The enormous cattle population in the West multiplies the chances of winners coming from there. Maryland did have a winner in Louisville in the mid-1980s, with Broadway, an Angus bull, who lived out his days on a Frederick farm, Barao said.
Bob Tibbs, a lifelong cattle breeder who has been farming in Havre de Grace for most of his 68 years, bought Squall to breed and show for $4,500.
"It's like choosing a racehorse," he said. "You depend on your instincts, what you like in the animal. You study the pedigree."
The couple have long favored Charolais, a breed characterized by its white coat that was imported from France in the 1930s. The meat is just as tender as black Angus but without the fat, Bob Tibbs said.
Not that his bull is a lightweight. He will add about 100 pounds a month and should hit 1 ton before he reaches maturity in the spring. When Tibbs points to the bull's strong musculature and perfect hindquarters, he is thinking breeding, not beef.
During show season, Squall gets star treatment with thrice-weekly baths on the wash rack, a shampooing that comes with conditioner and a blow dry to give his coat luster.
"He loves a good wash and blow dry and likes the water running off of him," Bob Tibbs said. "His hair is conditioned to keep dust from being absorbed. If he is wet when he lays down, the mud could stain him."
With a long tail that falls into a cluster of curls and a tufted brow accenting soft brown eyes, he looks marvelous, even hunkered down in the pasture.
"My husband carries his photo in his wallet, not mine," said Judy Tibbs.
He wears the traditional brass ring in his nose, a must for show bulls, but has shown no inclination to charge, kick or butt. His temperament has made Squall the barnyard favorite. He prefers a face rub or a pat on the back. Even the groomers can't get over how gentle he is, Tibbs said.
On the one occasion that Squall wandered from his pen, he went no farther than the front lawn.
"I just threw the halter over his head, and he walked back with me," Bob Tibbs said.
In Squall, judges will see the gentleness bred over decades into Charolais cattle, Tibbs said.
"The nasty ones go for hamburger, so we don't breed that back into the herd," Bob Tibbs said.
Like everything else on the 87-acre farm, Squall has a job, although how well he carries out his duties is yet to be seen. Squall bred five cows naturally last summer and a dozen more were artificially inseminated.
"When we have calves on the ground next spring, then we will really know," Bob Tibbs said.
"His semen sells for $25 a unit now, but if he becomes national champion, the sky is the limit. And he can breed for eight to 10 years."
At the North American show, the top in each class competes for grand champion, a title that can increase a bull's worth to as much as $100,000, Tibbs said.
The Tibbses left yesterday for Kentucky.
If Squall wins, he will spend the holidays at his old home in Missouri. The Tibbses will pick him up there and take him to Texas after the first of the year.
"She will miss him more than I," Bob Tibbs said of his wife. "We have raised cattle since we were married 47 years ago, and I think this one is her favorite."
Win or not, Squall will be back on the farm this winter. A dozen or so heifers, last year's calves, await.
"They will probably all get to know White Squall," Tibbs said. "At least, I hope so."
