The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo is legendary. And, this year, on the show’s 106th year anniversary, Texas youngster Sadie Wampler made history with her 2023 Grand Champion Steer, Snoop Dog.
Winning the whole thing against 1,500 other competitors with her 1,342-pound European Cross steer wasn’t where the excitement stopped. Wampler’s calf was purchased during the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo Auction for a record-breaking $440,000, beating last year’s record sale price of $310,000. Higginbotham and Associates, an insurance and financial services broker, purchased the calf during the sale.
“It felt like time stopped,” Wampler told ABC 7 News. “I was in complete disbelief. I was in shock, It all seems like a blur.”
The 15-year-old exhibitor lives in Canyon, Texas, and is a member of Randall County 4-H. She is currently a freshman at Wildorado ISD and will be working this year as a marketing director for Wildorado Cattle Company. In an introduction on the company’s Facebook post, Wampler said she has a “passion for the cattle industry as a whole” and plans to use that passion to better the company.
Wampler also says she plans to use the money earned to attend Texas A&M and pursue a degree in animal science, and later veterinary school. The Fort Worth Stock Show is unique in that all of the proceeds raised through the auction go to support the selling youth.
The Grand Champion Barrow, better known as Tyrion, also sold for record of $120,000 by exhibitor Brynn Fort to Standard Meat Company.
Fort’s father, Tim Fort, posted on Facebook, “Brynn picked out Tyrion at the Opener Pig Sale against my ‘better’ judgement. She said, ‘Dad his legs are huge and he’s so hairy.’ I said, ‘I think he has too much,’ but when the bidding started, she elbowed me in the ribs, I bid once and we got him. So, Show Dads, listen to your kids, they probably know more than you!”
The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo is one of the largest shows in the state, with over 1.2 million attendees each year. The 23-day-long event is the oldest and largest event in Fort Worth.
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