Pic of my daughter's Heat Wave show steer at 9, 11 and 14 months

[Sambosu]

Over the past couple of years I have asked for some advice regarding a couple of my kids calves. Instead of posting a question, I just wanted to give you all an update/chance to see how my daughter's first market steer is progressing and get your opinion on how he has grown. The following pics are from July, September and January. The last pic was from this weekend at a blow and go show. Steer ended up 3rd overall. Got beat by two steers that outweighed him by 150 and 200 lbs. He is out of a heat wave son, born October 2012. Currently weighing 1100 lbs. I think weight wise and finish wise he is in pretty good shape for OYE.  Should end up around 1250 lb.

Updated the second picture. I originally attached a pic of his half brother.

 

[knabe]

calf looks good.  hair lines at rear hooves look puffy.  how much flex does calf have in pasterns?

 

[Sambosu]

We would like for him to have a little more flex in his pastern than he does. The best part about his walk is how wide he walks and he covers his tracks.

 

[vc]

I like the way he appears to have stayed true to how he looked in the beginning. He looks like he has stayed together for you and will continue too.

 

[Sambosu]

When my dad brought him home, I was a little concerned with his age but now I am thinking his youthful look/fresh look will help him when the final show gets here in March and is competing against the older bigger calves.

 

[Telos]

Super Calf. Looks hard to fault. Is he going to the OYE?

 

[CAB]

Sambosa if you go to Mittag Show Cattle and study the leg clipping contest legs, you'll be able to see how to help the appearance of your daughter's calf's pasterns. You can clip a look into that area and make them look way better and actually I don't know by looking how the calf moves. He may be great on the move, but take a look and see if you can see what I am talking about.

 

[Sambosu]

Thanks for the tip CAB. I am not a fitter at all, so pictures will help me see what you and Knabe are talking about. My family and I normally have some help from a couple kids from the local college judging team but they are away on Christmas break. We just sheened him up real good and blew him out for a long time. I will make sure I talk to the college kids when they return from their break.

Telos, my daughter's steer is going to OYE and so is my son's steer that is a half brother. The sire for both of them is a heat wave son. We went and looked the full brother to my daughter's steer last week and it looks like that bull and cow is a good combination because the momma had another good steer.

 

[chambero]

I bet that calf will finish out a litter heavier than that if you want to.  Looks like a perfect sized steer for a Heat Wave.  A lot of them don't have that much length/height.

Pasterns on him don't bother me.

 

[Tallcool1]

In my opinion, that steer has gotten better with time.

We have had several Heatwave steers, and I would like to share my experience.  (I know he is out of a Heatwave SON, but he looks like a Heatwave). 

The difference between our steers from 1150 to 1350 pounds is DAY and NIGHT!  The next 200 pounds for your steer is his most important 200 pounds.  He could go from being really cool looking to being a beast! 

I don't have a problem with him on the ground at all, especially if he can move.  With his length and height, that long stride can really cause a judge to look past any issues on the ground.  He looks fine to me in his pastern structure.

I would be careful giving him Optiflexx if you have thought about using it, just because you mentioned wishing he was different in his pastern.  We had one stiffen up on Optiflexx and took him off of the product because of it.  It didn't wreck him, but it was noticeable. 

Pour the groceries to him! 

He looks fantastic to me...I would be proud to drag one like that around! 

You guys have done a great job on him!

 

[Sambosu]

Tallcool1 and chambero, thanks for replying and positive comments. The reason I said 1250 is I have been told that the worse thing we could do is turn him into a sloppy fat steer. He has a really nice finish on him now, so I am trying to push him hard and just let him cruise right now. Currently he isn't on a finisher and gets plenty of hay. Just trying to do what I can to ensure he keeps growing. Keeping track of his daily gain by weighing him every 2 weeks. With your experience with Heat Wave's Tallcool1 and chambero, do they normally continue to grow during their last 105-200lbs?

 

[knabe]

practice this area over and over and figure out how to get it dry before you go in the ring.

the other thing that does good is get your calf standing good so you don't have to touch him. yes you still almost do, but you've done it enough that he knows what to do when you get close.

i'm not sure where the short pasterns in show cattle come from, but in the maine book from france i'm translating (1929), they mentioned short pasterns were a fault worth noting in print. they also said that bulls from some producers (not just maine's, pretty much most breeds) were typically trimmed and mostly stall raised, which may have led to "fixing" poor structure.  they mentioned farmers were scared of bulls getting ornery, but they said it was much better to let the bull be around the cows instead of always wanting to be with them, essentially reinforcing their bad behavior.  nowadays, people obviously have bull pastures.

 

[Sambosu]

Knabe, thanks for advice on working the area and ensuring it is dry before going into the ring.  I don't know if this is impacting the picture a little bit but he has a tendency to not put all his weight back on whichever back rear foot my daughter just adjusted with her show stick.  I don't think he has all his weight on his back left foot in the picture. He did it in the Grand Drive. My daughter tugged on his foot to move it forward. When the steer set it down he set it down real lightly, kind of left it cocked.  My daughter had to move him up a step to get him to put his foot down properly.

 

[Sambosu]

Below is the pic we took while in the waiting area. I think it shows his pasterns differently, in a good way.

 

[knabe]

hmm.  to me, something may be tight or he's just one sided when he wants to be comfortable or knows he's going to stand or something is sore. does he put both rear feet the same distance forward when he walks?  does he loin down evenly. maybe he's just confused between when to put his foot forward and when to put it even, or maybe the signals/setup isn't clear to him or the handler.

how is he with his feet?  this may not be a good idea at this point, but i always trained my calves to lift all four feet.  the reason i did this is so i could pull forward on their rear feet to stretch them.  horse chiropractors also pull evenly and firm on horse's tails to release tension in their muscles along the spine.  you might ask a horse pressure chiropractor to look at him for fun and education.

of course i would only do this if the calf is calm, especially at this point.

i would probably listen to chambero on his pasterns.  puffy pasterns just bother me for some reason.

 

[Sambosu]

I know the calf and my daughter aren't on the same page yet. This past week is the first time we have shown him since September. My daughter hasn't worked a stick on him much at all the past couple of months. When she works on him she usually just works his hair. She has been focusing on her heifer more since she has been showing her on a regular basis. She is more motivated to work on him now since she knows a couple shows are coming up. The funny thing is my daughter wasn't wanting a steer for the 2015 OYE but after this past weekend, she said she wouldn't mind having another steer.

 

[vc]

We always made them set up, and stand prior to ending their day, even if the were just brought in blown out and then turned loose again. It is amazing how fast they learn to cooperate, the longer it takes for them to do what you want the longer it is before they get loose. They learn to walk right into the their stance with a little time, made it easier in the ring for both the kids and the calves. At first it may take 10 to 15 minutes but after a few weeks it can be as quick as just stopping them. My youngest could take the halter off and walk around them as long as he kept working the stick on them, his secret was finding the spot they liked, each calf had a spot that worked best, for some the brisket others the chest each calf was different. Finding the right spot can change the animals whole attitude though. When the calf is relaxed the kids follow suite it seems (and vice versa).
I really like the look of the calf, good luck to your daughter.

 

[Tallcool1]

Tallcool1 and chambero, thanks for replying and positive comments. The reason I said 1250 is I have been told that the worse thing we could do is turn him into a sloppy fat steer. He has a really nice finish on him now, so I am trying to push him hard and just let him cruise right now. Currently he isn't on a finisher and gets plenty of hay. Just trying to do what I can to ensure he keeps growing. Keeping track of his daily gain by weighing him every 2 weeks. With your experience with Heat Wave's Tallcool1 and chambero, do they normally continue to grow during their last 105-200lbs?

He PROBABLY won't grow any taller, but he will darn sure get thicker with his last 150-200 pounds (which is why you stood 3rd to a couple steers that had a couple hundred pounds on him). 

I agree that you don't want to feed him to the point that he has a basketball for a brisket, but you want him fat for sure!  I can't tell how tall he is because I don't know how tall your daughter is and I don't know how big the blocking chute behind him is.  He appears to be fairly tall, (or not short for sure) and with that I would say he can handle the weight without getting sloppy.

As far as the pastern conversation, it isn't an issue.  The steer is not fit in the picture...it was Blow and Go.  Your helpers/fitters would have fixed that in about 10 seconds if the steer has been fit.  What is giving the appearance of puffiness is actually just hair that is too short and coarse to stand up, and too long to lay down. 

Short pasterns, or lack of flex are indicators of potential movement problems.  The pasterns themselves are not an issue at all......if the steer can move.  You have to be realistic and use common sense when you are evaluating structure on a STEER.  You (all of us) have seen steers with perfect structure on the ground that can't come within 10" of filling their tracks.  The problem is that they can't move, not their pastern structure.  You (all of us) have seen steers with almost NO flex that can move just fine and fill their tracks.  Your steer is somewhere in between, and the movement is way more important than the pastern...especially if you can keep that hair growing!

 

[knabe]

We always made them set up, and stand prior to ending their day, even if the were just brought in blown out and then turned loose again. It is amazing how fast they learn to cooperate, the longer it takes for them to do what you want the longer it is before they get loose.

best clear, concise advice in a while.