Caleb Garcia had never before presented lambs in livestock shows.
So when Caleb, 12, won breed champion for fine wool cross Tuesday at the 83rd Annual Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show and Rodeo in Mercedes, he was delightfully surprised.
“I’m very proud and I feel happy,” said Caleb, a seventh grader from Alamo.
Even more impressive is the fact this is only his second year participating in ag events at all. But last year he raised a hog and it placed sixth, so he decided to try his hand at something else.
So Caleb raised a fine wool cross, spending many long days with what turned out to be a rather stubborn animal. During a period of months Caleb managed to smooth out the rough edges of his project’s personality.
Parallel with that behavioral modification was the development of an attractive lamb with good structure. The judge who presided over the Class 14 competition (153 pounds to 175 pounds) in which Caleb showed couldn’t say enough about his lamb, which he’d originally put in third place.
But …
“I went ahead and pulled this sheep on up from third to first,” the judge declared. “The reason I had him on third is because he’s a little frail in the bone and I like them a little stouter and I like them a little more rugged. But when we get away from that not many of us are going to eat much bone. We’re going to eat the meat and there’s more meat in that sheep.”
More specifically, the judge explained that Caleb’s lamb was more elevated in his chest floor, he’s “cleaner up through the front third of his body. He’s just more correct in my opinion.”
Caleb’s accomplishment is exemplary in and of itself, but other challenges further highlight his success, as relayed by his father Eddie Garcia.
“My son actually has dyslexia,” said Eddie Garcia. “When you have dyslexia, you’re always last in the classroom. For him to have this experience for all his hard work, to be able to have that…”
The elder Garcia was visibly touched by his son’s success – and so was Caleb himself who wore a broad smile as he walked with his animal for a sort of after-action pass and review for friends and admirers.
“After all the work and the late nights, I can see the progress,” he said. “He was very stubborn, he wouldn’t want to be held during practice. But after doing shows for awhile he got used to it.”
Caleb had some stiff competition. Elly-Marie Saenz of La Joya brought an award-winning lamb of her own along with years of experience. In fact, 14-year-old Elly-Marie had already won five buckles just this year with her lamb “Benji”. She’s managed to acquire a total of thirty buckles through the course of her five years in livestock show.
She eagerly anticipated her chance in the show ring and spoke excitedly about the events leading up to this moment. She told her father she wanted to raise another fine wool cross this year, and they began looking in June.
“We scored with Benji,” she said. “We got him for a good price, and he was actually a great animal.”
It would be a reasonable expectation that Benji would take home the big prize Tuesday. But alas, such events can be somewhat arbitrary depending on the rest of the competition and what the judge is looking for. The judge had plenty of good things to say about Benji, but in the end he placed him in third, and here’s why.
“In terms of making one look good this young lady came in the gate planning to win the blue ribbon and she shows him well,” he said. “She gets the front end up good, she worked on the legs. That one is fresh and good to the touch and soft in the skin. He just simply doesn’t have as big a hip as those two in first and second.”
