I am currently selling more show pigs because of my job than I am show calves, but one thing I always tell people, especially those families that are new to showing, is that we cant guarantee anything. I even keep this in mind when I am helping new showmen that I didnt sell cattle or hogs to that are just asking for an opinion or advice.
Most all the county shows around here have premium sales and to get in the sale you have to place in the top end of your class. When we price our show prospects, whether they be pigs, lambs, goats, or calves. We price them based on what we think their quality as a prospect is. And people who are return buyers to us for a couple years get to where they can tell what kind of animal we are going to be showing them based on the price tag. But a questions we always get are "Is this one gonna win?" or "Well I just want it to make the premium sale" My response, and what I instruct my staff to respond is always,"Well we cant make any guarantees, because this early inthe game we never know how they are gonna turn out, when or how often they may go off feed and not grow right, or simply who else produced something better this year, but our animals are priced based on our belief in what we think they are capable of. A high end price, while we cant guarantee it, is something that we at least think has a good shot at winning a class if not a division, but I am not promising it. Midline prices are priced that way because animals of that quality that we have sold in the past have consistantly been in the top percentage and made the sale, but we still cant promise it. Lower end prices are decent animals that wont be an embarasment to show, but things would all have to work out pretty well for it to get to the sale, however Iwont say it doesnt have a chance. And if something is priced incrediblylow or at a feeder price its because we simply dont think its show quality!"
I will never guarantee anything other than the animal being sound and healthy when it leaves my farm the day they par for it. I also dont hesitate to point out possible flaws in animals . I talk the good things but also point out where the animals need improvement. I dont want a young showman thinking I am selling it the next major champion and then getting dissappointed when a judge somewhere points out its flaws. I also firmly believe that in the Jr.s the main goal is to educate these young people and teach them how to evaluate animals, we dont do this by simply pointing out the good points and igonoring the bad, They have to learn to see the flaws as well.
I would personally never buy from someone who guaranteed a young person to win, though if your showing to the right judges the win can sometimes be guaranteed simply by who you bought the animal from, but its a moral issue to me. We are supposed to be educating these young showmen and we arent doing it by misleading them.
