I have noticed a lot of underfinished calves at fairs. I say this as I sort my own fats and generally hit 80% or better Choice.
I remember a friend complaining his son won a fair and they did a carcass competition., The guy says, "Well it placed in the middle, so the guys in the carcass grading must not of known what they were doing." Well, we are friends, so i said nothing, but thought, "Ummmm.....No, the Carcass is the bottom line, the guys on the hoof grading, they were the ones proved wrong".....
A final twist...My Private label sales are going gangfbusters. Typically, I will sort them to kill maybe 3 weeks before what I would normally send to Tyson....If I have excess calves, I feed them out longer for Tyson....My customers don't like a lot of fat, but I make up for it by dry-aging for 3 weeks. It is beef like most have never had.....
FH has mentioned she'd like to see my thots on a class of calves at a fair. I look at them as a guy who gets paid premiums or docked discounts.....First thing look at is where I think they will grade, then where I think they will wiegh/yield hanging.....It is the natural way I have come about evaluating fat calves, to see what dollar amount they will be worth...
That steer had a nice hip, the rest is kinda hard for me to tell, but he shoulda been pretty good from what I can se. I would need a front view to,
BTW, the most important thing is the kids learning what they can accomplish with some effort,
PPRM