For most fans at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the calf scramble lasts only a few exciting moments. For Klein Oak High School junior Andrew Marks, it marked the beginning of a months-long journey.<\/p>\n
After winning the 2026 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo calf scramble, Marks earned the opportunity to purchase and raise his first show heifer as part of his FFA project. <\/p>\n
KPRC 2\u2019s Brittany Jeffers will follow his journey over the coming months as he prepares to return to the rodeo.<\/p>\n
Marks remembers the excitement of stepping onto the dirt inside NRG Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to walk out of the tunnel… neon lights flashing… when they drop the hat, you don\u2019t hear anything anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Although he walked away with the win, Marks said he didn\u2019t have much of a strategy going into the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no idea what I was doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His victory allowed him to purchase a heifer named Benelli from a breeder in Willis. The 6-month-old heifer weighs just over 700 pounds and has become part of Marks\u2019 daily routine.<\/p>\n
Every day starts before sunrise and ends after dark as Marks balances school, a part-time job and caring for his animal.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery early mornings, late nights, every day before school and after school just getting ready for the rodeo,\u201d Marks said.<\/p>\n
He admits juggling everything can be challenging, but says the barn is where he wants to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time-consuming, and I do my best to spread my time out evenly, but it\u2019s hard when I just want to be here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Marks says raising Benelli has taught him patience, discipline and responsibility, making the experience about much more than preparing for a livestock show.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really a dream come true. I\u2019ve always wanted to do this,\u201d Marks said.<\/p>\n
KPRC 2 will continue following Marks\u2019 journey as he works toward showing Benelli at the next Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, giving viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the dedication and hard work that goes into raising a show animal.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For most fans at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the calf scramble lasts only a few exciting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[75976,56,58,57,30496,129910],"class_list":["post-366946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-calf-scramble","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-rodeo","tag-klein-oak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366946","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=366946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}