Last week’s column wuz about funny things I’ve witnessed down through the years as a bystander/photographer at livestock shows. I ran out of column space before I ran out of livestock show chuckles. So, this week’s column will continue on the same subject.
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Most changes in livestock showmanship tactics slowly evolve over time. However, I saw once instance where beef showmanship tactics changed almost in an instant.
It wuz at a huge junior spring livestock show at a major urban state fair facility. It wuz the beef show and there were hundreds of steers and heifers tied up in the barns and in various stages of getting washed, groomed and fitted by their 4-H and FFA owners — and their parents and advisers.
This happened decades ago when the newest fad in vogue for beef fitting and showing wuz to use various dyes and colorings to alter the animals hair coats here and there to supposedly make them more attractive to the beef judge.
The fad had been growing for number of years, in spite of repeated warnings that it wuz unethical. That’s why the powers that be were determined to stop the fad before it got out of hand. So, pre-show, the word had gone out that the coloring practice would stop at this show. Furthermore, entries could be disqualified if coloring wuz used.
Well, when the first beef class of the day lined up to enter the show ring, the line-up wuz greeted by two serious looking inspectors — an Extension agent and an FFA adviser, both burly enough to be football players — who were wearing sparkling white gloves.
They inspected the first beef critter in line by running those white gloves over the critter. When those gloves showed clear signs discoloration, the inspectors disqualified the critter on the spot and sent it back to the barn. Many entries in the first class also failed the color inspection and were DQed.
That’s when panic broke out through the beef barns. Within minutes, the wash racks filled to overcrowding with folks washing out the coloring on their entries. But, then when the exhibitors all tried to dry out their dripping critters with electric hair driers, they quickly blew out all the electrical circuits in the barns. It took quite awhile for the fair’s maintenance staff to restore electrical power in the barns.
That’s why I still can chuckle at the recollection of the next few beef classes in the show entering the show ring with dripping wet hides and no sign of professional fitting.
Eventually, the show returned to normal. Animals got fitted and shown without fake coloring. I think, the dyeing fad pretty much died that day.
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I lived through the next semi-funny happening at a major livestock show. It was the Oklahoma State Junior Livestock Show in Oklahoma City, sometime in the mid to late 1960s. It wuz held in mid-March. The weather wuz warm and springlike for the two days of the show. All the champions had been selected in the beef, sheep and swine shows. All that remained to do wuz to conduct the premium sale at noon the next day.
But, then. Uh, oh! That night a major blizzard descended and howled all across Oklahoma. Temperatures dropped precipitously. Everything got buried with 12-18-inches of snow. Unfortunately, all the show animals in the open-sided barns got pummeled with the blowing snow, but it wuz the hogs that suffered the most. Sadly, some of them smothered or froze in the snow. Many others were frost-bitten or otherwise injured.
Since almost everyone associated with the show wuz still in OKC, the show managers decided to conduct the premium sale anyway. And, that’s when something happened — both funny and compassionate.
Word went out for exhibitors to dress up their deceased or injured hogs and bring them to the sale ring — even if on a stretcher. That happened, and that’s when the generosity of the Oklahoma City business community poured out.
Some hogs entered the sale wearing caps or hats or various funny banners. The deceased hogs were carried in on stretchers covered by a sheet. But, every single hog in the sale brought a huge premium from the generous and sympathetic buyers.
The beef and sheep in the sale also netted their 4-H and FFA owners huge premiums. The end result wuz that a very sad and bad thing, turned out to have a very nice ending.
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I chuckle when I recall an instance when I altered the terminology a beef judge used when describing his placings at a Missouri county fair. I knew that the young judge, a recent college graduate, wuz a great admirer of his college livestock judging team coach — a judge with national renown.
It wuz during the time when beef industry was going through a phase when tall, leggy critters were earning the grand championships. The beef judges I’d watched seemed to struggle to find proper adjectives to describe the tall, lanky winners.
So, to amuse myself, before the beef show started, I struck up a conversation with the young judge. I casually mentioned that I’d seen his college mentor judging a steer show and he’d consistently picked “LOFTY” steers as his champions. That’s all I said.
Then when the show started and the judge prepared to give his reasons for the placings, just as I expected, he said: “I started out with a lofty steer that shows meatiness and ease of movement.” He continued to drop in the word “lofty” for the rest of the show.
I never did tell the young judge what I did. But, it made me chuckle.
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Words of wisdom for this week are: “Why I can’t open any container these days? Plastics must be getting stronger.” Have a good ‘un.
