Getty Image / Smiley N. Pool/Houston Chronicle
Two young cattle ranchers in Texas just got a taste of hard work paying off when they set records at a Houston steer auction during Rodeo Houston and brought home a combined $1.4 million. During the annual Rodeo Houston Junior Market Steer Auction, the two prized steer each sold for over $675K.
16-year-old Jacob Schickedanz of Perryton, Texas, a small town way up in the chimney of Texas near the Oklahoma border, took home the title of Grand Champion. While 17-year-old Jett Hale of Miami, Texas which isn’t too far from Perryton earned slightly more for his prized Reserve Champion Charolais Cross steer.
Just like his prized steer, Grand Champion title winner Jacob Schickedanz comes from a line of success. According to KHOU, Jacob’s sister Maddie Schickedanz won the Reserver Champion title last year at the Market Steer Show. So this family knows a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to raising ridiculously valuable cattle.
This clip shows the beautiful prize-winning specimens from the Houston steer auction… Don’t zoom in around the 26-second mark in the video when the grand champion steer’s tail raises and he drops logs:
Jacob Schickedanz’s Grand Champoin steer is a black crossbreed named Kareem. Bidding initially started at $50,000 with a bid from Congressman Jake Ellzey who KHOU reports as being a family friend to the Schickedanz family. From $50K, the bidding soared all the way up to $675,000.
Jett Hale’s record-breaking steer is a Charolais Cross steer named Mike. His Reserve Champion steer sold for an unprecedented $690,000. After the sale, Jett Hale told KHOU “I don’t think people understand how much time, effort, and money go into these things. You have to work with them every day and keep them going so people can present them like this.”
The Champagne Cowgirls and the Tutcher Family Foundation are the ones who purchased Hale’s prized steer and this isn’t the first time they’ve bought a steer raised by Jett. When he was just 10-years-old he also won Reserve Champion and the Champagne Cowgirls and the Tutcher Family Foundation bought that steer as well. Afterward, they sent Jett the hide so he could have a keepsake from his incredible steer.
For the uninitiated, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a MASSIVE event that’s comprised of smaller livestocks shows/auctions and rodeos. It just wrapped up and they released a recap video with numbers on this year’s Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo which totaled over 2.7 MILLION attendees, over 35,000 volunteers, and $630 MILLION raised for Texas youth and education. Overall, Houston saw a $227 million local economic impact from this year’s event:
The Houston steer auction and rodeo is truly wild when you consider that other states have nothing that comes close to this. It makes sense though when you consider that Texas is home to 12.54 million out of a total 69.1 million (2022 numbers) and the Lone Star State produces the vast majority of beef cattle in the U.S. while other states have a disproportionate amount of dairy cattle.
Rodeo Houston has a full set of the winning steer here on their Instagram page.
Content shared from brobible.com.