The whole “fluffy cow” thing has been a great attention getter for people who are not familiar with our industry. There seems to be a little difference in opinion on the pros and cons of the topic at hand and some people are in the dark a bit about what we are dealing with. In most cases these “fluffy cows” whose pictures have been focused on are actually promotional sires which are actually male animals. These sires are being used across the country and in some cases around the world to artificially inseminate cows owned by a wide variety of farmers and ranchers with the ultimate goal of creating the next “great show prospect.”
What I would like to see a little more focus on is the amount of effort and time in successfully campaigning one of these show prospects weather they would ever be picked a champion or not. In many cases these show prospects consume nearly a years efforts of breaking, (training the animal to lead with a halter) feeding, rinsing and grooming, and finally clipping and fitting the animal for the show. Just like any competitive event, weather it be a professional sporting event or a pine wood derby race or a cattle show ,a few people cross the line on what’s right or wrong in trying to win.
In the vast majority of cases, exhibiting all livestock and in this case cattle,has many positives that at times are overlooked. From my personal experience exhibiting livestock as a kid and my children exhibiting cattle currently have given my boys and myself the opportunity to meet many people from different towns and states across the country who have a common interest and that being exhibiting cattle. Along with meeting new people, it teaches our youth responsibility, dedication and a good work ethic in which in my opinion has diminished greatly in a lot of young people today. In today’s society, there are many more negatives and distractions that have made it more challenging to rear our youth and in some unfortunate cases our youth end “head down the wrong path.”
There are many great youth organizations to help kids head down the right path and in the case of livestock exhibition they are 4-H and FFA. I think it is great that the “fluffy cow” thing has drawn the interest of many people not familiar with the topic at hand. For what its worth,I wanted to voice my opinion on this subject and I think things like the Mat John story and youth spotlights like the one about Ashtyn Danker help show the real positives about “fluffy cows”
Sincerely,
Brad Otto
MAB 2 Pictured At 30 Days Old