Very basic questions about showing dairy steers/ dairy feeders

Our 3 kids wanted to show market steer for the first time this year.  But since it was a huge expense to expand the barn + buy all supplies + 3 quality steer we told them they can start with dairy feeders, feed them out for steer the following year and if they still like it we will cough up the $ for quality market steer


We have a mid Sept fair.  How old would an ideal feeder (holstein) be?  We will be keeping them for dairy steer the next year.  Our fair has no birth/age restrictions.  Only weight-- feeders must be 250-800lbs. 

I would assume a Feb feeder would show best for the feeder class, but then would he be too old for the following year?  Our 4H book says show a dairy steer at 12-14months.  I can't imagine bringing a early August calf -- we wouldnt have time to work with it.

Any help/suggestions/websites would be welcome.  I grew up in the city and this is all new to me.  The kids showed hogs last year with great success but really want to move into cattle.


thanks!!



They would be even happier with a beef feeder, but I am not sure how this would work.  They aren't weaned for 5-6 months, correct?  So a March calf would wean in august?  How would you have time to work with the calf if you only had it 5-6 weeks before fair?

I would think you could go with a March/April calf for Sept. fair unless you really wanted to into heavyweight class. That way they would still be OK for a market steer the next year. I assume you would not be raising you own beef feeder so you would have to purchase one and although a calf can be weaned at 3-4 months, it is hard to get a producer to sell one that young unless you are willing to pay big $$$. If you have a producer near by, he might be willing to let you work with a calf before weaning to get him broke before you purchase him or her however.

DLZ

dutch is right, we have a late Sept/early Oct fair, and most of our beef feeders are March or April babies.  See if you can find a local producer that will work with you to get them either weaned or worked with while still there.
We actually keep ours seperated from the cow and only nurse them with the cow twice a day so that we can get working with them early 

thanks for the replies.  I have so much to learn!  But it will be fun