By Cherie Rash Carrabba

We had not finished Houston when it all started again. On the Saturday of the 2004 Houston Livestock Show’s Premium steer sale, trailers and trucks gathered in Conroe, Mercedes and Angleton, Texas for the first of the new year’s Texas Junior Livestock Association sanctioned shows.  The new trophy belt buckles were still in their boxes, and the heifer exhibitors were at it again. It was a new TJLA year, and the points had just begun. 

Those livestock exhibitors who grew up prior to the creation of the Texas Junior Livestock Association remember things much differently. Believe it or not, once upon a time there was not a show held somewhere in this state every weekend of the year. The jackpot show, as we know it, is relatively new to the south.  Very few had ever heard of such a thing until a man from Fredericksburg, Texas brought the jackpot here.

George Garretson was from the hill country. He was a talktative, determined German.  Long before the town of Fredericksburg became famous as an antique lovers paradise, George had put Fredericksburg on the map as a source for steer and heifer exhibiitors. George was one of Texas' orginal "steer jockeys.”  He didn’t raise the majority of the cattle he sold; he had a partner who raised several more calves that were actually show caliber, but George was capable of selecting the best calves.  He had an eye for finding the calves when they were young and sorting them to be sold as a club project.

George Garretson had a competitive streak a mile long. Many of George's competitors were actually much better at fitting cattle, George decided that he would find the best cattle available and offer them for sale. He was soon traveling the country trying to find the best club calves. It was on one of these trips to the Midwest that George attended his first jackpot show.

“I was in the Midwest looking at cattle and someone invited me to come to one of their young feeder calf shows. They told me that people brought young prospect calves to be judged,” George recalled in an article written in the early 1980’s.  “They jackpotted the entry fee similar to the way cowboys jackpot the entry fee at a roping. At the end of the day, the winner took home a little prize money and his calf.  They called it a jackpot or prospect show. I didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t do that in Texas, so I rented the Gillespie County Fairgrounds for a weekend and began to talk up the idea.  I decided to call it the Garretson Prospect Show.”   

George wanted the Texas version of the prospect show to be an educational event, so he decided to hold a fitting and grooming clinic prior to the show. I think that the first time I ever saw a fitter from the midwest was at the Garretson Prospect show. They were conducting the fitting and grooming clinics.  In 1978 the first Garretson Prospect Show had approximately 180 entries, and the people who attended had a great time. They went home looking forward to the next year.

George Garretson had hit upon an idea that appealed to the families of the Texas livestock exhibitors. The exhibitors from West Texas who had benefited from competitive county and district shows were at a distinct advantage over exhibitors from other areas. The West Texas exhibitors liked Garretson's show because they went home with the majority of the money. People from many other parts of the state lacked experience, and they saw the show as an opportunity to gain knowledge in many areas.  Those who were trying to learn something about exhibiting used the Garretson show as a way of becoming more knowledgeable. They watched their West Texas neighbors and went home determined to practice clipping and fitting. 

George Garretson was the right man at the right time. He loved to talk, and he could spend hours enthralling listeners as he talked about visions for his show. He never sold a calf or attended a county fair that he didn’t mention his summer prospect show.  In the summer of 1979 there were between 350 and 400 attendees at the Garretson Prospect Show. The Sunday House Best Western in Fredericksburg was sold out.  People had to seek hotel rooms 40 miles away in Kerrville. 

About the time that George was preparing for his second show, Billy Rash and Tooter Smith were talking about the concept of a new club calf association that would count points on club calf competition from one year to the next. Tooter had sponsored the Lubbock Steer Jackpot in December.  When most people were thinking about Santa Claus, Tooter had people stuck in every knook and cranny of the Panhandle South Plains Fairgrounds. Both men thought that prospect shows for steer exhibitors were something that would considerably increase in Texas.  They felt that the missing link was the association to count points on those shows as well as the major livestock shows.

 When Billy first explained his concept of the junior livestock association to me, I told him that it sounded like a lot of work.  His exact words were, "It will be, but you could also have a magazine." He must have known that there was a frustrated writer buried deep in my subconsious because I went for it hook, line and sinker.  

 The Texas Junior Livestock Association went from a concept that we discussed to reality in 1980 with the advent of the Texas Club Calf Association, a non-profit organization which was organized to “collect, preserve and record the history of club calf competition from one year to the next.”  

One of the first activities of the new association was the creation of the association’s own show. In August of 1980 the TCCA sponsored the first “Belt Buckle Bonanza” in Alta Loma, Texas at a county facility named Runge Park.

Today I can remember our excitement about that  first Bonanza as clearly as if it happened yesterday. When Vernon and Lillian Holcomb sent entries for Clay and Susan to the Bonanza, I knew that this show had a future. The Holcombs were not the only prominent Texas exhibitor family to attend and enter that first Bonanza.  Before the entries closed there were entries from the Payton Scott family in Rising Star, the Charles Schroeder family in Taylor. Dr. Larry Boleman and Pat brought their son,  Scott,  who was just starting to show. Milton and Sharon Herzog came with their son, Kevin. There have been lots of thrilling moments at the Bonanza, but none were more exciting than that first year.  

That first Bonanza had 130 steer entries. The first year of TCCA competition there were four jackpot shows held in the state of Texas:  the Garretson Prospect Show in Fredericksburg, the Conroe FFA Prospect Show in Conroe, the Lubbock Steer Jackpot in Lubbock and the Belt Buckle Bonanza. In addition the results of Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston and the State Fair of Texas were all recorded as part of the association’s records.

Vernon Holcomb, Tommy Stewman, Howard Armstrong and Ollie Liner decided that they would produce a prospect show in the Panhandle the next year. That was the beginning of the Panhandle Parade of Breeds Prospect Steer Show. Keith Lloyd held one in Caldwell.  Gene Lively organized the group at Beaumont, and jackpot shows were off and running.  

One of the most ironic things about the Texas jackpot show is that heifers were an afterthought. George Garretson can probably be credited with having the first heifer show as part of his jackpot show. He decided to add heifers to his show when it was in its third or fourth year.  But I will always believe that the real incentive for jackpot heifer shows came in 1982 when the TCCA added the heifer division. The addition of the TCCA heifer division had the potential to be a disaster. Steers were much more popular at the time, but I loved the heifer program. In a management style for which I have become famous,  I wanted to add the heifer division because I hated seeing those young exhibitors cry when they sold their market animals. I also saw the heifer project as a way to involve a junior exhibitor in the beef industry.  After I discussed it with Billy, I went to the board and told them that I thought that we needed to have a division for heifers. Tooter Smith was always on my side, so he readily agreed.  Tommy Stewman told me that he didn’t think that there was much chance that "those heifer folks are going to truck those heifers around the state like the steer exhibitors do". That night the consensus opionion was that it won't work, but she is going to do it anyway, so we might as well let her.

Today heifer members make up the greatest percentage of the Texas Junior Livestock Association. Heifer shows are held in every part of the state every weekend of the entire year.  Most of the county fairs in the state hold a TCCA sanctioned heifer show. Last year there were more than 350 shows for heifer members to attend. They have become the strongest division in TJLA competition and a favorite fundraiser for FFA and 4-H booster groups.  

Five years after the creation of the TCCA steer division, the Texas Club Lamb Association was added to the mix.  The TCPA came in 1995, and the TCMGA is in its third year of existence. If someone lives in Texas he or she can attend a jackpot show for any species about 40 weekends out of the year. Heifer shows are held all year long, and the steer shows kick off in April. Generally it is June before you see much competition in the lamb, pig and goat divisions, but once they start, there is a show a weekend in most species. The jackpot show has created a mini industry that is responsible for millions of dollars which go into communities all over the state.  

Did George Garretson envision Texas as a place where as many as 25 shows could be held for various species in one weekend? I doubt it. I don't think that any of us had any idea that the jackpot show would enjoy this type of popularity. But the next time that you pass by the Gillespie County Fairgrounds remember --that this is where it all started. The first jackpot show in the state was held right there.