Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Results: Itasca County Fair

Our hometown fair was held Aug. 18-22 in Grand Rapids, MN. We brought 10 head of registered Red Angus cattle, among other things. Our lone 4-Her, Courtney Johnson, assisted, as did former 4-Her, Marcy McNichols.

Judge for the event was Clint Hathrein from Little Falls, MN. Clint is a Charolais breeder, and a new face to man of our beef exhibitors. It was nice to have someone "new" to our small judging ring.

Here's a re-cap of who did what, what surprised us, and wowed us.

It all got started with the 4-H competition Saturday morning, Aug. 21. Courtney took our young heifer calf, 1001 (whom I've named Divine) out in the prospect breeding heifer class against a stout-made Black Angus heifer from the Ingvaldsons. We wound up winning the class. Whoa... that wasn't expected (though hoped for...).

Then it was the breeding heifer project, where Courtney took out 0914 in a class of five yearling heifers, where she ended up placing first as well.

For the cow-calf class, there was this stout-made April-2010 bull calf at the side of a near-three-year-old Red Angus cow from Ingvaldsons. We knew the competition would be tough for our two-year-old and her heifer calf (Angel and Divine). The judge really appreciated how matched of a pair they were, and ended up placing our pair first.

For overall 4-H project - Courtney's heifer won. In the state fair line-up (though you can only take one entry to the state fair), Courtney placed first with her yearling heifer and third with the cow-calf pair. She then went on to win Senior 4-H Showmanship. After all this, we joked about Courtney being able to get her "ego" into the barn. She had a fantastic day, was extremely humble about it all, and deserved every honor awarded to her.

In the open show, we were a bit more humbled. The bull classes were first and we placed second and third to two nice Mulberry sons from Ingvaldson's. The April-2010 born bull calf they had ended up winning Reserve Champion Overall bull.

But our females surged back, and kept us about even:
Cow, 3 years and over (w/calf): 1st out of 1
Cow, 2 years and under (we/calf): 2st out of 2
Yearling heifers: 0914, 0947, 0929 and 0926* This was a class where dad and I bet Dairy Queen on our placings. Well, I ended up placing dead last - though the judge said my heifer was the prettiest one he had seen all day. She just wasn't as free-moving as the others above her.
Heifer calf: 1st out of 1

The overall Red Angus female honors went to our yearling heifer, 0914. In the overall female drive, it sounds like she would have placed third. As it was, Dan Brown's cow-calf pair was first, followed by a Simmental calf from Pashe's.

We faired well in the group classes, and took Reserve Champion Purebred Cow-Calf pair with our two-year-old pair. That surprised us!

We also ended up with the Reserve Champion Herd (second to Dan Brown's - which was sort of a given since he had Overall Champion bull and female). The judge went to shake dad's hand, saying that it was he who did all the work. When all the animals exited (but mine and dad's), he called him back over to introduce me saying, "It's all her breeding program; I'm just the hired man here." While I don't really agree with dad's analysis, it was nice of him to attribute some of our breeding success. Clint (the judge) told us he really appreciated the uniformity and femininity of our group and really loved the rib our cattle had."

Next up - MN State Fair 4-H weekend. Courtney leaves tomorrow with the heifer, opting for that project since she's taken a cow-calf pair several times to the fair.

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