The results are in and the Star Lake showstring definitely made its mark on the results in the National Western Stock Show in Denver last week.
CARLOAD:
For the 11th (yes eleventh) consecutive year Star Lake's Carload of Bulls was awarded the Grand Champion Carload trophy by the panel of three judges. Many observers noted that they felt this was one of the best and most uniform groups of ten (10) bulls that Star Lake has ever exhibited. We are especially thankful for those folks who purchased these outstanding herd sires...most of them in our Fall Sale. Bull owners include Turkey Feather Ranch, OK; TCF Cattle, MI; Tennessee River Music, AL; Lamb Bros Beef, WI; Towner Farm, KS; Kaci McAfee, IL; Kruschke Farms, OH; Niedermeyer Farms, NE; Swigart Herefords, IL; River Valley Polled Herefords, ONT; Carbon Valley, CO; Foggy Bottom Farms, MD; McCaskell Farms, IL,; Ground Zero, AR and Jim Hoffman, IN. We thank each and every one of you.
JUNIORS:
We had three juniors that had their heifers in the Star Lake Show String...they included Mallorie Phelps of TX with two and one each for Patrick Duddy of NJ and Blakelee Hayes of OK. Additionally we had three other juniors showcasing Star Lake bred heifers... Skye Budney of CT and Andre & Austin Howe from PA. When you step into the big arena of Denver you face the best of the best. Mallorie led her two heifers to be class winners and then she led STAR KKH SSF Mirror Image 286W on to the Division honors of Polled Champion Heifer Calf. Blakelee and Patrick ended up in the same class where the finished 3rd and 6th respectively. Skye was in a very competitive class of horned yearling heifers where she stood fifth...both the Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion in the horned show came from this very same class. In the final class of the polled show Austin Howe won the class of Polled Yearling heifers and his brother Andre finished fourth.
In the championship drive of the Polled Junior Show Mallorie Phelps led her Star Lake heifer to the Reserve Grand Champion title. Congratulations to all of these juniors!
BULL SHOW:
We had a total of six bulls that we showed on the Hill. These six bulls consisted of Can-Am, Moneymaker, Platinum, Nugget, Waylon and Shock & Awe. Four of the six were Division Champions...Can-Am, Shock & Awe, Waylon and Platinum. Nugget was a Division Reserve Champion. As we went to the Championship drive only one of the bulls stayed in the stalls...4 of the 6 Division Champions were from our string...WOW! When the final selection was made by Judges Gary & Kathy Buchholz STAR TCF Shock & Awe 158W ET was named the National Grand Champion Bull for 2010. Shock & Awe is owned with Buffalo Bend Farm in TN, Tennessee River Music in AL and TCF Farm of MI.
Since the show ended early in the afternoon a victory celebration party was held in the Star Lake stalls and rumor has it 55 cases of beer and a case of Crown evaporated.
FEMALE SHOW:
Five calves and a yearling made up the Star Lake female showstring on the Hill this year. Three of these are full sisters by Online out of Keysha...Olivia, Keyshona and Omega. Venus and Mirror Image trace back to the Keysha family as well. In the first Division Mallorie Phelps was named Champion with Mirror Image and she also was a class winner with Venus. In the 2nd Division Keyshona was the division winner and was followed by Blakelee Haye's Southern Reign as reserve Division Champion. Unfortunately Patrick Duddy's heifer Omega was in the same class as these two heifers and he couldn't get around them. In the final Division of the day Olivia won the Junior Yearling Division Champion title. For the Championship drive we had four animals in the ring with 3 of 6 Division Champions and one Reserve. When the final selections were made STAR KKH SSF Olivia 15U was named the National Reserve Grand Champion Female of the 2010 Denver National Western Stock Show. We congratulate Buffalo Bend Farm of Tennessee for their purchase of an interest in Olivia just a few days prior to this show. We also own Olivia with Kasey Herman and Sunnyside Stock Farm.
PREMIER AWARDS:
SUPREME HEREFORD:
As is the tradition in Denver each year all of the National Champions that were selected over the previous few days are brought back to the ring for the Supreme Hereford Award...that picks the best of the best from the cream of the crop. This year Judges Gary & Kathy Buchholz selected STAR TCF Shock & Awe 158W ET as the Supreme Hereford of the National Western. We thank the Lane family for sponsoring this annual award.
GROUPS & OTHERS:
We presented a Get of Sire group of Bright Future's and a Breeder Group of Best Six Head. Both were selected as the champions in their respective categories. We were honored to receive both the Polled Premier Breeder and Premier Exhibitor awards at this years National Western Stock Show.
In total a group of 19 purple banners were won that included the Supreme Hereford; Grand Champion Bull; Grand Champion Carload (11th year in a row); Reserve Grand (2); Division Bull Champions (4); Division Female Champions (4); Reserve Division Bulls (1); Reserve Division Females (1); Group Champions (2) and the top Breeder and Exhibitor honors.
Sincere Thank You's are in order first and foremost to our customers...your confidence in our program allows us to do what we do. Also sincere thanks to our outstanding crew both at the Ranch and on the road...you are the one's that get the job done from the birth of the next great ones in the freezing night to getting those in the showstring looking their best for the judges. Each of you play a vital part in our program and we couldn't think a better group of people to do it with all the way around.
Next Stop...Fort Worth!
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