I took a trip to Houston yesterday to watch the majority of the American breed steers and one calf we bred. Yeah, I’m a sentimental little dope. As I watched that steer go to the floor truck (he was 13th out of 45 but they only sold 11) I had some disturbingly gay montage going in my head starting from the moment I vividly remember slapping his mother on the hip and telling her to have a steer when I AI’d her.
Randy Daniel Judges Market Steers Like You Eat Them
Crazy right?
I would like to send a big thank you to Mr. Daniel for actually emphasizing mass and finish in his reasons. Yes, cattle had to be structurally correct and move to do well but he acted like he realized the junior heifer show is next week.
He also didn't go overboard on mass. If he thought a steer was pushing 1,400 it was going to be tough to make the sale (see the first paragraph).
Randy Daniel Went Black
Yeah, about that whole slick shear color bias, it doesn’t really apply to Randy Daniel.
That picture was from the medium weight ABC class. It’s all of the steers he pulled out of the lineup to make the cut up to that point. If you saw the steers still along the rail about half of them would be colored and painted steers. If I recall correctly that blatant Charolais cream colored ABC in the bottom right ended up 4th.
Not only did he not shy away from using black steers, he used them heavily. I missed the AOB classes (where he did use colored cattle heavily) but in general during the ABCs, there were more black steers being used than I've seen since the hair came off in the late 90s.
Comparing Houston to San Antonio
Let’s imagine a sceneario where you and I both breed and show two steers.
You flush 602 to Heat Wave multiple times and select the best calf from all of the flushes. You put the steer on the best feed available and in a cool room every day. You have the best fitters around groom the calf on show day. Your steer sets up perfectly in the ring at every stop.
I go to a South Texas sale barn and find the best tiger striped steer I can find. I put the calf on above average pasture, perhaps Tifton 85, with no additional feed, mineral, or supplements. I wash the steer only once, the day of the show. He gets away from me in the ring while we’re showing.
You are the Houston stock show, I am San Antonio.