The Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo is less than a week away, but some families who thought they would be competing will not be able to do so.
Siblings Cash, 10, and Taylor Grubbs, 12, have been raising their steers for most of last year with one goal: competing in the Fort Worth Stock Show.
“It’s almost like the Super Bowl of Stock Shows in this area,” their mother, Becka Grubbs, told NBC 5.
Both siblings showed steers at last year’s stock show. However, despite all their preparations this year, they will not be allowed to participate.
The Grubbs did everything by the book. They said they submitted their entries and fees through Denton County’s 4-H Program well before the stock show’s November 15 deadline.
“On November 16, we got a call from our extension office saying hey, by the way, we missed the deadline, and my husband’s like surely you’re joking and unfortunately they weren’t,” said Becka Grubbs.
Denton County’s 4-H Extension Agent Steven Baringer said the culprit was an office error. In an email, he said the mistake negatively affected five families.
“We have expressed our apologies to the youth and families for the error,” said Baringer. “We attempted to submit the entries to the Fort Worth Stock Show, but the entries were past their stated deadline and were not accepted.”
Becka Grubbs said her family drove to the Fort Worth Stock Show to submit her children’s entries when she learned of the error.
“They said sorry, we just can’t accept your entries,” she explained.
The Grubbs will now have to spend more time and money traveling to different states to attend other stock shows to auction the steers they planned to sell in their backyard.
“We followed every step of the process only to find out that we, for real, can’t enter. After all the thousands of hours of work, thousands of dollars, it’s all for naught,” said Becka Grubbs.
In a statement, Matt Brockman, communications director for the Fort Worth Stock Show, said:
“In order to facilitate and operate a fair and equitable Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, rules for livestock shows are clearly outlined in our official rulebook known as the ‘Premium List’ which is made available to all exhibitors on September 15 each year. In addition, the Stock Show’s staff participate in numerous programs and meetings each summer informing county AgriLife Extension Agents and high school Agricultural Science Teachers that are responsible for submitting entries on the rules and entry deadlines. The rules and entry forms clearly state when entries can be accepted (September 15) and the deadline (November 15), giving all exhibitors 60 days to submit entries.
To conduct a fair competition for the roughly 30,000 entries in all the various shows and competitive events, dozens of rules ranging from entry, animal arrival, animal health regulations, fitting and grooming, exhibition, stalling and auction must be applied equitably. Creating an exception to any rule sets a precedent that makes enforcement and compliance of all other rules untenable.”