. Division Champion. No shame in that at all & once again, I couldn't argue with the judges choice... it's just came down to what you like more.
Then in the Grand Champion drive, we thought that my Doc heifer had a legit shot at Res. Grand Champion & the judge looked at her long & hard, but she got beat by a really good bred heifer. And even though I really liked my heifer compared to the others, once again, I couldn't argue with the judges choice... that was a nice animal as well, with a lot going for it. BTW, I thought that judge did a real good job, IMHO.
My bull calf also placed 2nd in his class. He got beat by an imported ET calf. The judge said it was really close & he said that he liked my bulls front end better, but the other calf was better conditioned & looked a little stouter in the ring.
All in all, not a bad day & I was very happy with the outcome, especially since it was the 1st time that I had ever taken any of my own Lowlines to a Lowline show!! After seeing the other cattle at Kansas City, I really like my chances if I decide to take my Doc Holliday Denver. With some more condition... she's going to be TOUGH!! I regret that we didn't take a picture of my Doc heifer at Kansas City, but I will take some here & post one soon.
However, despite doing well in the show, my favorite part of the Kansas City Show experience was the display... we tied my Doc heifer beside the center aisle & everyone who stopped to talk basically the same thing everytime... "she's nice" or "she's cool" or something very similar to that & I mean EVERYBODY... a lot of those people weren't Lowline breeders. I obviously didn't talk to everyone, but I did talk to several & another breeder had cattle in the same display as mine & that was the same story that he told me & the fitters told me the same thing also. 2 college girls from Purdue (Indiana) borrowed her to show their friends. Also, after the show, the fitters took her up stairs & paraded her around. Part of that was for kicks, but I do think that everyone was genuinely impressed! Regardless, we got as much traffic as could be asked for considering the small crowd that attended the Royal on showday.
I also want to add that Dusty Morris did an excellent job getting my cattle ready for the show on short notice (especially the yearling bull who'd never seen a halter until after labor day!!) & he did an excellent job handling everything at the show!!