Cattle.com

Blog Archive July 2014

Top Web Sale Lots Week of 7/21/2014

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $215 - Semen sired by SVF Steel Force S701
  2. $210 - Semen sired by Monopoly
  3. $210 - Semen sired by Monopoly
  4. $200 - Semen sired by GCC Total Recall 806T
  5. $200 - Semen sired by SVF Steel Force S701
  6. $200 - Semen sired by GCC Total Recall 806T
  7. $200 - Semen sired by SVF Steel Force S701
  8. $200 - Semen sired by SVF Steel Force S701
  9. $200 - Semen sired by GCC Total Recall 806T
  10. $200 - Semen sired by Monopoly


Breed Coloring Pages - Santa Gertrudis

Yes Texas jackpot kids, at one time there was a real breed called Santa Gertrudis.  They weren't just the bigger boned and sloppier made of the mongrelized ABCs either.  They were an actual cross meant for actual beef production.




Joelynn Rathmann & Jackpot Photography

Have you taken a moment to look at the work Joelyn Rathmann is doing at the Texas jackpots?

Backdrop photos are something where the photographer is at the mercy of the facility they are in and the quality of the lighting.  What’s great about the work she’s doing is the part where she gets up off her rear while there aren’t any backdrop photos and gets killer ring shots…


I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say it would make sense to find out where she's shooting just to get a good picture of your calf.

Secondly…

If you run a photography service and you are depending on a web interface that was built 10+ years ago (or just looks like it was), you need to look at SmugMug and the other similar sites that handle all of it for you.  It’s cheap and, it straight up works, and it lets you focus on what you should be focusing on, taking great photographs.

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Zilmax Articles from the Weekend

I hate that those additive alert scum bags get any sort of attention on this but if two grumpy old men that hate the world and lie about children is where you have to go to get an opposing view, that says something about the lack of the opposing view.



SEOUL, July 16 (Reuters) - South Korea has delayed a move to allow certain levels of the animal feed additive zilpaterol in beef to August from mid-July as it finalises the policy, a food ministry official said on Wednesday.


This story is more important than anything happening in Lincoln.  Temple Grandin’s speech at the NCBA wasn’t what caused Zilmax to be pulled from the market.  She was just the spark that allowed Tyson and the rest of the packers, who have legitimate concerns over tenderness, to institute a ban.  The real reason though is the international markets which prohibited its use because luddite attitudes have taken the place of science in many place of the world.

I don’t think it really matters what happens here, unless the international markets start allowing it again the big packers aren’t going to accept it.



US researchers, who concluded that controversial cattle feed additive, Zilmax, doesn’t have a detrimental effect on cattle health or well-being, said their study is robust despite criticism this week that it was too narrow in terms of scale.


The most robust article regarding the study outside the articles on the UNL site itself.  The researchers defend their study size and funding.




Top Web Sale Lots Week of 7/14/2014

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $215 - Semen sired by SVF Steel Force S701
  2. $210 - Semen sired by Monopoly
  3. $210 - Semen sired by Monopoly
  4. $200 - Semen sired by GCC Total Recall 806T
  5. $200 - Semen sired by SVF Steel Force S701
  6. $200 - Semen sired by GCC Total Recall 806T
  7. $200 - Semen sired by Monopoly
  8. $200 - Semen sired by GCC Total Recall 806T
  9. $200 - Semen sired by Monopoly
  10. $200 - Semen sired by SVF Steel Force S701


Ol'Suzy

What ever happened to that lady (term used liberally) in Nebraska that was slanderously calling kids cheaters, obviously buying Facebook likes from Asian teenagers, and actually put out a press release that falsely implied I hacked her Facebook account because she doesn’t know how Facebook works?

She’s still at it.

At least this time she’s targeting adults who did nothing to deserve it instead of kids.  Hey, it’s progress.

They put out a press release yesterday saying they don’t believe the UNL study that came out this week that says Zilmax has no noticeable detrimental effect on cattle health or well-being.

She’s still up to her PR hack ways too…


"We know that the pharmaceutical industry has a history of funding university Ag research. We were not able to confirm if that is the case here," said **** ******** *****'s Gerald Timmerman. Lead UNL researcher Ty Schmidt could not be reached for comment.


Talk about slinging **** at the wall with no proof whatsoever.  She’s good at that crap, if you can call doing that being good a something.  She just implied that Ty Schmidt is bought and paid for by the pharmaceutical industry while simultaneously stating that they have absolutely no proof he is.

I sort of doubt Dr. Schmidt is avoiding her the way she ran away from answering any of my calls last year.

Of course, nothing should be surprising when a woman is willing to lie about children because two old men pay her to.

Hey Suzy, Gerald, and Harvey I'd still love to do an interview with you.


Cattle Breed Coloring Pages - Taco Meat



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Judge Fist Bumps

I’m on the record as being very anti-shake the judges hand.  It slows shows down and there’s really no need for it.  You aren’t saying hi to the judge, you aren’t introducing yourself, and you’re not saying goodbye.  Your gratitude is implied by your attentiveness in the ring and could just as easily be expressed by a simple nod of the head or ‘tipping your hat’ with your show stick on the way out (THAT should become a thing).

It’s not something that is expected, the only reason it is so common is somebody wanted to look more gracious than somebody else and then a hundred other people followed suit.

If you or your kids are going to continue to insist it, consider doing what I saw judges do this past weekend, do a fist bump.

Why not?

It’s not ghetto and thuggish.

It’s quick, there’s no need to switch the lead from your right hand to left.

There’s no awkward left handed hand shake.

The judge can just stick his hand out for the kid to bump or high five without having to take his eyes of the animal he is talking about.

Please, make this a thing.


Griping to Event Sponors

In any given year, I spend about $5-6,000 sponsoring various events and donating money to clubs and/or kids involved in agriculture.  That includes auctions, judging contests, kids going on trips, clinics, etc.

I do it because I realize that my kids will potentially be taking up the resources of quite a few junior shows (or whatever they decide to get involved in) over the next 15 years and I’m trying to do what I can to ‘bank’ some volunteer time and money to in some way cover what we’ll be taking back.  

I'm not trying to toot my own horn, I’m trying to emphasize the fact that people donate money to shows for a lot reasons other than advertising.  Frankly, from a strictly ROI viewpoint, there are a lot better places to put your marketing budget than junior livestock shows.  The people who give to junior livestock shows do it because they believe in it.

I don’t donate money to political causes but some folks don’t agree with some of the decisions or management of the organizations/events I’ve given to.  Some of them, only a handful, go so far as to contact me and “make sure I know” what’s wrong and how being associated with something that they are upset with reflects poorly on myself and other sponsors.

Let’s be clear on something.

If, instead of going to the event itself, you go after the sponsors of a junior event because you aren't happy with the management of that event, there’s something we all need you to understand...

You’re a dick.

That’s all for today.

Have a good one.


Top Web Sale Lots Week of 7/7/2014

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $10,501 - Bred Heifer sired by Walks Alone
  2. $10,000 - Bred Heifer sired by Monopoly
  3. $6,250 - Bred Heifer sired by Walks Alone
  4. $6,025 - Bred Heifer sired by Heat Wave
  5. $5,500 - Bred Cow sired by Irish Whiskey
  6. $4,250 - Bred Heifer sired by Irish Whiskey son
  7. $3,751 - Bred Heifer sired by Red Dirt
  8. $3,500 - Bred Heifer sired by Titanium
  9. $3,250 - Bred Heifer sired by Monopoly
  10. $2,250 - Bred Heifer sired by Red Dirt


Point Systems of Various Species

Speaking of dealing with all sorts of species, I’ve also had the opportunity to model the point systems for a wide variety of them.  This week we launched a rabbit breeding game (laugh if you will, it's been the most successful first week of any site I've launched since 2003) and there was a different point system for that as well.

How do they compare to each other?

Dogs - Champions

To ‘champion’ a dog or bitch (it’s not a bad word, I even use it around our pastor) you have to earn 15 points in shows with a maximum of 5 points in any one show.  The way you earn those points is a tad bit complicated but it boils down to winning your sex.  The amount of points you earn for doing that depends on how many dogs were entered, the breed, and where you were showing.  Among the 15 points, at least two of the shows have to be ‘majors’ where you earn at least 3 points.

Different regions have different entry requirements for different breeds based on the popularity of that breed in the region.  Showing a dog in a region where that breed is popular will require more entries to earn 3 points than showing that same dog in a region where the breed is virtually non-existent.

Dogs – National Rankings

The most straightforward method of calculating points for any of the species.  Dogs are ranked by how many other dogs they defeated.  The top dogs in the nation at the end of the year earn a spot at Westminster.

If you think people spend a bunch of money on steers, just look at dogs.  It’s not the slightest bit uncommon for somebody to spend six-figures over the course of a year to campaign a dog to win a breed at Westminster.  Imagine a show cattle world where it is acceptable to run ads in industry publications touting the quality of your still showing steer (well, actually, it kind of IS starting to happen).  That’s not only acceptable in the dog show world, it’s almost a requirement for the top end dogs.

It falls victim to a similar ‘hauling contest’ that other species do.

Cattle, Pigs, Sheep, and Goats

There are numerous point ranking systems for each of the species but they’re relatively small and specialized in comparison to other types of animals.

The most popular one, and I’m not just saying this because I’m in Texas, still has to be the TJLA which is detailed here…


It’s a time tested system that has worked for 35-years.  The primary complaint about it would probably be the ‘hauling contest’ nature of it.  There’s not enough differentiation in points to significantly reward winning and it makes sure that how much diesel you burn is almost as important as having the top animal.

Horses

My gosh is it complicated.  Different point systems for different events and different point systems for different breeds within the same event.  Some events care only about earnings, some earn points based on how many events won, some are just how many animals you have beaten, etc.  There’s nothing at all uniform about it and going into detail on each one would triple the length of this blog post.

Cats

You earn winners ribbons for winning a class and once you have 6 ribbons your cat is a champion.  Once your cat is a champion you start earning points toward a grand championship which requires 200 points.

There’s also another point system for spayed and neutered cats that runs parallel to the championship system that is called the premiership.

Rabbits

I actually like this one the best.  The top five rabbits in a class earn points based on how many were entered in the class.  A rabbit earns 6 times the amount of entries for first, 4 times the amount of entries for second, 3 times the amount of entries for 3rd, etc.  It prevents the hauling contest nature of Texas jackpot points.

Take an example of two animals as an example.

Animal 1 – Places 1st of 10 in two shows.
Animal 2 – Places 6th of 10 in five shows.

In the rabbit system, Animal 1 would earn 120 points (10 entries * 6 * 2 shows) and Animal 2 would earn nothing.

In the TJLA system, Animal 1 would earn 90 points (45 points * 2 shows) and Animal 2 would earn 100 points (20 points * 5 shows).

I don’t think anybody would take five 6th place finishes in a class of ten over two wins in the same size of classes.  It’s not a problem (if it even is a problem) unique to the TJLA, it happens in dogs as well.


Cattle Coloring Pages - Holstein




Excellent Bucking Bull Industry Article

Over the past ten years I've dealt with rabbit, dog, cat, pig, sheep, cattle, horse, and goat breeders while creating online games that attempt to simulate their various industries.  Without fail, there are always a few jerks who think their way is the only way something should be done if it is going to be realistic, which ironically is the exact opposite of the way the other jerk thinks that it works in real life.

I’ve only shut down one online game because of it though.  It was a game where the users bred and managed virtual bucking bulls.

I didn’t shut it down because it didn’t make money.  I shut it down because there were too many real life bucking bull guys on there that carried the mentality of that industry into the game.  The machismo and “the only way to get my point across is by being the biggest a-hole” attitude just wasn’t worth it from a customer service standpoint.

This article goes into a great detail of depth regarding how an offshoot of that attitude, the subset of breeders that think the only thing that matters is breeding bulls that will make it onto TV, is hurting the entire industry…


Waco and Belton

I took advantage of the opportunity to stop by both the Belt Buckle and the Battle of the Cattle yesterday.  Personally, I think it’s pretty darn cool that there are two huge prospect shows within 45-minutes of each other on 4th of July weekend.

The long and short of it is the Bonanza was still the Bonanza.  Rumors of fewer than 100 head showing up weren’t true and there was no shortage of good ones.

Based on just an hour of walking around the barn in Belton and talking to folks, the Battle of the Cattle was a big success.  All a person needed to do is look around the ring and see the faces helping out to realize there’s no way it won’t work out.  The attitude of people in general was one of the most positive I’ve seen at a show in quite some time.  They weren’t just going through the motions, it did feel different.  I think that’s going to be the biggest challenge to jackpots scheduled for BOTC weekends going forward.

To be clear, having that option is a good thing and any spite or anger over a challenge to tradition is misplaced.  The men, women, and children at the BOTC are the same folks that are at the sanctioned shows any other weekend.  If somebody feels challenged by its existence, taking a "you're with us or against us" approach would not only be immature but counterproductive.

It’s not a competition but the most common subject brought up while I stopped and annoyed people was “how many did they have over there?”

The actual numbers are different than the rumors.  Based on the posted class sheets…


Battle of the Cattle Breed Belt Buckle Prospect Show Belt Buckle Progress Show
5 Brahman 10 14
6 Brangus 10
17 Gert 9
Simbrah 9
13 ABC 13
17 Angus 7 10
Red Angus 5
14 Hereford 7
Polled Hereford 4
Mini Hereford 5
16 Shorthorn 14
Smoke - 40

Colored - 36

Black - 41
Charolais 20 21
Chianina 19
Limousin 16
Maine-Anjou 22
Simmental 27
AOB 32
       
205 Total 274


Top Web Sale Lots Week of 6/30/2014

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $215 - Semen sired by SVF Steel Force S701
  2. $210 - Semen sired by Monopoly
  3. $210 - Semen sired by Monopoly
  4. $200 - Semen sired by GCC Total Recall 806T
  5. $200 - Semen sired by SVF Steel Force S701
  6. $200 - Semen sired by GCC Total Recall 806T
  7. $200 - Semen sired by SVF Steel Force S701
  8. $200 - Semen sired by SVF Steel Force S701
  9. $200 - Semen sired by GCC Total Recall 806T
  10. $200 - Semen sired by Monopoly

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Breed Coloring Pages - Brahman

The first version of the Brahman coloring page came out a bit too 1985ish as far as type.  I like this one much better.


I’m pretty sure some folks can identify the bull that was the inspiration for this version. 


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