Webster County has already conducted an“early weigh-in” for market beef back on December 11, but still has one remaining. Exhibitors wanting to show market steers or market heifers at the Webster County Fair, Nebraska State Fair, and/or Ak-Sar-Ben must identify and weigh in their projects. The beef will be weighed at Blue Hill Livestock Sale Barn on Sunday, January 29 from 9:30 am till 3:30 pm. Exhibitors from other counties are welcome to weigh-in with permission from their county extension office or FFA advisor.
The Webster County extension office asks that all exhibitors have your animals identified and affidavits filled out by that date if at all possible. Electronic Identification for all beef will be done at each weigh-in. This will be a second tag in addition to the 4-H/FFA tag. EID is voluntary, but highly suggested. We further request that if you put your tags in before weigh-in, that you reserve the one-third of the left ear closest to the head for the EID tag. 4-H tags and market beef affidavits are available from the Extension Office in Red Cloud. FFA tags and affidavits are available from agriculture education instructors including: Melissa Bonifas, at Blue Hill high school; Joe Strickland, at Red Cloud high school; and Seth Going at Superior. For those that cannot get the tags or affidavits prior to the weigh-in, they will be available at the weigh-in sites.
What information does the exhibitor need to bring to weigh-in? Each exhibitor will need to tell officials at weigh-in if the animal is for the “PB Breed Steer” competition, and also if it is “Bred & Fed” or “Bought & Fed”. There is clarification on the “Bred & Fed” in the Webster County Fair-book. Basically that title will mean that – “You or your family owned the cow or heifer, which is the mother of the steer, at the time of the calf’s conception, and that it was born and fed on your farm or place of project care”. Officials will also need to know the place and date of birth of the market beef (Premise ID is ideal). It works best when exhibitors have that information ready for the clerk or already on the affidavit at weigh-in.
What Should A Potential Market Steer Weigh? The 2012 Webster County Fair will take place July 21-28. In planning for the market beef enterprise, exhibitors should try to match the size of the calf that they pick out to match their intent. If it is the intent to “dead-end” the calf at the county fair then exhibitors should figure from January 29 to July 24 for time on feed, which computes to 177 days. Figuring that you want to gain at least 2.5 lbs a day (2.2 is required) then assuming a county fair weight of 1300 lbs, then the biggest calf that you should weigh in on the January 29 weigh-in would be 850 pounds. If you figure 3 lb. per day ROG, then a 775 lb steer would be your limit weight. If you plan to hit State Fair with the 1300 pound calf then you have 216 days to feed and at 2.5 #/day then your calf should not weigh much more than 750 on January 29. Incidentally Ak-Sar-ben is 243 days from weigh-in and with the same goal weight you could use a 700 lb. calf.
The exhibitor should keep in mind his/her goal weight (most common is 1250-1350 pounds), expected average rate of gain, and the environment (both cold and hot) and the growth potential of their calf in making their decision, and then to keep a 2.2 average daily ROG for steers and 2.0 for heifers. I don’t suggest just picking out the biggest calf in the pen. Feel free to bring several and then decide later. Exhibitors should also take note that the number of beef animals allowed to bring to the fair has changed this year. Please refer to the January Webster County 4-H Newsletter for those requirements.
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