Big Boy named 2016 Grand Champion Steer

Sadie Wampler and her 2023 Grand Champion Steer. (Photo courtesy FWSSR)

Friday afternoon’s gloriously warm, sunny weather glowed even rosier for 14-year-old Jagger Horn when his 1,362-pound Angus-Maine Anjou crossbred steer – dubbed Big Boy – was declared the 2016 Grand Champion Steer at the Fort Worth Stock Show.

“I liked everything about this steer,” Jagger told reporters.

But he also said he was “shocked and amazed that I did as well as I did,” indicating he thought he could have shown the steer somewhat more effectively in Justin Arena. A Jones County 4-H Club member, Jagger is the son of Brandon and Brek Horn, Anson-area cattle ranchers and show calf producers. His steer at the National Western Stock Show won reserve grand champ honors and sold for $70,000.

Based on last year’s Stock Show Junior Sale of Champions here, Jagger’s Big Boy could bring a much bigger pile of cash in Saturday’s auction in West Arena. Last year’s grand champ sold for $240,000.

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Vega Middle School student Saige Martin, 12, from Herford, took the 2016 Reserve Grand Champion Steer banner for her 1,357-pound European crossbred named Goosebumps.

And Saige could also pocket a big winning bid here. Last year’s reserve grand champ sold for $150,000. The auction starts at 9 a.m.

“I called him Goosebumps because when I showed him in Plainview, the judge said he got goosebumps every time he looked at him,” Saige said. She’s the daughter of Sherri and Brian Martin, also cattle raisers. Saige’s steer at the 2014 State Fair of Texas won the grand champ banner.

Jagger’s steers won grand champ honors last year in both the San Antonio and San Angelo livestock shows. “We raised both of them,” Brandon Horn said. Big Boy was purchased, the Horns said, from cattleman Kevin Newman of Stanton.

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“I’ve learned everything I know about cattle from my Dad,” Jagger said, noting that his father had formulated the feeds for Big Boy and his other winning steers.

Big Boy was the Junior Steer Show’s European crossbred champion, and Goosebumps was the European cross reserve champion.

Stock Show junior steer judge Dan Shike, an animal science professor at the University of Illinois, told the audience that “it’s hard to beat the European cross.”