Snoop Dog, a 1,343-pound heavyweight European Cross, is the 2023 Junior Grand Champion steer at the Fort Worth Stock Show.
And he’s about to make his owner a lot of money after his impressive showing during Friday’s Junior Steer Show.
Snoop Dog will be sold at the Stock Show’s Sale of Champions on Saturday, and all proceeds will go to Sadie Wampler, 15, of Canyon, Texas.
Last year’s Grand Champion steer sold for $310,000, J.T. Aughinbaugh, chairman of the Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate, said. The youth program plays an important part in supporting the next generation of farmers and ranchers, he said. The experience teaches them life skills.
“All these young exhibitors are exhibiting traits and characteristics that we’d like to see in future leaders,” he said. “Work ethic, responsibility, accountability, all the things that are going to make for success in the next phase of their lives.’
Wampler, who’s also a member of the Randall County 4-H, spent countless hours raising the steer that was the star of the Stock Show’s premier event.
Wampler would wake up at 7 a.m. in the summer to wash and dry the steer and do the same at night. During school, she would have to take care of the steer after her daily sports and school activities. She plays basketball, volleyball and runs cross country, as well as being a member of her school’s Future Farmers of America chapter.
Judges assessed 1,497 steers in the competition. Judge Jarold Callahan, owner of Express Ranches in Yukon, Oklahoma, said most judges look for a steer that is structurally correct – a well-balanced and proportional build and as much muscle as possible.
“You want as much muscle as you can get in them because that’s the product of course that we’re ultimately going to eat,” he said.
Callahan called the winning steer “tremendous” in terms of stoutness in muscles, big hips and moves around the ring well. Raising a winner starts with genetics: mating the best cows with the best bulls. After the calves are born, you have to commit to raising the steers by feeding and grooming them.
“You try to keep them as immaculate as you can,” he said. “They get more caretaking than a lot of people’s children do.”
Saturday’s high-dollar sale, which features the 300 best junior steers, barrows, lambs and wether goats, will be sold in a rowdy auction. Everyone from community leaders, local business owners and farmers and ranchers place bids, Aughinbaugh said.
Once Snoop Dog is sold, the steer will go to Arlington Heights FFA.
Wampler is going to miss Snoop Dogg when she has to say goodbye at the auction. She sees the steer similar to a best friend, she said.
“He’s like a little baby. He’s always been super, super calm and sweet,” Wampler said. “And he’s just got a heart of a champion.”
Seth Bodine is a business and economic development reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at seth.bodine@fortworthreport.org and follow on Twitter at @sbodine120.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.