The sure sign of summer coming to an end is the County Fair. Jeslyn once again participated in the Market Animal Beef Project. This year she raised her very own steer! His name was SOB! And it fit him to
a T! In the end, everything worked out and as usual, Jeslyn was really sad to let him go.
The project started the end of February when they weigh-in the steers for their project. From that point on Jeslyn usually fed him on weekends and evenings, taking over all feedings once school got out. It is always best to feed with a buddy, and have an alternate just in case something happens to the main steer. The alternate was Baldy! He was a very gentle steer, but got a late start. SOB was coming along nicely and it seemed like it was going to be a relatively easy year until it wasn't! There was a little incident out in the pen where we keep the steers. SOB got pinched in between 2 panels. In the next pen is Terry's Clydesdale Stallion Wally, whom I am sure tormented him while he was stuck. This in turn caused SOB to take a turn for the worse. His whole front end was swollen and he was sore to move or do anything. It also caused him to have trust issues. Before the incident he led perfectly and after he would NOT move, not even an inch! This caused quite a bit of frustration for Jeslyn. At this point she decided she needed to bring the baldy along, even if he did have a late start. Instead of working with 1 steer daily, she now had 2 1/2...SOB was so stubborn he was more work than 1!
Through it all, Jeslyn was reminded daily that nothing in life ever comes easy! And to become successful takes a lot of hard work and determination. (Hindsight this was a huge turning point in Jeslyn's attitude.)
It was a rough summer and a lot of work. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to show SOB and knew she could the Baldy, but also knew he wasn't quite finished. Preparing your mind to do the very est you can with less than ideal circumstances is a difficult thing. Jeslyn has always placed in the top 3. This was her goal this year. We knew she could do it if she put her mind to it, but it would take a lot of work.
We arrived at the fair not knowing
which steer she was going to show. We weren't positive that SOB was
going to cooperate and we also knew that Baldy wasn't quite finished. We
left the decision up to Jeslyn and she decided to enter both of them.
Then she had at least 2 chances at winning.
The 2 chances came to
a halt as soon as weigh-in was over and they put both her steers in the
same class weight! Now they were competing against one another. It was
decided that she needed to spend the most time in the ring with the big
steer SOB, since he had the best chance at winning the quality show.
Jeslyn was very nervous about this but accepted the task like a true
pro.
All was well until all of a sudden the steer behind her jumped up on SOB and started to ride him. She handled it very well, but wasn't given anytime to compose herself or SOB. She didn't end up placing very well in the Showmanship. She did however, have more confidence with SOB than she had before. If he ever had a reason to act up and run away, it was then.
Jeslyn had to recruit someone to show the Baldy, since she would be showing SOB. She asked Harris Mickelson. He did a very nice job for her! The Baldy looked good, he just needed a bit more time to be finished. It was obvious the judge liked him the best, but this was a market show... the steer needed to be ready for market that day.
Jeslyn easily swept her class with the 1st place!
She competed for Grand and Reserve against all the Jorgensen's but one!
The competition for Grand and Reserve was intense. All the competitors but one were of the Jorgensen Family!
SOB was spot on! Jeslyn did a very good job at showing him to look his very best. The judge had a hard time making a decision. It was intense!
In the end, SOB was the Reserve Champion. We all were ecstatic! We couldn't have asked for a better outcome with how difficult the season was. The hard work definitely paid off.
The next day, Jeslyn had to walk SOB through the auction as Lot 2. He looked amazing! He brought a good chunk of change, $4,100. Kiewit purchased her steer! All together with the boosts, she received over $5,000!
Way to go Jes!!!!
Jeslyn finally caught the "showing is life" bug, and can't wait to get started on her steer for next year!
