Before the competition begins, show projects must pass ‘the sift’

By CAROLYN ROST | South Central Texas Edition

Nov. 3, 2005 - Garnering a grand champion win is the goal of all exhibitors at junior livestock shows. Before an exhibitor can achieve that goal, however, their animal first has to make it past the examining process called the sift.

Lambs, goats, broilers, roasters, turkeys, steers, swine and rabbits went through the scrutinizing eye of the sifter before the judging began at the Calhoun County Livestock Show held Oct. 11-16 in Port Lavaca.

For each animal, a number of flaws can cause an animal to be disqualified. For rabbits, disease and buck teeth are two concerns.

�You are looking primarly for diseases. Ear canker, bad teeth, genetically bad teeth, any disease that would affect the quality of the meat or whether you could sell it to a processor or not,� said Mike Withrow, with the American Rabbit Breeders Association. Withrow had the duty of both sifter and judge for the rabbit show.

Each exhibitor has to have a pen of three rabbits and the weight of each rabbit is also important. “They have to weigh no more than five pounds and a minimum of three pounds,” added Withrow.

Rabbit show judge Mike Withrow examines a rabbit during the show. Not all brought to the competition make it to this point, due to buck teeth or weight problems. -- Staff photo by Rost

In the poultry category, turkeys, roasters and broilers are closely examined for physical defects during the sift. Turkeys and roasters, which are competing as an individual, single entry, have to meet several criteria. Dr. Floyd Golan, with the Poultry Science Department in College Station, sifted and judged the poultry division and gave the criteria that the birds have to meet.

�We�re looking for the bird to be free of bruises, cuts, tears, external parasites and any broken bones or anything else that would detract from that bird being a Grade A bird,� said Golan.

�After it passes all of that, in many shows, we give the birds a preliminary score to help us group the birds, and that�s particularly important if it�s a large show so that we can perhaps get our better birds grouped together, and have two or three groups of birds to work with. Sometimes we give them a preliminary score as well as a sifting at the point of entry,� added Golan.

For broilers, which are judged in pens of three or four birds, not only is the sifter looking for physical defects and parasites, but also for the birds to be similar. “Not often are they ideally the carbon copies of one another, but we would like them to be close to each other.”

Ashlee Purswell, 14, of the Greenlake/Longmott 4-H club, selected just one (the best) of her turkey project group to bring to the competition. The turkey must be free of cuts, external parasites, broken bones, etc. to make the sift. -- Staff photo by Rost

Golan stressed that any defects the birds encounter after making the show will be ignored from that point on. An exhibitor will not be penalized for a bird that is injured while getting it to and from the judging area.

For turkeys, once they make it to the judging arena, the breast of the bird is an important feature. “A square breast is what they’re looking for,” said Paul Purswell, who’s daughters, Ashlee and Kristen, have been showing turkeys for several years in the Greenlake Longmott 4-H Club.

Turkey exhibitors are allowed to raise 10 birds and then must choose the best one to show.

Joe Taylor, Atascosa County Extention agent, performed the sifting duties for the larger animals. According to Taylor, muscling and conditioning are the two criteria each animal must meet.

A number 1 or 2 muscling score is very important for lambs, goats, and swine but the condition score depends on the type of animal. According to Taylor, a lamb doesn’t have to be fat but he doesn’t want a lamb very thin or lethargic looking either.

Although you can get lambs too fat, Taylor said a little more fat is preferred on goats. “We will take a little more condition on goats than we do lambs because goats actually, when cooked, the fat that’s in goats actually help them to taste better.”

In the swine sift, soundness - how well they travel on their feet and legs - is closely examined. Weight, according to Taylor, comes into play there. “Market swine are normally ready to market between 220 and about 280 pounds. Normally if a pig falls into that category, they’ll fit the market.”

For hogs, the condition score has a wider range. Back fat thickness on hogs can be up to one inch and be acceptable, said Taylor. Over the past eight to 10 years, the county shows leaned the pigs up quite a bit but, due to the higher demand for bacon, have now started to put some condition back into them.

In sifting a market steer show, Taylor tries to identify those animals that have superior muscling and the superior condition score. “Those are automatically going to get in,” said Taylor.

Steers that are too fat or too thin can be reasons for disqualification. “The animals that tend to be in trouble would be those that would not fit either a condition grade, meaning not have enough fat or being way too thin over the rib cage, or an animal not having the muscle score that you were looking for,” said Taylor.

�We normally put those muscle scores into superior, acceptable, and unacceptable and basically grade them 1, 2 or 3; and a 3 grade would be an animal that is definitely very void of muscle, very flat in the muscle pattern or it could be an animal that is actually too fat,� added Taylor.

During the sift, nicks and cuts will not get an animal eliminated but a well groomed animal will help catch the eye of the judge.

Brandt Boone, 16, with the All-Around 4-H Club in Port Lavaca, was preparing to compete with his goat, Moonshine, later in the day. Boone said the judges like it when the goats look good so he will make sure his will look as good as possible.

Eleven-year-old Cody Malaer, with the Town and Country 4-H Club, made it through to the show with his steer. Once in the show ring, Malaer stressed the importance of halter breaking and grooming.

�If you don�t halter break them then you won�t have good showmanship. And, you got to be sure to walk them and keep their coat nice and shiny and well conditioned,� said Malaer.

Whether an animal is sifted or is crowned division champ, learning what it takes to raise a quality grade animal is really what it’s all about.