Here is my 2 cents on why no rules out there are about what happens at the show is gonna amount to a hill of beans over which steer, heifer, goat, pig, or whatever other animal wins the show. It is because YOU CANT WIN A SHOW AT THE SHOW. That's right, you win the show during the months leading up to a show at home. That's why making them slick didnt change who was winning, because regardless of who wins haired or slick, the work has to be put in at home and those families or their employees were getting the work done months before the show.
Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but the above would be a bunch of hog wash. Perhaps there was a time when you could out work someone. It's no different than saying a football team will be better because they work harder in the weight room. EVERYONE who is able to compete, works hard in the weight room. You have to be able to do that just to stay on the field. Same with show calves. Just to COMPETE you have to do your homework. For some reason you assume that someone who wins worked harder than someone who didn't. I HATE to hear a judge say during showmanship that a kid needs to do his homework and get the calf to behave or set up better. That guy doesn't have the first clue to what that kid does at home. Maybe the heifer is coming into heat, maybe something unusual to him has him spooked, maybe he don't like the judges Old Spice. Why not just say the kids calf didn't behave for him today rather than accuse the kids of being lazy? But I digress.
The point is EVERYONE who is a serious competitor does the homework. There are no secrets anymore. If you don't think these people who buy $30,000 steers do their home work or know how to feed one, your head is in the sand. I asked a guy $2500 for a calf once and he told me it was too much. His bunch would just buy a cheap one and "beat the rest with a feed bucket." OOOOOOO K. I got news for him. There are a million other people out there with a feed bucket. You can't make chicken salad out of chicken pookie. There might have been a time when you knew something other people didn't know, when kids weren't as competitive as they are today when that would work. But today, if you don't know how to take care of one or how to feed one its because you are just starting or it's your own fault. EVERYONE that has a chance at all does their homework.
Lets get back to the point of the original post. The specific rule that I mentioned allowed the immediate family to help with the calf. Take two steers that arrive on the fairgrounds as an equals. One is shown by a ten year old who's parents include a nurse and a guy who sells..................ice to Eskimos. The other steer is owned by an 18 year old who's parents sell club calves as their profession. Who is going to win? You know the 10 year old doesn't stand a chance. My point is that it is the fault of the people who made the rules that this is true, not the fact that one family are professional cattlemen. The point is that although the first family may have done everything right just and worked just as hard as the professional cattle family, they don't have the chance to have their child rewarded DUE TO THE RULES set up by "Do Gooders" who are trying to make it fair. If they allowed whom ever the family wanted to fit the calf so it could be presented the best it could possibly be, THEN it would be fair whether the family CHOSE to or not.
And that is NOT why slick steers in TX are won by the same families. What work is there for a kid to a slick calf? Clean the stall, throw some feed in a trough and make sure it has water? You have to look at it and feed it correctly? It's not rocket surgery, no one has a patent on that. It's because the same people who are willing to buy the best animals always would no matter if they had hair or not. And because they buy them from the same guys that have the right connections to get it done. Doesn't change a thing. Just takes the "homework" out of the project for the kids and FOR ME that is the most important part.
I am going to tell you this, a professional fit job has never made the difference in any animal winning or losing the show.
I am nominating this for the most asinine statement ever made on steer planet.If its not important, tell me why Sullivans are wealthy from the sale of show supplys? Have they all DUPED us? Can we just bring one in any old way and compete? Why was Kirk Stierwalt able to make a profession from fitting cattle. Why does he always say "There is fitting to show and then there is fitting to win?" Maybe you could run the statement by him that fitting never won a show. I sincerely think the story of your own experience is very admirable. I really do. And I have zero problem with anyone who wants to do it that way, thinks that's important. However, FORCING someone else to do that because you either can't afford to hire someone or think you shouldn't isn't right. You said it wasn't the fit job that got you beat, it was the quality of the animal. So lets say you were 12 and you had the steer that won at Fort Worth last year. Do you think it would have won if YOU had glued it? Do you think there is a reason that Travis fit that steer instead of the boy who owned it and led it in? What would that reason be? You think it's just because he likes the smell of adhesive in the morning? It makes a difference. Your dang right it does. And if hiring a pro isn't an option for some, lets even say most, does that mean that coolers and with huge electric bills should be outlawed as well? What about these aluminum chutes that cost more than a steel chute? How far are you gonna take it? That all do not have the same shouldn't be a deciding factor.
If it did then the judge wasn't worth the space he was taking up because he wasn't evaluating cattle, he was playing politics of some sort and it didn't matter how good the calf under the hair was anyway. People cheat at everything, rules and laws never stopped them, so you cant make rules to make things fair, its sad but true.
Now on that note you all know that I am a staunch supporter that at any show where a kid has to be a 4-H or FFA member then that animal was supposed to be a project and as it is a project then that child should be expected to learn something. I used to be a fan of those shows requiring kids to turn in a project book at the show, but that was years ago when I was young and naive before I was old enough to realize that all the other kids' moms were doing their record books for them. I was at a show one time that I believe it was the 4-H show, before the kids were ell for premiums or to make sale they had to go through an interview that asked questions about their project. I liked that idea, but then I realized that at bigger shows it would be a logistical nightmare to interview all those kids. So there really is no perfect plan, but everyone is going to complain until their version of perfect exists.
Now just a few sidenotes, hiring a fitter isn't always a choice a family can make. Some families want their kids to have the experience but just cant afford the fitters, etc. Funny thing is those people usually have everything going against them yet they work their tails off to be in the lower end of the class, and they are just happy to be there. As far as kids fitting their own, yes its possible, I grew up with a single mother on a teachers salary who never received child support and lost everything in the divorce. I was one of those kids just happy to be there, I never had a pro fitter, I was lucky enough to have some people close to me that were fairly good with what they did. They helped me the first couple years to get my calves clipped a few days before I left for a show, but after that I was own my own. I was lucky enough to have a few small time breeders that had fairly decent cattle that started either selling to me cheap or just letting me take calves to show. I never once had any outside help at a show except for maybe Louivilles a few times when I went with a group and we helped each other, but even at our state shows, I did it all myself. My mom filing feed pans or water buckets or holding stuff for me was about the extent of the help that I had. Now the most I ever had at a show was 2 or 3, mainly because I couldnt afford any more, but also because I knew I couldnt handle anymore by myself. And you know what I got it all done, my cattle were always ready by the time they needed to be in the ring, it was never what many of you would consider a "pro"job, but they looked good and I never once got beat because the fit job wasnt good enough. Now I never won any major shows, but I did move to the top of some classes at some good sized shows, won some classes at our state shows, middle of classes at Louisville. But that was honestly the most I could of ever hoped for from those calves. So it is doable, and not hiring a pro is not choice, sometimes it isnt an option. And you know what looking back I am glad it wasnt an option for me, because I learned SO much having to do it myself. That is my reward, because I can look at most of the folks my age that I showed against that got the banner/buckle type rewards and know that they didnt walk away with half the knowledge or abilility that I did.
Again, I sincerely admire your experience. It's awesome that you were able to do well alone and take pride in that. But don't make everyone else. And I am sure you are correct that you didn't lose because of a fitter. But if you had animals that were equal to those that won and you had competed against one presented better then indeed you would have lost because of a better fitter. It shouldn't matter that it isn't an option for everyone. Does "from each according to their ability, to each according to his need" sound familiar to you? You are right that there are people who would show cattle for ever no matter the place they come in, they would play a sport and practice every day even if they had to sit on the bench the whole time. There are those that would play the tuba endlessly to sit in he last chair. But I propose that they are in the minority. And if your goal is for this project to grow and continue then you need to make it as easy as you can for as many as can to have success by what ever definition that defines it. You certainly always seem like a benevolent person. If you were at a show and a family that you knew was new, less experienced, you'd help them learn. However if you showed under the rule that I described, you couldn't. And so those people stay at the bottom because it is difficult and time consuming to learn without help. And I propose that MOST kids, if not successful in some measure at what ever they undertake, will seek another activity until they find something they can have success at. I am sure you like me see all the time families showing cattle that would be similar in context to a kid playing baseball in blue jeans when everyone else has a uniform. They need to be helped and taught. Not placed all alone and left to fend for themselves by some rule that is designed to make it "fair for all."
And the part about your reward and the pride you have that you did it all on your own and have so much more knowledge and ability than someone who had the banner/buckle as their reward.....that same logic says that I might not have gotten that job, but I didn't hire a professional resume writer OR an interview coach. By golly I didn't get it all by myself. I might not have gotten that scholarship, but dang if I am going to a tutor to get help get my grades up, I'm gonna not get it all by myself. and I might not have gotten into that school I wanted to, but by golly I didn't take a course to help me prepare for the MCAT, I flubbed that bad boy all on my own! You can take all of that pride and knowledge and ability along with a dollar down to the store on the corner and buy a Coke. It should be up to the parent what "lesson" you want the kid to learn at the fair. Not the government telling them they know what is best for them. Personally I like the one that says" In life there will always be someone wealthier than you, smarter than you, better looking than you, someone physically able to work harder than you. You will have to compete with them every day of your life. Now would be a good time to do learn how to do it. Or you could move to FL and participate in the state steer show where everything is equal, rodeo stock don't need fitting and wouldn't grow hair if you put them in the freezer.
And a final thought in this long diatribe. LOL. I agree that making the shows slick here in Texas slick or blow and go didnt accomplish the intentions of evening the playing field, but for other reasons I think its the best decision some shows ever made. Have you ever been in the barns at Houston during the steer and heifer shows? Ever noticed how they are piled on top of each other like sardines? Now imagine what it would be like if we had to get chutes in there, or even have enough space to move around one and fit without a chute. Not to mention the divas who always think they are more important and should be entitled to twice as much space as everyone else. Like I said slick or full fit dont really matter to me, I do like workiing hair on one. But shows like Houston would be a train wreck if you opened it up and let people start trying to fit in there.
