While the National Western Stock Show is a popular boot-scooting, cowboy swag market tourist event attracting more than 700,000 attendees in 2023, the real purpose of the show is livestock.

And it is very serious business for livestock growers from all over the United States who come to the nation’s premier livestock event to show, buy, and sell their animals.

But who judges the animals and how do they decide who wins?

Livestock judging is both an art and a science and judges at the Stock Show spend years learning the traits and conformations that show superior breeding.

Jennifer Boka director of livestock operations for the NWSS said the starting point of judging livestock of any species is to first know what that animal’s purpose is. Is it for consumption or for breeding?

“If you understand the purpose as a judge, then you have a benchmark for how you are evaluating those livestock,” said Boka in an interview with The Denver Gazette. “So, if you are judging a set of heifers slated to have reproductive efficiency and go home to the ranch and be a factory to create more seed stock, then you’re evaluating those cattle on their ability to have maternal strengths, to have longevity on the ranch.”

Boka said things like maternal strengths and physical structure such as the feet and legs count for breeding stock, whereas with a market animal destined for human consumption, judges are evaluating meat, muscle, fat, and body condition, and are thinking about them as a protein source.

Every farm animal has distinct breeds within the species, and Boka said it’s up to the judge to learn and know the traits of each animal they judge that make it a superior specimen of the species and breed.

“Cattle, sheep, hogs are made up of different breeds, and each one of those specific breeds has specific characteristics that our livestock evaluators look at,” Boka said. “So, we talk about maternal strengths, we talk about meat breed strengths, and then on top of that, they would be looking for breed specific characteristics. It’s quite an in-depth process.”

Genetics factor in as well. Livestock can be registered with their breed association, and judges view the registrations during the competition, which can include “expected genetic results” when it comes to breeding stock.

“Judges that we hire would look at those species as they come into the ring,” she said. “They would be evaluating movement, they would be evaluating muscle mass, they would be evaluating those phenotypic traits that you can see by looking at an animal live on the hoof.”

Junior Market Lamb Grand Drive livestock judge Barrett Carlisle, of Kansas City, Kansas, has been judging lambs off and on since 2010. This is his first year at the NWSS.

“One comment I’d make about the show in general is just in terms of the depth, the quality here is absolutely outstanding,” Carlisle said. “It takes a special individual to get recognized at this kind of level. And I thought all of my champions in the lineup looked very nice tonight.”

Carlisle selected 13-year-old Kinley Pruitt’s lamb Colby as the Junior Market Lamb Grand Champion Wednesday.

“He’s pretty special,” said Carlisle. “I kind of thought after he won his class, that might be the one to win the whole deal and kept an open mind throughout the day and just kept coming back to that one and thought he was pretty special and pretty.”

As for how one becomes a livestock judge at the NWSS, while many judges, like Boka, grow up with livestock and learn the breed traits through practical experience, Boka said one of the best-kept secrets at the show are the 4-H, Future Farmers of America, and collegiate level judging contests.

“I myself actually was on the livestock judging team at Northeastern Junior College and at Colorado State University,” Boka said. “We spent a great deal of time with coaches and teachers giving us the skillset to not only evaluate those livestock, but then to speak about that in an educated manner.”

Boka grew up on a ranch in northern Colorado. She studied animal science and agricultural business and attended Northeastern Junior College and Colorado State University.

A rodeo rider, Boka once made it to the finals in the NWSS pro rodeo.

Her experience showing livestock led her to learn how to judge and eventually become the general manager of the Nile Stock Show and Rodeo in Billings, Montana for nine years, prior to joining the NWSS. This is her second year with the show.

As far as how the NWSS selects judges every year, Boka said breed associations or committees make recommendations for qualified judges the show can hire.

Many of the animals shown are destined to be breeding stock or — as Boka puts it — are headed for the human food chain as protein.

For example, one of the highlights of the NWSS is the Junior Market Steer competition, where the best of the best out of thousands of steers compete in a “drive” to be champion — for a few days or weeks.

“The Grand Champion steer is a steer that has been slated his entire life to be a market animal,” Boka said. “Our market animals go directly to the food chain. They provide beef, pork, lamb, and goat protein. You know that old saying, farmers feed the world? That’s part of what we’re doing.”

Grand Champion steers have sold at auction for as much as $150,000.

Bids go high not necessarily because of the value of the protein, but as part of encouraging young people to look at a future in agriculture and to further their education.

According to the NWSS, a majority of the winning bid price goes directly to the junior exhibitor and 10% is donated to support the National Western Scholarship Trust.

The National Western Stock Show is big business for Colorado.

The Common Sense Institute recently reported the NWSS brought in $171 million in 2023 and an additional $26.4 million in direct spending from 97 different events hosted year-round at the National Western Complex.

“The mission of the National Western Stock Show is to invest in future generations by promoting youth and community development through livestock and equestrian education, innovation, entertainment, and competition,” according to Stock Show promotional materials. “We are proud to help develop agricultural leaders through our scholarship opportunities.”