NEWS A Texas Team Ag Ed Publication
January 2015
The Way I See It Jack Winterrowd, Cedar Park
“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” - Vince Lombardi Well, if that statement doesn’t open your eyes, I don’t know what will! How many people claim that quote as true? More importantly, how many ag teachers would agree with that statement? I have known a few people who saw things that way and over time, I have disassociated myself from them because there is no room for improvement with that mindset. I think that statement goes against everything we are trying to do in education. It implies that failure is not allowed. Please don’t misunderstand me; I hate to lose just as much as the next guy and I work hard to succeed in everything I do. I am disappointed when I lose something that I worked very hard to achieve but at the end of the day I have to live with my mistakes and failures. But why are we so obsessed with winning? This time of year, many ag teachers are gearing up for stock shows, judging contests and all the other competitive events that consume our days and nights. When I began teaching, one of my students was very involved with showing Hereford heifers. His family raised cattle and they viewed show ring success as an indication of their success as cattle ranchers. I showed cattle in FFA and 4-H so I felt comfortable supervising his extensive show program. But these folks were
serious about stock shows. My first year he won his class at all the majors with an outstanding heifer but she never won breed champion. The next year they set a goal to win everything, everywhere they went. The dad searched the country for the heifer that would get that done. Money was no object. Now keep in mind that this was in 1979 – no internet, no cell phone pictures, no online sales, no video – so he literally traveled to view herds in several states until he found “the one”. I will never forget the day she arrived at their barn. When she stepped off the trailer from Missouri, the dad’s expression radically changed. She didn’t have any horns! At that time, Hereford heifers were shown with horns that were trained to curve and were polished on show day. There was NO WAY that a dehorned heifer would win shows! A quick, angry phone call to the breeder confirmed
that she was indeed the heifer he had picked out but that the herd manager had mistakenly dehorned her and there was really nothing that could be done. When show season unfolded, she did exactly what they wanted her to do. She won everything, everywhere she went. It was fun to be in the winner’s circle with my student and that breed changing female. When we pulled up to a show, people’s faces fell because they knew they were going to get beat. She was that good. And guess what? The next year, a significant number of Hereford show heifers were dehorned! She started a trend and today the they are all shown dehorned. I liked it because I didn’t have to spend hours sanding and polishing horns and the kids liked it because they didn’t have to dodge a stabbing
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