level. After that show, I was blessed with many different opportunities across species and in some small way I feel I helped break the stereotype that people could not judge multiple species of livestock on a big stage. The third and final most impactful moment occurred the last time dad and I judged the Houston Barrow Show. By the final drive, most of the crowd usually is packing up and trying to get headed towards home if they don’t have a dog in the fight. But I found it odd that the stands were as full as they had been all week during the barrow show. I stood behind dad in the middle of the ring as he addressed the audience for his grand drive speech. During that speech he received 3 standing ovations. As I studied the crowd and who was in it, I realized that it was Texas’s way of saying thank you to Dan Hoge for the years of service in the showring.
camouflage garment. I hunt the ultimate show livestock on a daily basis. I want to raise the best stock I can, I want to gather the best stock to show, and when I am judging a show I want to have the opportunity to judge the best stock there is. FIVE WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF YOUR MOST MEMORABLE JUDGING MOMENTS? There are so many impactful moments that come to mind I can’t do justice to this question, but I will cover 3 major impact events to me. In 2005, Tom Farr and I judged the Houston barrow show. It was my first time judging the Houston Barrow Show and that was the last year for the barrow sift in Brenham. I had never seen anything like Brenham before in my life. The fairgrounds had its own culture, law, food, and way of life and when the last barrow was selected to go to Houston everyone cheered, packed their stuff up and they were gone! I liken it to a modern-day gold rush town! In 2013, I had the opportunity to judge the Steers at Houston. Prior to that event, I had always tried to be viewed as a multi-specie evaluator but could not crack into the big shows outside of the pig ring. I truly believe that during that 3-day steer show I worked as hard as I ever had in the ring to define myself as a competent multi-specie evaluator on a national
86
Powered by FlippingBook