Is there any hope of being able to show my calf someday? He is a Jersey X Milking Shorthorn steer, 6 1/2 months old. I have been training him to lead from 6 days old. He can also walk in front of me and I move him with voice commands. So he would be great for showing, but he is not a beef steer. He also has horns. I wish I could show him as a working steer, but our area doesn't have that as a 4-H project. Any ideas?
He isn't the right type to show against beef cattle, but if you keep training him as a work animal he would be a big attraction at parades, and anywhere draft animals are on display. Try to train him to guide with lines like a horse, then you can hitch him to a cart or wagon and give rides or what ever you wish to do. He will be your big hobby for years to come that way. Much more enjoyable than placing last in a beef show.
Does your county have a dairy beef division? You could also use him as a self- determined project where you create your own project on any topic.
Hubby and I were marveling at a photo in a local history book recently. Back in the 1800s, an old dude went around here in a wagon pulled by two Holstein bulls (not oxen -- bulls!). I guess the bulls became quite attached to him, and wouldn't let anyone on his property when he wasn't around. When he died, one of the bulls stopped eating, and died shortly thereafter. The other wouldn't let anyone else handle it, and acted so unruly that it had to be put down.
