MERCEDES — Emily Denny moved about the arena, leading her Simbrah steer in quiet obedience before the judge, the packed bleachers and the electrical anticipation in the air.
There was a rushing of joy, of the clapping and the shouting Friday as the judge declared her animal the Reserve Champion Simbrah Market Steer at the 84th Annual Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show.
Emily, 15, had raised heifers for years, but this year she had taken on the new challenge of a steer and succeeded in a grand way the first time.
“I have a ranch, and we just got a bull calf and decided, ‘Why don’t we show a steer?’” said Emily, a sophomore in McAllen High School’s FFA.
A shocking and delightful cold flew through the livestock show grounds in heavy gusts, challenging the few determined visitors who’d insisted on coming regardless of the weather. While many preferred to avoid the cold and await warmer temperatures in the afternoon, the weather didn’t faze the students and their families who’d labored these many months to present their steers to the judges and to the spectators.
Peanut waited calmly for his turn in the arena while his young owner, Daniel Cavazos, 14, patiently gripped his halter.
“He ways about 1,120 pounds,” said Daniel, looking admirably at Peanut, a beef master steer he’d worked with daily in the months leading up to this moment.
Daniel, a freshman in Weslaco High School’s FFA, had just won second place in his class.
“I walked him in the morning and at night,” said Daniel. “I practiced using his halter. I got him to walk and stand with a bunch of people around.”
Daniel and his family have spent years raising animals for livestock shows. His brother Dylan, 20, now in the Naval Reserves, brought with him into his adult life many lessons learned through livestock show experiences.
“Since the day I started walking, my dad gave me a whip, and I started to work the pigs,” Dylan Cavazos said. “It taught me some sense of humility knowing that people could beat me.”
He raised a variety of animals, and even won grand champion one year for his prize chickens.
Through the wins and the losses, he said he learned discipline and acceptance of the reality that nobody wins all the time.
But, Hector Cavazos was pleased that his son Daniel had just shown a market animal, the first one for his family since 2015. Money from the sale of such market animals is always a fine reward for one’s work.
And more.
“It teaches them responsibility, gives them something to do,” he said.
The livestock show is a family tradition for many.
For Emily’s family, it’s a family business. The Denny family is in the business of raising cattle, and Emily identifies herself as a “heifer person.” But when a promising bull calf presented itself on their ranch, they decided to accept this new challenge as a family effort.
“We show heifers,” said Emily’s mother Monica Denny. “This was home grown. My husband has the paperwork on him.”
Emily’s achievement thrilled all of her supporters.
“It feels incredible,” said Allison McGurk, who has a daughter in the same FFA as Emily.
“It’s a family effort,” she said. “All of these are a family effort.”
And, of course, Emily’s family enjoyed the excitement most of all.
“We are just absolutely overjoyed,” said Monica Denny. “She’s been feeding him twice a day, working with him.”
