Posted by Buckeye30
on 10/27/2008, 5:46 pm, in reply to "market heifer shows at county fairs"
24.165.101.229
I live in Clinton County (Wilmington, Oh) and my neice had Champion Market Heifer and went on to win Grand Champion Overall Market Beef. Not sure if you realize it or not, but your brother and my neice are the first EVER to win Grand and Reserve Grand Overall with a market heifer at ANY show in Ohio. I am writing a article about it for the Cattlemen's association magazine and would like to include you guys. Please email me at chris@amrecords.net so i can get your name, county, etc.
Even though we were sad to see her go, we knew that the Grand and Reserve Grand Champion animals are required to go to slaughter. That is a rule for all county fairs in Ohio and has been for over 10 years now. Plus, market heifers are being shown as market heifers for a reason....they are usually heavier muscled, for a lack of a better term, more masculine (steer look) than what you look for in a female to be kept for breeding. Too much muscle leads to calving problems.
You said yourself, you showed her as a market heifer because you didn't think she would do as well in the breeding class and that she had a market heifer look to her. Thats because she was a market heifer. So many people that take these market heifers back home and try to breek them end up with calving problems.
As much as it may suck, I'm sorry to say that no matter how many letters you write or to who, that rule will never be changed. The champions have to go to slaughter because in addition to the urine tests, they inspect the carcasses for evidence of tampering.
Lifting that rule would make very easy for someone to do "some work" on an animal and buy it back through the sale making sure the animal doesn't go to slaughter to insure not getting caught.
Later!
--Previous Message--
: Our county fair just ended yesterday. We had
: Champion Market Heifer and she then went on
: to win Reserve Grand Champion Market Beef.
: The sad thing is we wanted to bring her home
: to breed and put her out in the herd but as
: a state rule, the Grand/Reserve Grand have
: to go to slaughter . Trust me, even though
: she was my brother's heifer, I'm too old to
: show, it was a sad day . Now, what I want to
: know is, first of all, what does everyone
: else's county fair do with the Grand and
: Reserve Grand market animals? Also, does
: anyone know who I could write to in the
: State to maybe get this rule changed? I live
: in Ohio. Thanks so much!
:
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