{"id":215156,"date":"2026-03-22T06:12:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T06:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/215156\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T06:12:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T06:12:50","slug":"grand-champion-junior-market-steer-sells-for-record-1-5-million-at-2026-houston-livestock-show-and-rodeo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/215156\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Champion Junior Market Steer sells for record $1.5 million at 2026 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) &#8212; The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo set a new record on Saturday with the Grand Champion Junior Steer selling for $1.5 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The Grand Champion steer, Zinger, was raised by Mason Grady of John County 4-H. Grady is a five-time exhibitor at the Houston rodeo, with his family participating in the event for more than two decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">When asked if he got any sleep the night before after being crowned Grand Champion, Grady replied, &#8220;Practically none! I mean, how can you sleep after something as amazing as that!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Zinger was sold for a new Rodeo record of $1.5 million to Trinity River Land &amp; Cattle Company. Stephen Kolek, who represented Trinity River Land &amp; Cattle Co., said the group was proud to support youth through the livestock auction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;We are proud of what we can do to support young students&#8217; futures,&#8221; Kolek said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Grand Champion steer, named Zinger, was sold for a record-breaking $1.5 million at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR zFTjo hakZw HlUVI \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/18747265_grand-champion-steer-2026-hlsr-with-credit-img.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Grand Champion steer, named Zinger, was sold for a record-breaking $1.5 million at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.<\/p>\n<p>Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The Reserve Grand Champion steer also set a new record for RodeoHouston on Saturday. The steer, named Ryan, was raised by Jett Hale of Miami FFA and was sold for $750,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Hale, repeat top exhibitor at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, said the moment was just as meaningful as previous years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t get old at all,&#8221; Hale said. &#8220;This experience is incredible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The donors on the Reserve Grand Champion lot were Laura and Steve McNear, Lisa and Chris Cunningham, and Barbara and Don Jordan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Since its beginning in 1932, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has committed more than $660 million to the youth of Texas and education through its various auctions and events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;It&#8217;s incredible to see everybody supporting us,&#8221; Hale said, expressing gratitude to donors and the broader Rodeo community. &#8220;We&#8217;d like to thank each and every one of you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Reserve Grand Champion steer, Ryan, set its own record, selling at $750,000 at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR zFTjo hakZw HlUVI \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/18747410_reserve-grand-champ-steer-hlsr-2026-with-credit-img.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Reserve Grand Champion steer, Ryan, set its own record, selling at $750,000 at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.<\/p>\n<p>Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) &#8212; The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo set a new record on Saturday with the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[84120,56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-215156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-84120","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-headlines","11":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}