FORT WORTH -- And the winner is ...
The Stock Show is in its home stretch, heading toward its largest and most glamorous event: the Junior Steer Show.The enormous field of bovines will be narrowed to a single steer, which will earn the title of grand champion of the Stock Show and the accompanying big payoff in Saturday's Sale of Champions.This competition, and the Junior Barrow and Junior Wether Lamb shows, are what the Stock Show is all about -- training the next generation of livestock professionals.So, to prepare for the high-stakes excitement of the Stock Show's final three days, here are five things you need to know about the Junior Steer Show.Big numbers: The Junior Steer Show draws more entries than any other event. About 2,800 Texas youngsters ages 8 to 18 who are active with their local 4-H and FAA chapters have signed up for the competition, which is today and Friday.Big job: Competitors work incredibly hard to prepare their cattle for showing. Exhibitors must have acquired their steers before July 1. Since then, most of them have spent part of every day, including a lot of early mornings, with their animals.For most of the steers, this will be their final show. While some go on to other competitions, the majority will be auctioned Saturday or sold for the "floor price" -- a per-pound figure set by the Stock Show. And since these young people have spent so much time with these steers, many of which have names, that can bring some big emotions when steer and exhibitor have to part ways.Big hair: The Stock Show is known as a "hair show," meaning that a premium is placed on steers with thick, lustrous coats. Other major shows require competitors to trim the hair on their stock to no more than a quarter of an inch. But the Stock Show carries on a proud Texas tradition of loving big hair, which makes the steers look prettier and larger.Big bucks (for a select few): All the prize-winning steers in the various classes will be auctioned Saturday, as will the champions in the Junior Swine and Sheep shows. The grand champion steer always fetches the highest price. Last year's winner sold for $185,000, for example, and that was not a record. The other champions sell for a fraction of that, but it is still outrageous money for steers that would probably sell for less than $2,000, even in the current, highly inflated cattle market. The floor price for steers not sold in the Sale of Champions is set at $119.60 per hundred pounds this year, which means a 1,000-pound steer will sell for $1,196.Big cattle usually win: Steers first compete in classes defined by breed (Hereford, Angus, Shorthorn, etc.) and size (light, medium and heavy weights). The breed champions then compete for grand and reserve grand champions.All steers must weigh 900 pounds or more to be eligible but, in recent years, the top steer has typically tipped the scales at better than 1,300 pounds. And in every show since 1983, the grand champion steer has been a European crossbred.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
