Well since my last post another Iowa State Fair Hereford Show has come and gone. This year the weather was better then normal and the cattle were extremely exceptional. Last year the judge kind of beat around the cattle that were over conditioned and this year it seemed most of the exhibitors had taken note. The cattle were much fresher in their appearance and that is a good thing to see. I took a Polled heifer and a Horned bull to the show and they didn’t look half bad. The heifer had some bloating issues the week before the show and wouldn’t you know it on show day… the air was back. We got the bloat taken care of but there was no way to make her full enough, those are the breaks I guess. She still got second in class and I received more compliments on how she looked this year then I did last year when she was the Reserve Grand Champion. I guess you don’t have to win to receive praise. The Horned bull was my big challenge. We had to walk from the new stalling barn down to the showing pavilion right past the arriving 4H exhibitors. This was my bulls first time off the farm and it got a little hairy at times but in the end all was well and he walked out of the ring with a light purple banner hanging from his horn.
This was by far one of the best state fairs that I have attended and it seems people could recognize all of the hard work that was put in. Now it is back to the real world and mowing pastures and rotating pastures. The next big stop for JJB Cattle Company will be the Iowa Beef Expo in February and even though this is a ways off the preparation has of course already begun. I will be breaking the heifers that I hope to take to the Expo this weekend and hopefully have their first pictures to show you sometime in the next two weeks.
I will leave you with a video of the cows getting turned out into the creek pasture. You might also notice a little June calf running out with them… There is sure to be more on that little guy later.
