There is no Shortcut to Success

Stampede judge Brigham Stewart talks about show day prep, the farm work ethic, and cows with superpowers.

Brigham Stewart has high regard for the people he works with every day in the beef industry. In a changing world, he sees a big advantage to the steady, old-fashioned, hard-working attitude that comes from farm life.

Stewart judges the Gelbvieh show at the 2017 American Royal in Kansas City.

Image courtesy of Legacy Livestock Imaging

But when you ask him to name the industry’s greatest strength, he immediately speaks of the superpowers of cows.

“Cows’ greatest strength is their ability to make grass into beef,” he said. “I mean they can turn corn stalks into meat. They’re the world’s number one recycler.”

It seems a pretty obvious observation. But the entire beef industry is built on the ability of cattle to produce highly valuable food, and Stewart’s background on a four-generation family farm in Kansas helps him keep that perspective on all aspects of the business—including the show ring.

“You know most of the other species stand second best. If a person has a little extra money in their pocket, and they’re at the grocery store and they can buy a ribeye or they can buy a pork chop, what are they going to buy? They always buy the beef,” he said.

Commercial stock and show animals are all part of the business of beef, and that’s why Stewart favours show cattle that are “close to a representation of what a correct market animal should be.”

Stewart will be judging at the Calgary Stampede. It will not only be his first time judging in Canada, it will be his first visit to Canada, period. And he’s excited to have the opportunity. “I’ve always wanted to go to Calgary. My brothers, back when they were in college, got two summers in a row up there. My older brother and my cousin worked for a couple outfits in Calgary and said it was a blast and that you have to go there one time just to experience it,” he said.

“So I guess I’ll get to do it in a little higher fashion than they did, but I’ve always wanted to go.”

Both of his brothers work in the agriculture industry: his younger brother Tucker is a lawyer who works for the Kansas Livestock Association, and his older brother Garrett is a veterinarian. While Brigham is the only one of the three still doing the day-to-day work on the farm, he says their farm upbringing has been the key to success for all three of them.

Raising livestock, after all, is a no-fail mission. The work has to get done and the animals need to be properly cared for regardless of how tired you are or what kind of day you’ve had. When there is no fallback position, Stewart says you tend to develop a work ethic that carries over to everything you do.

“You hear it from multiple people. The brother that’s a lawyer and the brother who’s a vet, they’re around a lot of big companies that are hiring. And it happens with a lot of ag schools—there are a lot of businesses hiring people with an animal science degree because they have a known work ethic.”

The Stewart boys learned that work ethic from their parents Gregg and Debbie Stewart. Brigham doesn’t hesitate to say they are his biggest role models, in farming and in life.

Cattle have been in the Stewart family since the early 1900s, but the family operation, Mid- Continent Farms (Washington, Kansas), has been intensive in show cattle and seed stock for the past 40 years or so.

Now they run about 1,000 head, all on grass, including half a dozen registered breeds. They also still row crop 1,500 to 2,000 acres.

It was his father’s influence that led Stewart into judging.

“Him and his team were very successful,” he said. “Growing up they went to Colby Community College and then on to K-State [Kansas State University], and they won almost every contest you could think of.

“And that’s what really drove him. It was on those judging trips, going around looking at cattle and stuff like that, that we got connected with people.”

Stewart’s education was through Butler Community College, where he was coached by Chris Mullinix; and Kansas State, where the coaching staff included Scott Schaake and Brandon Callis.

“Honestly between those three guys and my old man, and going to K-State judging camps as a kid, that’s what got me where I am—to be able to judge shows,” he said.

In his senior year he judged at the North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville (“the Super Bowl of judging contests,” he calls it) and won high individual, breaking a 13-year-old Reasons record.

“And then I just started judging shows. I guess word of mouth, people liked the way I evaluated things. I’ve been called to do quite a few of them all over the United States.”

Obviously the Louisville experience ranks as a highlight for him, and NAILE remains one of his favourite shows. But as someone who loves cattle and traveling and meeting people, every show offers a new opportunity.

Stewart congratulates a young exhibitor during the 2014 American Royal Limousin Show.

Image courtesy of Show Champions

“There is one that’s probably my favourite,” he said. “It was just the most fun because it was at the Del Mar County Fair in San Diego. It’s a 10-daycounty fair and basically in vacation country, you know what I mean. So that was probably the most fun.”

When he comes to Stampede and his first show in a new country, Stewart says he doesn’t have any specific expectations—he’s prepared to take it as it comes. His judging style is to look for good, sound, functional cattle, and that applies to a national or an international show.

Which isn’t to say he doesn’t recognize that different circumstances—climate, for instance—won’t influence what traits are desirable. A part of the world with a short growing season will rely more on feeding than grazing, he says, and the result can be a trend toward bigger animals.

But size for its own sake doesn’t make for a better or more productive beef animal.

“I like to look at cattle that look like every pound they consumed was done efficiently,” he said. “So that’s studying skeletons and structure and freshness of muscle shape. And that’s everywhere.”

His advice for exhibitors goes back to his own work ethic: put in the effort, and pay attention to detail. “Accentuate the good things, but don’t forget the little things,” he said.

After all, an exhibitor has been working with their calf for hours and hours over the course of up to a year. They know that animal thoroughly, they know what it has that could make it a winner.

“A judge has an average of anywhere from a minute and a half to three minutes a head to look at cattle that these kids have been looking at for days,” he said. “[Exhibitors] need to make sure that they’re hitting on all cogs the day they go into the ring. Don’t leave anything on the table.”

And he especially urges juniors not to look at a ring loss as a defeat, or as a negation of the quality of their animal.

“Just don’t get discouraged. You know it’s always one guy’s opinion,” he said. “And honestly the harder you work at it, the bigger the reward.

“So don’t let the opinions of one affect you. Stay true to yourself, and stay hardworking. And take your wins as wins and take your losses as losses, and learn from them.”

Stewart bases his judging standard on an idea of a productive market animal with proper structure. This is just as important for steers as for heifers and bulls.

“These cattle need to be close to a representation of what the correct market animal should be,” he said. “But still paying attention to the fact that some of these cattle may have sister mates.”

“And for me they’ve still got to fit into all facets of the industry. I try to relate it to the industry as much as possible,” he said.

It’s when there are several cattle in the ring that meet that requirement—that they are all comformationally-correct market animals—that a judge can look at the little things. According to Stewart, those little things aren’t what makes a winner, but they can be what makes a difference.

The winner’s edge is always going to be subjective— which animal impressed what judge on what day.

“The one you’re going to slap is the one that, when you go to bed at the end of the day, you can say hey, I found him. That’s the one I like, the one that hit me hardest.

“And then you just stick to your opinion.”

Stewart places a lot of importance on giving clear reasons for his judgments. This gives the exhibitors guidance, especially in a prospect show. It also helps to guide the development of animals for the market which, after all, is the whole point of showing.

He says he wants exhibitors to understand why their calf placed where it did, but it’s even more important that they learn how to make it better—he wants them to come away with a better understanding of the industry.

Stewart sees the family operation as his future, hopefully with a family of his own. He would love to expand Mid- Continent Farms, but as the only sibling doing the day-to-day work, he says expansion isn’t the top priority.

And he wants to pass on his parents’ work ethic to his own kids, whether they continue in agriculture or venture out into something else. That, he says, is the path to opportunity.

MCF Bohannon 305A is crowned the Champion Charolais Bull at the 2014 American Royal under judge Chan Phillips.

Image courtesy of ShowChampions

“Mom and Dad just gave us every opportunity that we were willing to work for,” he said.

“I’d like my kids to grow up and do the things and have the opportunities I had, with whatever they want to do. In the long run I want to try to be successful at raising cattle and marketing cattle, nationally or even internationally. But then sure, just be able to give my kids a chance at it.”

In the meantime, he’s loving the opportunities that come his way in the show judging world.

“I like traveling and looking at cattle, and it allows me to get off the farm and go do stuff that normally I wouldn’t. And go see places that normally I wouldn’t,” he said.