Mahoning County Steer Project is currently a lottery system. This system makes kids that are interested in the project draw a number in the midst of October where all in the same day these cattle are tagged, castrated, weaned, vaccinated, and rehomed. As students at Ohio State studying animal sciences Beef specialization we are taught not to do all that at one time because it stresses these animals out and can cause them to get sick. Not only does it stress them out but it causes them to utilize fight or flight and most of the time they choose fight… in the past few years we have now heard of at least 5 steers getting lose because of their inability to be worked (3 of which being this year), 4 that have been taken to butcher before the fair because they are to crazy to break… and our committee feels that this is okay, and has even laughed at these situations… these kids are now out hundreds if not thousands of dollars, the money on the steer itself, feed cost, and time searching for their steers because they got loose, or the countless hours trying to break these things…not to mention some medical bills to the families that have gone to the hospital/ doctors because they are trying to break the steers that are unbreakable and end up hurt. At some point people need to open their eyes and realize this isn’t safe for the kids, their families, animals, or even the fair goers.

LET ME ALSO ADD WE ARE UP TO DOUBLE DIGITS IN THE AMOUNT OF STEERS THAT HAVE DIED THIS YEAR AND NOTHING IS BEING DONE.
Anyone else want to see a change because I sure do!
We will be getting some factual info put together and will be trying to meet with fair boards etc