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Grand Champion Heifer...............aka Tillie (w/Pics now)

Ranchy

Well-known member
Well, they did it!!!!!!!! They finally got into the ring about 8:00 on Thursday night, after several false starts. :lol: :lol: :lol:

They were scheduled to show before the steers, then about half way through the regular steer show, then they decided to put them in after the regular steers and before the county-bred steers...........we waited and waited and waited. :roll:

Hubby didn't make it over, by the time he had the rest of the chores done, he thought Al and Tillie would be finished, so didn't even make the attempt. :( So, Al's friend, Benjie, my dad and I cheered him on from the bleachers.....:nod:

The first time he tried to go into the ring, he'd traded for the Show Halter, and Tillie was not a happy camper, she threw one huge gee-whiz of a fit, so he ended up showing her with the halter she's used to more, and she did fine, acted like a perfect little lady. :nod: They "lined up" in the middle of the ring, and the judge was just standing there, looking around. Al said he finally came over to him and asked, "Is this the heifer show?" :shock: Al told him, "Yes, sir, it is." :lol: Guess he was expecting the ring to be completely full to the point of running over, like it was with the steers......... :lol: :lol: :lol: So, after he got over the shock, he talked to Al and asked him questions about Tillie for about 10 minutes. While this was going on, Tillie would get bored and start moving around. Instead of taking his attention from the judge to set her back up again, since it was so casual, he just started scratching the top of her head (she loves that! :nod:). Al would get interested in talking to the judge, and leave the scratching behind, and Tillie would bump his hand with her head, and he'd start scratching again.......this went on the whole time. The judge just smiled every time she did that.

He finally got finished talking to Al, and they got down to the business of the show.......Tillie did great, setting up and standing like the pretty girl she is. The judge walked all around her, felt her back, gave her a pat here and there, and she just seemed to love it. What was really great, is what he said after that..........He said that she's such a nice heifer, and will most likely raise some outstanding calves, that he probably would have given her the blue ribbon and Grand Champion, even if she hadn't been the only one. Al was just beaming! And when the judge related the story Al had told him about the gee-whiz fit she threw before, everyone :lol: :lol: :lol: . She's used to the quiet of country living, and like other country "kids", when she got to town and everything was new and exciting, it just overwhelmed her... :lol:

After that was over, Tillie was ready to go to bed, I guess......for some reason, she sure was anxious to get out of the show ring! So, Al turned around to lead her out, and she very daintily placed her nose just below his hip pocket and gave him a little assistance. The comb flew out of the pocket and did about 14 summersaults, to land in the sand behind him; he took one really long step, and they left the ring........she seemed quite happy that she'd been able to help him out that way..... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Then, Saturday, before the sale, he got to show her again, in the Parade of Champions! That was a highlight for him. She did pretty good, not quite as well as on Thursday night, but they did their turn through the show ring before the auction started. I wish she would have been being more co-operative, and coulda made it over to the photo barn, so I could have gotten a pic of them there.......but I got lots otherwise. Too bad my camera is being stubborn and not letting me put them on the computer......:( When I can get to town and get a CD made of them, I'll be back to share, ya can bet on that! :nod:
 

Turkey Track Bar

Well-known member
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Congrats to Al and Tillie...we're proud of him!!!

Yippee! I can't wait to see the pics of them!

Again, please convey my congrats...

Cheers---

TTB :wink:
 

Ranchy

Well-known member
Aw, thanks, you guys! (((((((((((( hug )))))))))))

I'm working on loading 3 of the pics into the computer, via scan.......never could get the CD to download (or is that upload) to the computer for me, so just gave up and scanned.........they came out HUGE........so it's taking a while, then once in Photobucket, I can reduce them, but not before, so far as I can figure out. I hate having to learn new stuff...... :roll: I'm too old for this!!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Other stuff he won over the weekend was:
4th Light Duroc pig
5th Light Duroc pig
4th Heavy Duroc pig (Sold at auction for $750)
1st (State Fair) Cowboy Tack poster (Horse SD)
1st (State Fair) Pineapple Upside Down Cake
(MealsOutdoors)
1st Poisonous Plants poster (Range Mngmnt SD)
1st Lethal Shots for Big Game Animals poster
(Shooting Sports SD)
2nd Sow Feeding Guide poster (Swine SD)
2nd Vital Signs in Large Livestock poster (Vet Science I)
2nd Secondary Defense System poster (Vet Science II)
2nd Careers in Veterinary Medicine poster (Vet Science III)
2nd Menu, grocery list & time sheet poster (MealsOutdoors)
2nd Meals Outdoors workbook
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
Duroc hogs huh-that's what I used to use for boars back in our swine days-bet I'm the only guy who ever took the high indexing boar from a perfformance test to a bar in Saskatoon-my swine days were awhile ago lol.
 

Hanta Yo

Well-known member
Good job, AL!!!! I'm glad you decided to show Tillie, and I'll bet you are, too. Way to GOOOO!!!!!!! :clap: :clap:
 

Ranchy

Well-known member
Ok, I finally got some of them loaded into Photobucket, so here they are!



Al talking to the show judge, with the 2006 Grand Champion Heifer




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Here they are, leaving the show ring, after Tillie 'helped him out'. Notice the comb on the ground behind them........



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Al and Tillie in the Parade of Champions on Saturday morning, just before the auction started. Thankfully, his pig sold in 51st position out of 77 animals, so he had plenty of time to get both girls ready. lol

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With our Rodeo Queen Sadie Hines, and the buyer, State Representative for our district, Don Tripp, who purchased Al's 4th place Heavy Duroc pig for $750......this is pig #6 who weighed in at 237#.




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The first place Photograph of Animals in the Digital Class. :D Photo by Ranchy, Frame by Alme Framing........aka my dad! :wink:


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Ranchy

Well-known member
Ok, NR, here are 3 pictures of posters he did, that I actually got pics of.......will see if I can get the others in here and take pics of them eventually. :roll: Please ignore the diplorable condition of our kitchen, after two solid weeks of Fair Prep, it was showing the signs of neglect...... :roll: :oops: :lol:

With the Horse SD poster that's going to the State Fair:

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The first place Range Plant Management poster:

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And finally, Careers in Veterinary Medicine:

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Northern Rancher

Well-known member
There's a busy guy-does he have a pic of his lethal shots poster-this months Outdoor Life has an article in it this month on that very thing. We've got four kids in 4H but I really like seeing how its done other places. I had a great time when Megan and I went down to the Plentywood Fair-it's nice to be able to just relax and not have the stress of being a leader at a 4H show. It's nice to see that the kids had good support from the buyers too-it's tough to see a kid sell his years work for less than market price.
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
Ohh by the way only boring people have neat kitchens lol. The rest of us are too busy-god I hope my wife doesn't read this lol. How far are you from Albuquerque-that's the only part of New Mexico I've been too-I really enjoyed the trip was a long old journey for a heading horse from Meadow Lake, Sask. Are you in the part of New Mexico that has the great Elk hunting-I see some of the bulls guys get down there and drool lol.
 

Ranchy

Well-known member
Here is a pic of the Lethal Shots poster. It was kinda neat, cause I just got him a package of 10 sheets of assorted colored poster board, and one just happened to be this blaze orange color. Of course, the imagination went wild with that one, and though you can't see it real well, the spots are marked by him putting holes in the area, so the orange showed through. He even took the title card out, hung it on the wood box, and shot holes in it with his air rifle...... :lol:

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Here's something you can drool over, NR............

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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

The Range Plant Management poster

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Poster showing the feeding requirement differences in Gestating Sows and Lactating Sows, for his Swine SD project

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A better pic of the Careers in Veterinary Medicine one

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Finally, Vet Science I and II posters

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I believe Al's pig was the least expensive pig they sold this year. Even at that, though, this is the second biggest amount that he's sold a pig for. He sold a Hamp in 2003, for $800. There was one of our members who sold their pig (a 6th place one, to be precise) for $1400! :shock: The Grand Champion Steer went for almost $6,000..........this sale set a record for the total amount.......I believe they said it was just over $105,000! :shock: :shock: :shock:

Quite a few of the buyer's clubs had money left over, so were going to donate it to kids who didn't make quite as much as others........so Al's check (when it finally comes in :roll: about Christmas time) may be quite a bit more than he's expecting. :nod:

We're actually about 4 hours southwest of Albuquerque.......right smack in the middle of the trophy elk hunting country! :D They sure are destructive on fences and gardens...... :shock:
 

Angus Cattle Shower

Well-known member
Congrats to the winning pair!!! Feels good to win, but feels better to loose cause ya know you did your best job and played fair when others diddn't ;), and I know that feeling... both ways.
 

Ranchy

Well-known member
Thanks, everyone! Al is still so proud he almost pops! This is the first year he's gotten a ribbon for everything he took to the Fair, and is just walkin on air.

ACS, lots of times, he's been on the not-winning end of the deal.........he's always taken it like a real trouper, though and is a very good sport about it. He also learned long ago, that it's all opinion. Not everyone has the same one, and it doesn't make your animal any less important, just because someone has a slightly different opinion than you have.

NR, I believe that Hubby, FIL and I, were Al's only leaders this year.......and his aunt and uncle (Hubby's brother & SIL) helped with the pigs some. Most of his projects, Al did on his own, though.......4/9 of them were Self Determined. :D

Al says Thanks, Lilly! :D
 
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