--We West Texans dominated the hog show, as usual. It was really quite embarrassing for South and East Texas, they didn't stand much of a chance as West Texas took home both Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion, almost all of the Breed Champions, most of the Weight Division Champions, and the majority of the rest of the placings. Out of our school's 14 hogs, 9 were in the money, which was as successful of a stock show week as I've ever been a part of.

--Both of my sisters placed in the money, the older one with a sixth place Hampshire, and the younger one with the champion in the lightweight class of Chester Whites.

--One of my sisters' friends took home Reserve Grand Champion of the show in her first year of showing, at age 9. I don't think she fully grasps the magnitude of what she accomplished (we all dreamed nightly of winning all those trophies, buckles, and banners as kids), and I'm not sure whether she was more excited about winning or getting to see Hilary Duff with her sister and my sister later that evening.

--As usual, Houston is the most efficiently-run stock show in the world. All of the organizers and volunteers get two thumbs up from me, and I'll speak their praises whenever and wherever I get the chance. Some of us were afraid that switching from the sift at Brenham to showing all hogs in Houston might be a bit of a mess in the first attempt, but it turned out absolutely perfect.

--The Breeders Greeters committee did a great job with the set-up and unloading, as there was more than enough help our group with unloading our monstrous amount of tack (two full pickup loads of feed, panels, shavings, show supplies, etc. that required the use of three tractors to haul in). Reliant Center is an absolutely outstanding facility to have a hog show in, and the judges did a great job. Other than the Holiday Inn-Astrodome raping us on room rates (but when the hotel is in the parking lot and is a five minute walk from the barn, that's to be expected), it was a great spring break.

Ba-a-a-a-a-a-a-d ass.

WestTxAg what school represented had the champions.

Its been a long time since I showed. My wife and I have some friends here that want me to help their son get going with a couple of pigs for next year. I have told her to get ready because we are going to west TX and the panhandle to buy pigs.

I think the Ag teacher here wants the kids to by from close by, but if I am going to get back into this we are going to do it right.

What are the best sales. When I was in school we went to Sweetwater/ Rosco, Tahoca, Plainview Albany. even some in OK, ect. What do they sell for these days.

Any information would be appresciated.

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One of my sisters' friends took home Reserve Grand Champion of the show in her first year of showing, at age 9. I don't think she fully grasps the magnitude of what she accomplished (we all dreamed nightly of winning all those trophies, buckles, and banners as kids), and I'm not sure whether she was more excited about winning or getting to see Hilary Duff with her sister and my sister later that evening

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For some reason this still pisses me off. Too many kids are used a puppets so their fathers can live out their childhood fantasies.

woop, you bring up a good point, and one that irritates me all the time. In fact, I'd say it's the most glaring problem with stock shows.

But in this case, that's not true. This family has a couple of young girls and taking care of and showing their pigs is their hobby that they all do together. My comment was directed more at the fact that, as young as she is, she hasn't fully grasped the magnitude of just how prestigious it is to be in the championship drive at the Houston Livestock Show.

At the heart of it, that's what I'm talking about. While that 9 year old who simply isn't old enough to understand what she's doing or be responsible for the success is in the champion drive, an 18 year old who busted her ass on the last project she'll ever have got the gate and is on her way home.

I can't complain too much, a large portion of my business is actually built around catering to the club calf breeders. If you just looked at the prices paid for the top end of those things, you would think they're race horses. It's just sad to see how much money is thrown into those projects now and how little the work and knowledge of the student put into them matters vs when you get down to who wins and who loses.

Of course, that being said, I can't think of anything better for a kid to do with their time even if they'll never get an 'official' reward for it.

Oh, I think you're exactly right. As irritating and frustrating as some aspects of stock showing can be, I wouldn't trade those experiences, both good and bad, for anything else. Whether the end-result was putting the last hog I ever exhibited in the money at Houston my senior year or loading a hog onto the truck for the floor price of 25 cents/pound, those lessons I learned in the hog barn beginning in the third grade and ending my senior year were as valuable, if not more so, than anything else I ever learned in any other school-related activity.

There are a lot of families that pay way too much for their animals, and buy more than they need with the intent of culling down to show the best one. Though that hurts the kid who can only afford to buy one or two animals a year, it's also an early dose of how the real world works. And when that kid with the one hog beats the high-powered, high-dollar hogs, then there's not a better feeling in the world than the feeling that kid has.

[This message has been edited by WestTxAg06 (edited 3/17/2006 10:31p).]

My senior year I placed a Limi steer 4th in Houston. I paid (yes, I paid for him myself) a whopping $800 for him. As the daughter of a county agent, I can tell you about too many parents who almost force their kids to show. I was encouraged to show, but I got to choose what kind of animal. I didn't start showing cattle until I was in the 6th grade only becuase I was scared of such a large animal.

It does make me proud to see kids who genuinely work their tails off all year juggling 4-H/FFA, athletics, schoolwork and school organizations and are successful across the board.

my brother had a santa gertrudis steer we got out of our pasture one year (payed 0 for it) and it went on to win the gert division at the San Antonio show. Just shows what a crapshoot animals can be.

got1forya, to answer your questions:

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WestTxAg what school represented had the champions.

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Dawson County 4-H had the Grand Champion with a Yorkshire, and Stamford FFA had the Reserve Grand with a Hampshire.

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I think the Ag teacher here wants the kids to by from close by, but if I am going to get back into this we are going to do it right.

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The fact is, if you want to have the best chance for success at the majors, then you don't want to limit yourself to buying hogs just from nearby farms. That's not to say that you can't have some success that way, you can; but hunting down good hogs takes some time and work, not just going to one farm and picking out the best one out of the first litter you see. But since you're an experienced showman, I would assume I would be preaching to the choir here.

I saw in your profile that you are in Austin, so you are fortunate in the respect that, while West Texas shows the best hogs, they buy a heck of a lot of them from Central Texas. Duelm's Prevailing Genetics in New Braunfels is probably the best and most high-profile breeder in the state right now-he had Grand and Reserve Grand at Houston last year (and I think the class winner of every class of Crosses at Houston last year), and he's got a lot of hogs that place at the top of their class in every show around. The problem is, you might end up paying a hefty chunk of change for his hogs, and as he raises Hamps, Yorks, and primarily Crosses, you're going to be in tough classes with his hogs. Wayne Rode from Fredericksburg has as good a farm of Durocs as you'll find in the state, but like Duelm, the price you pay might end up reflecting that.

There's a few other places down in your neck-of-the-woods that have some good hogs too, and then there are quite a few guys up on the High Plains with good hogs, and Oklahoma is chock-full of great show pigs. Though there are plenty of good ones up there (and they can be had for pretty reasonable prices), I assume you're not looking to go all the way to Iowa or Indiana or Ohio for show pigs just yet.

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What are the best sales. When I was in school we went to Sweetwater/ Rosco, Tahoca, Plainview Albany. even some in OK, ect. What do they sell for these days.

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It's been a few years since I've been to any sales, buying off the farm has produced us more luck. The problem with sale hogs is that a lot of those hogs look the best they'll ever look, particularly if they've been fed Paylean beforehand. There's nothing wrong with going to the sales and checking out things to get a feel for hog buying again, or especially to talk to the breeders and find out what all they have available, but the smartest thing to do, I think, is to try to make your purchases on the farm, at some on-farm private treaty sales.

I went to the Albany sale a few times, but the hogs there were always overpriced, and as early as it is in the season, you're going end up buying older hogs that are primarily Ft. Worth-bound. I probably spent more time at the Ring of Success sale in Tahoka than any other sale around, but we eventually quit going because the average price at that sale is pretty high, probably upwards of $500, due to the amount of high-profile breeders that bring hogs there. Duelm has a big "Best of the Best" sale in October down at Kerrville, but I think I recall that last year, he sold 100+ hogs there for an average of well over $800 or $1000. Pampa used to have a "Top Of Texas" sale in October that would have all of the best hogs on the High Plains from all the top-notch breeders, and Fredericksburg had a great sale for all the Central Texas breeders, but both those sales had a tendency to get high-priced, too. There are a couple of Circle of Gold Sales in Oklahoma in September/October, one in El Reno and one in Duncan, and we have had some good luck at the Duncan sale buying some pretty reasonably priced hogs from some of the breeders in Oklahoma and points farther north.

As for prices, you can literally spend anything you want to on a hog. As I just elaborated on, sales are going to bring higher prices than on the farm, just due to the nature of multiple buyers fighting for a limited amount of animals. On the farm, you can buy a good hog for anywhere from $200 all the way to $2000 or more. Some will tell you that you can't find a decent hog that will be competitive for less than $500, but those 9 hogs we put in the money this year at Houston (including the Reserve Grand, my sister's class winner, and my other sister's 6th place) were all bought for less than $500.

What breeds are you looking at? Crosses are always extremely tough to play in, simply because all the "big boys" looking to win the show have Crosses. Yorks and Hamps are a bit the same way, but not nearly as bad; I'd say Hamps are easier to have success in, we've done really well with Hamps the last few years. Good and reasonably priced Durocs, and especially those that are structurally sound, are getting REALLY hard to find. Chesters are one of my favorite breeds, and we've always done really well with them, but you're never going to win a show with a Chester. If that's not a problem, then I might look into the Chester breed. Berks, Spots, and Polands can be bought pretty reasonably, but I've never been a big fan of the lard hog breeds, and we've never showed them.

[This message has been edited by WestTxAg06 (edited 3/17/2006 11:27p).]

When I was showing I had my own growing operation and went up north to by all my breeder stock. So I was one of the guy selling at the sales.

I usually took my picks sold the rest. I had a large number of people that came to me every year to buy at the farm.

I raised chester whites, hanpshires and cross breds. If I showed any thing else I bought them. I ususally feed out 30 to 40 pigs and then picked from those for the major shows. I also fed certain pigs for a particular judges.

Problem is that its been so long since I have done this all my contacts are either dead or out of the business.

As far as the kid here. He comes from a big sip family, but he wants to go to vet school. This is his first year and I want to help him do it right. I really would like to help him be an Aggie.

When my dad was an ag teacher he drove all over the state looking for projects for kids. The ag teacher here does not want to leave the area. She goes out and buys the animals, brings them in and the kids pick. The worst part is, and this burns my ass, (if what I am told is true), they buy the animals cheap and put a mark on them to the kids.

Thats what I meant when I said if I am going to help this kid I want to do it right. I have to admit it is exciting ecause this is like going back to the good ol days.