Showman Research Papers

Most people in America have never thought about where their food comes from or even talked to a farmer or rancher. Of that handful who have, even fewer have ever stepped foot onto a farm or ranch.The film “Farmland” takes an interestingly angled look into the lives of six farmers and ranchers in their twenties who are all entirely responsible for their operations. This paper takes a more in-depth look at three; Ryan Veldhuizen, Sutton Morgan, and Margaret Schlass.

Ever since forty plus years ago Agriculturalists have shown a variety of show cattle and ran ranches with them. I showed cattle for a few years throughout my FFA experience. Cattle have played a huge role in our society feeding families and other people who reside in this world. Their effect on human culture is something that we take much pride in when raising our cattle whether it is for companion or meat products. Previous cattle showman know and strive to achieve the ultimate goal: winning grand champion. This reward is earned by having the best show calf in the ring to the judge’s perspective. In order to reach this goal, the exhibitor must use proper feeding methods and show technique. (Insert thesis here.)

Working your show pig on a daily basis is one of the most important things when raising show pigs, since nobody likes a psychotic animal! When you first get your hog, you should start by sitting in the pen with it for the first few weeks so that it is able to become comfortable with you and it will get to know you. After the first two or three weeks, you can begin walking your pig daily with your show stick of choice. Gradually add five minutes to your daily walks so that you will end the year walking your hog for around 30-45 minutes every day! Practicing showmanship techniques at home is also a good way to make sure that both you and your hog are ready for show day!

Is it humane to show at the county fair? Is it worse that kids in 4-H are making money for showing off projects that are actually animals with their own rights to live free? It is not inhumane for kids to show and sell animals at the county fair because those kids are learning what farming is like in that aspect. They are also working with those animals for very long periods of time to get them to learn to do what the child wants them to do. The animals are also known as projects because the kids are doing book work and learning about the animal as a learning tool. The money the kids make from showing and selling these animals is just a reward for all of the hard work these kids put into teaching the animals to do what the kids want them to do. It is also to try to get them to stay in 4-H because as long as they are in 4-H or FFA the kids are learning to work and become productive citizens later in life.

My task though seemingly meaningless ensured that the animals had clean bowls to eat and drink out of, warm clean blankets to curl up in, and clean spaces to exercise in. This helps keep the animals healthy and unsoiled; thus, promoting a better environment for the animals to recoup in. There is times where you exercise the animals and engage with them in play but this isn’t the only item of care they need.

Rodeos have been around since the day of the cowboy, they are often times credited for having Americas true cowboys. They include great display of athleticism between a cowboy or cowgirl, and the animals. Many rodeo events today, such as calf roping, are traditional farm and ranch practices. Some rodeo viewers don’t approve of what they see. Some people believe rodeos are too rough on the animals and that the animals are mistreated behind closed doors. Dr. James Furman (Beef Magazine), a professional rodeo animal practitioner, says that rodeos have strict animal policies. Cowboys will be disqualified, and often times fined for the mistreatment of animals. (Beef Magazine). Dr. Furman admits, "The rodeos do look tough on the animals, but ranchers take extensive procedures to make sure their cattle are in good health. If the rodeos truly did help the animals, would ranchers put their cattle in them." Furman also likes to add "Livestock

The Pitchfork Ranch is one of the most historic ranches in west Texas. The Pitchfork Ranch has been owned by the same family for more than a century. On December 13, 1883 the Pitchfork Ranch was bought with 52,500 acres of land in west Texas. It was started with 9,750 head of cattle. It’s the only ranch in west Texas that didn’t have to downsize during the Great Depression. Today the Pitchfork Ranch is spread over 162,000 acres in west Texas. It spreads over Dickens and King Counties (Nordyke). This paper will discuss various topics about the Pitchfork Ranch, from the history of it to how they work their horses, cattle, and everyday maintaining the ranch. The Pitchfork Ranch has many different kinds of income. Its main income comes from cattle, but they also have mineral rights to the land and they just recently started drilling oil. They also have 500 acres of farmland which they sale some of the crops but they mainly use it to feed the cattle crop every year. They also have a feedlot at the ranch headquarters. The feedlot is a necessity because they have over 5,000 head of calves every year, and it’s a lot more economical to feed them out on the ranch, instead of selling them for a lower price whenever they’re younger (Ranch). The Pitchfork has been in operation over one hundred years, and it has only been through seven ranch managers. The current ranch manager is Bob Moorehouse, he has been the manager since 1987. “I love this way of life, there is

Groomers who set up in business without proper training or qualification are what is known in the industry as ‘cowboy’ groomers. Without the correct training, they are unaware of all the normal health and safety considerations in animal care. The standard of grooming

Growing up on a family farm in rural South Dakota, I never considered myself different from any other farm kid. At the age of eight, I joined the local 4-H club. Through my ten years of membership, I have participated in many differing project areas from showing beef calves to visual arts and everything in between. Through my many failures, I learned from my mistakes taking numerous best of show awards at county fair and finding success at state fair. 4-H has also given me the opportunity to become more involved in my community through local, county, and statewide community service projects. 4-H sparked my interest in agriculture.

We then reimplant them and take them off the halters until a few weeks before a show. When they are off the halters we check on them daily. In the summer, we tie up our steers, and walk them 3 times a day to water. We also give them a rinse each evening to help keep them cool. Over the years I have won Rate of Gain, Class Champion, Reserve Grand Champion, and Grand Champion with my steers. But, Livestock is not all I have done in 4-H. I have also tried a few general projects. My favorite general project has been my sports fishing project. My first year showing this project I created a soda can casting device to help me practice my casting, I then recorded my improvements as I practiced. My second year I built a fish habitat for our farm pond. I used old plastic culverts, stainless steel cables, and clamps. To build the habitat I used fifteen gallon drums attached to the top, and to keep it from floating to the top I attached concrete stepping stones to the bottom. To show the project I created a poster and was chosen to go to the Illinois State Fair to represent my county. All of my projects have taught me responsibility and have helped me improve my public presentation

Having lived in Hawaii my entire life I have been surrounded and involved with farming, hunting, and ranching. I was subjected to the life of the Paniolo(Hawaiian cowboys) at a very young age, two of my neighbors and good family friends were involved with Parker ranch, a 250,000 acre ranch in the mountainous town of Waimea. Parker ranch deals with a generous supply of livestock; primarily cattle accompanied with smaller herds of sheep and horses. I’ve been able to ride around the ranch and observe the Paniolo herd cattle and perform simple daily tasks like refilling troughs and cycling horses for grazing. Simply reading about Cordasco’s lifestyle and duties made me very reminiscent of the many days I spent on the ranch, one very fond memory of mine was riding on the back of an atv while my uncle drove to find a herd of cattle and perform a head count.

This is my first year showing an animal at the fair ,but I am excited to continue growing with the many experiences to come in the following years. I have gained knowledge from how to properly fit and groom in addition to learning about responsibility, time management, public speaking, and keeping records of my expenses , hours and income. On top of that, I also learned volumes about how the FFA works and what its real purpose is. The FFA isn’t

Fans have argued that rodeo is abuse the the animals and others have argued that it’s not abuse to them. There are a lot of people who absolutely love the rodeo and come to watch and support it. Then on the other hand, there are those people that hate it and are totally against it because they believe it is abusive to the animals. Without the animals, rodeos would not be possible; therefore, the care of the animals is of the utmost importance to all participants and staff. A writer for Beef Magazine.com says, “Rodeos put animal health and welfare in front of fans. How rodeo has used veterinary information to prepare for—and respond to—a range of questions can be an example for the beef industry.” (Ryan, 2013). This proves that during the rodeos

America is a nation of meat eaters, consuming up to 25.5 billion pounds of meat a year, there are approximately one million farms with livestock, and about 212,000 confine animals and are defined as animal feeding operations (AFOs) under current regulations (USEPA, 2012a) in the United States. In 2015 majority of the population in our country does not actually know where their meat comes from, we can just walk into our local super market and walk out with a plethora of meat products for a relatively cheap price. All of our meat products are nicely packaged with a nice, green, sunny farm right on the front of the packaging. Is that really what our farms look like now? Not exactly, if you went to the farm your animal came from you would walk

Showing steers is not as easy as some may think. You now see that there are many steps in preparing a show steer. Although, cattle aren’t easy to maintain they teach you responsibility and allow you to love them just as you love any other pet. Cattle have made a lasting impact in my life and I hope that they can make a lasting impact in yours as well.