Mr. Duplicate Roan loped away with a new handmade engraved bit Saturday at the end of the ranch horse competition at Beef Fest.
His rider, Dwight Bilyk of Pawhuska, Okla., received a cash prize for the horse’s receiving the highest number of points overall in the competition.
Horses were divided into two groups, the junior division for horses 4 years old or younger and the open division for horses over 4.
Roany, ridden by Doug Potter of Delaware, Okla., placed second; Chick, ridden by Adrian Vogle of Cottonwood Falls, placed third; and Lurch, also ridden by Doug Potter, placed fourth.
In the junior division, Straw Boss, ridden by Doug Potter, placed first, and Hollywood Tin Man, ridden by Rex Buchman, placed second.
The competition gave the cowboys an opportunity to test their horses’ abilities against other mounts.
“It lets them show off the athletic ability of a horse, and the ability to watch a cow,” said Ryan Arndt, who was in charge of the contest. “They’ve got to work the whole arena.”
The six-minute competitions begin with a standard reining pattern of circles, lead changes, sliding stops, turnbacks, and spins.
The last two minutes of the ride let the horse and the cowboy work a steer or heifer as a team, with the rider roping and managing the animal.
Unlike cutting-horse contests, the goal of working the cattle was not to keep one animal separated from a herd of others. At the ranch horse competition, the horse and the steer were the only four-legged animals in the arena, and they worked the full length of it as the cowboys chased down the animals and, in most instances, flung their ropes over the cattle’s heads.
“You don’t get your full points if you don’t catch them,” Arndt explained. “They give you two chances to catch them.”
The horse, under ideal circumstances, feels the tug of the catch, stops and turns around and works with the rider to end the exercise.
“The main thing of this is just to turn around and pull ’em off, and that’s the end of the run,” Arndt said.
Riders each paid a $75 entry fee to take part in the competition and cash prizes were awarded, as well as tack for the horses.
The handmade bit, engraved to show a win, was made by Tyler Woolfolk of Protection.
The saddle pad awarded to the first-place horse in the junior division was donated by Carmen and Denise Wilson of Admire.
Cattle competition
Although the weekend was full of events and entertainment for the general public, the cattle competition was the reason Beef Fest was created.
This year’s contest brought 37 pens of steers and 34 pens of heifers that were turned out on grass in this area in the spring. They were weighed in late April at the Highland Ranch southwest of Olpe, and gathered in Thursday morning to be weighed at Emporia Livestock Sales.
The average daily gain for the heifers was 2.026 pounds for the heifers and 2.104 for the steers.
A pen of steers owned by Harry Fowler of Emporia took the Beef Fest Grand Award in the steer division in the grass futurity, and a fourth place in the live stocker show.
Rose Wall of Richmond, Ky., took the Beef Fest Grand Award in the heifer division, with a second place in the grass futurity and a sixth in the live stocker show.
Arndt Farms of Emporia took second in the grass futurity and fifth in the grandstand show.
• Results for the steer category of the Grass Futurity were: Harry Fowler, 2.918 pounds daily gain, first; Arndt Farms, Mike and Steven Arndt, 2.834 pounds, second; Putman Farms, Judith Putman of Emporia, 2.677, third; Clayton Fowler of Emporia, 2.527, fourth; and Crown S, Ken Schade of Olpe, 2.387, fifth.
• Grass Futurity results for heifers was: Tom Fowler of Emporia, 2.695, first; Rose Wall of Richmond, Ky., 2.487, second; Arndt Farms, 2.393, third; Jim Dause of Richmond, Ky., 2.377, fourth; and Lane Jeanneret of Olpe, 2.372, fifth.
• Live Stocker Show steer winners were: Ron and Janet Bathurst of Allen, first; Burton and Potter, Bill Burton of Strong City and Roger Potter of Emporia, second; Putman Farms, Kristen Putman of Jacksonville, Fla., third; Harry Fowler, fourth; and Arndt Farms, fifth.
• Live Stocker Show heifer winners were: Burton and Potter, first; A&A Cattle, Jamie Adams, Frank and Tim Arndt, Neosho Rapids and Emporia, second; Anderson Ranch of Alma, third; Woodbury Farms, Fred, Howard and John Woodbury of Quenemo, fourth; and A&A Cattle, fifth.
Also during the cattle awards presentation on Saturday, winners of the feedlot and carcass contests from 2008 were announced. Those awards were given during a winter banquet. Winners were:
• Spring Creek Ranch, Joe and Debbie Reinert, Cassoday, steer feedlot; Anderson Ranch, Matt, Julia and Mark Anderson, Alma, steer carcass; Spring Creek Ranch of Cassoday, heifer feedlot; and Lowder and Keith, Jim Lowder of Amarillo, Texas, and Brian Keith of Allen, heifer carcass winners.
• In Grandstand Judging, where the public is invited to match placings with the live stocker show judges, Riley Winkler of Lawrence and Joan Olson of Emporia won $40 gift certificates to Bruff’s Bar and Grill. Olson placed first in the steer division and Winkler placed first in the heifer division.
• The total dollars awarded from the Grass Futurity and Live Stocker Shows, in addition to the Grand Award for the Best of Grass and Show, was almost $8,000.
• Plaques for being the top five sponsors of the 2009 Flint Hills Beef Fest were awarded to: Irsik and Doll Feed Services, Frontier Farm Credit, AGChoice — Monsanto/Asgrow/Dekalb, and Crown Distributors, all of Emporia, and Leffler Commodities LLC of Augusta.
• John and Kevin Flott of Flott Farms received the award for the Feeder Cattle Marketing Contest for 2009, with a net gain of $2,800.
Barbecue results
As the ranch horse competition was coming to an end on Saturday, across the fairgrounds judges were sampling entries from 35 teams of barbecue chefs. Committee member Joe Michaels said that 36 teams had entered the contest, but a vehicle breakdown en route prevented one Oklahoma team from arriving.
After Sunday’s Beef Fest golf tournament, Michaels said he was pleased with the overall turnout at all of the three days of events.
“We had bigger crowds at about every event, as far as I could tell,” Michaels said.
Local teams placed well in several of the competitions.
Top winners from this area were:
• Trappers Smoke Shack of Emporia, People’s Choice award; Hillbilly Smoke Club of Reading. “most colorful camp site; Flatrock Barbecue of Emporia, first in the chicken category; Grease Fire, first in pork; and Bad Ol’ Bern’s, first in Cooks’ Choice.
• Pig-N-Out of Emporia placed sixth in chicken.
• Flatrock Barbecue placed fourth in Cooks’ Choice, and Grease Fire placed eighth.
• The overall grand champion of the barbecue competition was the A Boy and His Barbecue team from Ames, Iowa. Up in Flames from Topeka was reserve champion and Smokers Wild of Paola was third. Up in Flames of Topeka also placed first in pork ribs.
• Local teams in the overall rankings were Grease Fire, seventh; Flatrock Barbecue, 12th; Just Here, 16th; Smokin’ in the Pit, 18th; and Pig-N-Out, 19th.
• A Boy and His Barbecue won the brisket category, with local teams Grease Fire and Silver Bullet Bandit of Allen coming in fourth and sixth, respectively.
“This was only the second time they’d ever cooked in a competition,” Michaels said of the Silver Bullet team.
Local teams First Start Barbecue placed seventh in brisket, and Frontier Farm Credit Crop Insurance placed 10th.
Other locals, Just Here and Flatrock Barbecue, placed third and ninth respectively in the pork category.
Jeff Hughes of Oklahoma won the miscellaneous beef competition, with locals Bad Ol’ Bern’s taking fourth, Trapper’s Smoke Shack in sixth, Fanestil Heat Waves Barbecue in eighth, and Flatrock Barbecue in ninth.
Ranch rodeo
The first-place team at Friday night’s Ranch Rodeo was the Buck Creek/Lonesome Pine Ranches team, made up of Randy Peterson, Bud Higgs, Adrian Bogel and Grady Gibb. They each received saddles for their overall win.
Winners of individual events were: Team penning, Buck Creek/Lonesome Pine; Doctoring, Scribner Ranch; Double Mugging, Broken H and Lazy B Bar C Ranches; and Wild Cow Milking, 4D Ranch.
S & S Oil and Propane’s team won the Businessmen’s Cow Mugging contest.