i miss my market steer!!!!!!!!!

[katie_k]

ok so i did my first market steer showing this past year and he was the sweetest little hereford boy. his name was butch. he hurt me so many times. running my off on fences and stepping on me. im a tough girl and i dont like showing emotion so when it came time to ship him off in the bug trailer and they had me climb in there and take his halter off. i acted like i was happy because i was so hurt, but i didnt want to show it. but now i feel horrible and have been feeling that way for the last like 3 months.  he was so sweet when i was in the feild with him he would come up and nudge me to make me pet him. i could do anything to him i could even sit on him. he was a 1 in a million kind of animal and u just sent him off to be slaughtered.

 

[shortyjock89]

If you're gonna show cattle, you have to learn that they're not pets.  I enjoy spending time with my stock more than just almost anything else, but they're not pets.  I will say that there are one or two cows that I will bury, but I will cull 99% of my animals when they get too old. 

Steers are great to learn lessons with, and my parents made us all show a steer that we bred and raised ourselves to learn these lessons.  You say he was 1 in a million, and maybe he was, but almost all calm show stock will let you pet them in the paddock and sit on them.  I used to ride the bred heifers when I was a little kid.

I don't want to tell you to just not feel anything for your animals, but getting attached to a steer like that just never ends well.

 

[jamesgang892]

I always keep the ear tag out of the steers I show.

 

[katie_k]

he really was one in a million though. and i feel so bad. what can i do to make myself feel better? what can i do to prevent myself from feeling the same next year?

 

[shortyjock89]

he really was one in a million though. and i feel so bad. what can i do to make myself feel better? what can i do to prevent myself from feeling the same next year?

Treat showing more like a business.

 

[Weaverv3]

Everyone is going to tell you to suck it up or get out, there is no room for emotions blah blah etc. They are right, but I am in the same boat as you are. This past year, same as you, I had to sell my first steer. He was a sweetie, a great little calf and I cried like a child when I left him that night, again when I was called up to the barn to pick up his halter. It is hard, really hard to say goodbye, in my case I treated mine like a pet, and he got out around the interstate and sent me on a wild goose chase looking for him. Our calves are the majority of times our pets, no matter how bad they hurt us. Now, what helped me get through, was thinking of what  a good life I gave him compared to the life of a feedlot. Nice blowers, fans, feed, brushing, friends, rubs etc. He had a good life, and he is gone now. There is no changing that, that is the cruel side of showing, but it is the circle of life, there would be no way they could survive forever, we would have a mess if they did. The first one is the hardest, I have found that with all my animals. You now know though, what the end of the season holds, sometimes it dulls a little bit and sometimes it stays, it honestly depends on your animal.

 

[taylor tay]

ok so i did my first market steer showing this past year and he was the sweetest little hereford boy. his name was butch. he hurt me so many times. running my off on fences and stepping on me. im a tough girl and i dont like showing emotion so when it came time to ship him off in the bug trailer and they had me climb in there and take his halter off. i acted like i was happy because i was so hurt, but i didnt want to show it. but now i feel horrible and have been feeling that way for the last like 3 months.  he was so sweet when i was in the feild with him he would come up and nudge me to make me pet him. i could do anything to him i could even sit on him. he was a 1 in a million kind of animal and u just sent him off to be slaughtered.

I am sorry about this Katie.  I dont know what I could do, I missed my market lamb, i acted tough like I know that he was one of a kind. had this special dot on his head that no other lamb had.  We connected and I knew he was the one when I seen him.  There is actually nothing that U can do other then being sorrowful when u sell him. But u have to remember, that you are proud about how he did and that he knows that u cared about him.  I am going to be like that with Cash, no doubt about that.

 

[forbes family farms]

I know exactly how you feel i have been in your postion many of times, and i am very close to all of my show calves because i spend lots of time training them and mananging them. I had a calf that s. epped on me a couple of times and kicked me but that was only because he was nervous because he just got back from county weigh in, after spending lots of time with him we got very close and when it came to selling him i had the toughest time, i cryed so much in the sale ring i could hardly even breath so my dad grabbed the halter from me after the sale and he told me to say my goodbuys, i did and i walked back to the barn i cryed for days, i couldn't believe i haf sold my best friend, but after getting the check i felt a little better. This coming year is going to be the hardest because i have a steer that i am very attached to and we spend everyday togeather for a long time. Just know its a part of life and if it wasn't it would be more of a mess, i have learned not to name the steers because somehow i become closer to them. The calf my dad will let me keep on the farm forever  is a heifer that i showed this year and did very well with, and i am VERY close to this heifer, her mom also succeed in the showring lots of times for me, i would trade this heifer for anything i am way to attached.

To prevent this from happening to you again show heifers, i also know of people who get blankets from out of their steers.

 

[Jive Turkey]

what can i do to prevent myself from feeling the same next year?

Show heifers instead.

 

[box6rranch]

I feel for you. I'm the mother of a 4-H kid and we've shown steers for eight years now. I have honestly loved each one of them.
I was born and raised in the city. Moved to the country when I was 41 years old.
This is how I rationalize things. Cows are put on the earth as a food source. Our show steers were lucky enough to be able to spend their time on earth getting the best of everything. Good food, hay, sleeping quarters, baths, lots of love and attention etc. They have had the best life on earth for the time they had. I always love each one before they have to go and tell them thank you and that I loved them. I always say a prayer that they will go quickly and have green pastures for eternity and that their meat is being used to nourish and strengthen bodies.
I know you all probably think I'm a loon but it's taken me a while to get to this point and it works for me. Remembering them never goes away. They always hold a special place in your heart.

 

[linnettejane]

i showed steers in 4h for 10 years...and i cried every single year...i thought i would get used to it, but i never did...i put alot of time into my calves and just seemed to have bonded with every single one of them...i hated saturday night of our county fair...that was the night they were loaded up and taken to the slaughter houses...but the day the check arrived, i got over it...and was ready to go get the next one...

 

[jimbob123]

when i was a kid, they had me take my steer to the packing plant and when i got there they asked me to lead him into the holding area....never forgot that....so, it is only human to have feelings about these things...

 

[kobo_ranch]

I am a Mom and now help my son with his calves.  I showed as a kid and remember all my calves to this day. Husband says I'm reliving my childhood and think he's right.  Showing heifers is one way if you're able to keep them.  I was very attached to our steers last year and cry thinking about it, but we also had a heifer and she now has a new calf so that helps.  
Box6 and linnettejane both have it figured out.  If you have a sweet heart and love animals I think its pretty common thing to feel attached to your calves.  It can be sad each year but fun too cause each animal has there own personalities.  The pain will ease up but you'll always have the memories.  Nothing in life lasts forever!  

 

[ZNT]

When I was showing, I did miss my market steers, right up to the day the sale check showed up.  Now that I have a daughter, and an involved wife, it has really changed my perspective.  I had really never thought about all the countless hours washing, blowing, and brushing, but now that it is my wife and daughter putting in the same effort that I do, I am understanding more how it is so easy to get attached. We have a couple of super sweet heifers now that will really be missed when they move on to their new homes.

 

[Dozer45]

It is hard to sell your first show animal everyone has been there, Even the ones that tell you to buck up have. When ever I had a hard time selling a steer I always told me self this. As a steer his fait was set the day he was born. He would eventully go off to the packing plant. I just told myself that I was able to give him a pretty pampered life untill then. Just like Box6 said. You also have to look at is as your contribution to feeding the world and you did the very best you could.

Hang in there hun it will get better

 

[irh]

Sounds like you need a new calf, I had the same problem with steers.  But get your new calf as soon as the old one leaves, it helps alot.

 

[katie_k]

Thanks everyone for really making me feel like im not alone in all this, i have my new steer and a heifer this year. but neither are the same as last years. i just cant compaire them. i feel sad that im showing new ones because it feels like im just taping over his memory

 

[taylor tay]

U aren't taping over the memory u are just adding another

 

[showsteerdlux]

I agree with OFS, this is a business, and you have to treat it like one. To be honest I'm glad when it comes time to sell one. You can't mix emotions with business and it end up well. Last of all keep the good memories, but it seems like a therapy session going on here with "taping over his memory", it ain't a person its a cow and the place they go is the food chain. BTW I will admit I wasn't jumping for joy to put my 1st calf on the trailer, but that check sure made it better.

 

[Jenny]

I will tell you what I tell my own kids.....
there is really only one purpose on this earth for a steer; is kinda sad for them, cause they were just unlucky to be born a steer but that is just what happened.
so what did you do for "butch", but give him the very best life possible.  he could have just been a steer in a feedyard of 50,000 other steers in Texas or Oklahoma, but YOU gave him a very interesting life, good food, shelter; really he was a very, very lucky old boy!  much more fortunate than many other steers.
it is sad what their purpose in life is, but there is nothing we can do to change that; all we can do is the best for them we can while they are here and you did that!
now it is time to remember the good times with him and enjoy the good times that will come from your future projects.
BTW, I remember so very well my first steer; "Claude" was a purebred herford (that was back in the days before crossbreds!!)  I have never forgotten him; he broke my heart too!