Top Stock Magazine July 2018

ISSUE 13 JULY 2018

K-STATE JUDGES AT SYNERGY

Schaake & Mullinix set to sort the west's biggest Junior showcase

&

Leading by Example – Bashaw's All Breeds Show initiates mentorship program Baby Beef – A look back at the beginning of the market beef shows in Calgary

PF 5682 Henrietta Pride 0533 X BW: 70 lbs | WW: 793 | YW: 1270 | Scrotal: 40.5 V A R Discovery 2240

OWNED BY:

EPDs

For more information visit

www.canadiansires.com

CE: BW: WW: YW: SC: DOC: HP:

14 -0.5 61 115 1.42 23 13.4

MILK: CW: MARB: RE: $W: $F: $G: $B:

28 47 0.97 0.76 69.05 71.6 50.90 150

phone (306) 270-6082 or email bohrsonoffice@gmail.com

Utilize PF Oklahoma 6625 to increase visual quality while adding impressive maternal lineage and an unprecedented EPD profile.

Strong footed, sound structured, large scrotal, smooth made and nearly impossible to find a hole in for an exciting up and coming calving ease prospect. Genetically, he is intriguing by representing two of the great cow families in the industry with the Rita on the top side and the world renowned Henrietta Pride on the bottom side. Within the AAA, his EPD profile is incredible as he ranks in the top 20% for every trait and has a strong genomic profile to compliment it as well. PF Oklahoma 6625 is the exact bull we strive to source to offer to the beef industry.

Dam: PF 5682 Henrietta Pride 0533 Grandam: Sitz Henrietta Pride 643T

SEMEN AVAILABLE IN 2019

Sharing the Herd female sale D ec em b er 5 ‘ 1 8 DOUBLE BAR D ANGEL 530A American Pride x Blk Angel 43

W/C RJ MISS 8543 6043D High Regard x Miss Werning KP 8543U • Maternal sister to Bankroll Owned with Dusty Rose Cattle Co.

DOUBLE BAR D GEORGIA 486A Upscale X25 x Ms Georgia 565R DOUBLE BAR D SUSIE 402D Circuit Breaker x Cruisin Susan T26

W/C RJ MISS 8543 6110D Loaded Up 119Y x Miss Werning KP 8543U Full sister to Bankroll

Sales managed by

Double Bar D Farms Box 580 Grenfell Saskatchewan Canada S0G 2B0 www.doublebardfarms.com kenshau@yourlink.ca Ken Dimler 306-697-7204 Richard Dimler 306-697-7298 Allan Hjertaas 306-452-8427

Every good showman knows

success starts at home.

Weigh your animals from home for consistent, accurate results.

• Easily track show animal performance • Lightweight and portable for quick and easy setup • Ideal for basic weighing

Weighing Made easy

SUITABLE FOR

800.874.8494

Weigh System

www.tru-test.com

GRANDSON Golden-Oak Outcross 18U owned by Churchill Cattle / Hoffman Herefords, Sire of National Champions

DAUGHTER AXA Golden-Oak Nellie ET 701X, Donor for Blairs.Ag Cattle

TENT QUALITY CATTLE THAT HAVE BRED TRUE & CONSIS PROGRAMS THROUGHOUT THE GENERATIONS IN MANY

GREAT GRAND-DAUGHTER BNC Glenlees 429 Nellie 71D, 2017 Agribition Grand Champion Female for Glenlees Farm & Blairs.Ag 2017 Hereford Champion of the World

MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2018

FEATURING THE DECENDANTS OF NCX MISS JR NELLIE 528N

GRAND-DAUGHTER Blair’s Nellie R117 3E, 2017 Agribition Hereford Sale high selling heifer calf

SON AXA Golden-Oak Xceed 704X, Sire

for Topp Herefords & Semex Alliance

Hosted online by

LiveAuctions TV TOM MCNEELY – BOWDEN, AB 780.679.7220 – TOM@GOLDENOAKLIVESTOCK.COM

ALLAN MARSHALL – HAMPTON, NB 506.636.1877 – ALLAN@AXAFARMS.CA

FEATURES

JULY 2018

16

64

IN THIS

ISSUE

16 64

22

Leading by Example Bashaw's All Breeds initiates mentorship program

Baby Beef A look back at the beginning of Junior market stock shows in Calgary

Top Stock Magazine is published four times per year. One year subscription cost $15.00 per year ($15.75 with GST) in Canada, $35.00 per year in the USA. Top Stock magazine, hereby expressly limits its liability resulting from any and all misprints, errors and/or inaccuracies whatsoever in the advertisement and editorial content published by Top Stock and its said liability is here by limited to the refund of the customer for its payment for said advertisement, or the running of the corrected advertisement, or editorial notice.

Notification by the customer of any error must be made within 30 days of the distribution of the magazine. Advertising copy received after the deadline may not be returned for proofing. Changes to advertising copy made after the deadline date will be allowed only if time permits, and will incur the appropriate charges according to time and materials involved in the changes. The opinions or views expressed in the editorials are those of the persons interviewed in the article and not Top Stock magazine. Top Stock does however reserve the right to edit or refuse all material which might be objectionable in content. No material or part thereof may be reproduced or used out of context, without prior specific approval of a proper credit to Top Stock.

K-State Judges Head to Synergy Catching up with Schaake & Mullinix about the west's biggest Junior showcase

22

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

07

Learn more about GENEX genetics: 888.354.4622 // www.genexcanada.ca © 2018 Genex Cooperative, Inc. All rights reserved.

A-18637-18

SULLIVAN’S

ROTO FLUFFER BRUSH THE ULTIMATE SHOW DAY ROTO BRUSH

New

Durable Aluminum Housing

This new twist on the traditional roto brush will take your hair presentation to a whole new level, with its tremendous ability to separate and lift the hair creating a full body look it will become your show day go to tool. Built into a durable aluminum housing sets two styles of bristles. The first being ¾” soft flex bristles made for ultimate separation and lift to thick coats.

The second being ¼” fiber bristles to provide superb undercoat separation.

Combining these two bristles provide hair volume like no other that works on all types of hair coats to provide an even fluff without making the hair wavy. The Roto Fluffer is best used for clipping, fitting, displaying and show day preparation.

180 Soft Flex Bristles for Ultimate Lift

Anti- Slip Drill Attachment

Fiber Bristles for Undercoat Separation

LEGENDARY MOTOR PERFORMANCE Sullivan’s 24” Turbo Fan Sullivan’s 24” Show Barn Fan SASKATCHEWAN Flat Top Cattle Co. Suzanne & Tyler Smyth • 306-750-8423 ONTARIO RK Animal Supply 519.638.5942 • 519.638.3533 • 1-800-440-2694 MARITIME PROVINCES CANADA MIP Show & Livestock Supply Marvin Peters • 902-886-2939 MANITOBA Foxy Lady Cattle Co. & Show Supply Tracy & Marcia Pizzey • 204-724-4912 • 204-728-3366

JULY 2018

CROSS-CANADA COVERAGE

ISSUE 13 JULY 2018

On the Cover Maguire Blair shows his steer during the double-header SE Club Calf Cruze/Lord of the Ring weekend.

K-STATE JUDGES AT SYNERGY

Schaake & Mullinix set to sort the west's biggest Junior showcase

&

Leading by Example – Bashaw's All Breeds Show initiates mentorship program Baby Beef – A look back at the beginning of the market beef shows in Calgary

©© Cover photo by Top Stock

DEPARTMENTS 14 CONTRIBUTORS 31 SHOW RESULTS 74 UPCOMING EVENTS 76 ADVERTISERS INDEX

Above Cache McLerie's heifer in the final drive of the 2018 Bashaw Spring Round-up. © Top Stock Magazine

SHOW INDEX 31 32 33 34 35 36 38 40 41 42

Oklahoma Youth Expo Crossroads Beef Expo Regina Spring Show GMACK Progress Show Lakeland Little Royal Cody Sibbald Legacy Classic London Junior Beef Expo Manitoba Winter Fair Chinook Junior Stock Show Making Champions

UPCOMING ISSUES Issue Early Fall

Prospect 2000 Saskatoon Junior Beef Expo Empire State Beef Classic CRY Show Olds Spring Classic Weldon Steer & Heifer Show Bashaw Spring Round-up Island Spring Beef Show Ontario Youth Forum Mukk Boots or Mittens

55 56 56 58 59 60 60 61 62

Paul DeLong Memorial Jackpot SE Club Calf Cruz Lord of the Ring UFA Country Classic 4-H on Parade Bruno Lion's Jackpot Lloydminster 4-H Expo Stettler Heartland Classic Acme Steer Show

ADVERTISING RATES

Booking Deadline

Published

Aug 6

Sept 3

Sept 25

Nov 1

Frequency

1x 2x

3x 4x

Rate: $40/hr

1175

1150

1125

250

Full Page

650

625

600

575

175

Half Double Page Spread

650

625

600

575

175

Mid-Summer To Be Announced

Half Vertical

350

325

300

275

85

*Please contact for camera-ready ad deadlines

Half Horizontal

350

325

300

275

85

Quarter

250 225 200 175

50

Eighth

150 125 100 75

30

Spring A.I.

To Be Announced

Ads paid prior to press date receive 5% discount off the listed price. Back cover, inside back cover, inside front cover, and other position pages are priced upon request. Prices listed in Canadian funds.

Double Page Spread

DESIGN RATES* 1200

Late Fall

010

43 43 46 46 48 49 50 51 52 55

All ads are full color. 5% GST not included. *Design rates when you run your ad in Top Stock.

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

www.facebook.com/topstockmagazine

M A G A Z I N E JULY 2018

ISSUE 13 Editor-in-Chief

Letters to the Editor

Katie Songer

Top Stock Magazine welcomes your

Contributing Photographers

comments, questions and opinions.

Christine Boake Photography

Send your letters via email to

Legacy Livestock Images

info@topstockmagazine.com

Crossroads Beef Expo

Back Issues

Lakeland College

Back issues can be found online at

Grant Rolston Photography Ltd.

topstockmagazine.com or can be

Barn Girls

ordered, subject to availability, from

Sadie Anwender

the publishers.

Prairie Pistol Designs/Melissa McRae

Subscription Services

Jenna Lingley ShowChampions Prime Cut Publishing Colleen & Myles Hanson Erin Campbell Mukk Boots or Mittens Committee James Hudyma

Contributing Writers Jeff Gaye Emily Ritchie Piper Whelan

Advertising Representatives Katie Songer Canada/USA info@topstockmagazine.com 587.802.3110 Sarah Buchanan Canada sarah@goldenthread.ca 306.681.5340 Tracy Kimmel Canada topstockmagazine@gmail.com phone 780.875.2089 Meghan Kimmel USA

LIQUID VITAMIN & TRACE MINERAL SUPPLEMENT

get a head start right from day one A highly absorbable liquid feed nutrition supplement that promotes energy, alertness, immune response, bloom, and stimulates appetite – you will be pleased with the results!

Subscribe to Top Stock magazine for only $15/year (+$0.75/GST) in Canada and $35 (+$1.75/GST) in the USA

2018 Publication Schedule Top Stock is published four times per year in full color.

All rights reserved No part of Top Stock magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the expressed written consent of the publisher.

The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any editorial or advertising material.

Bovi-glo is formulated for all stages of beef cattle – from calves to mature animals. Nation-wide shipping or delivery! For more information, contact Preferred Supply at 403.350.0185 or info@preferredsupply.co

Office Top Stock Magazine 17B Hampton Crescent Sylvan Lake, Alberta T4S 0N4 phone: 587.802.3110 info@topstockmagazine.com www.topstockmagazine.com

Got Talent?

Interested in writing, photographing or designing for Top Stock?

We are looking for you! Contact us at info@topstockmagazine.com

mags_gk@yahoo.com phone 913.370.3945

DON'T FORGET! THE BOOKING DEADLINE FOR THE SEPTEMBER SALES ISSUE IS AUG 3!

SHOW RESULTS LISTED FREE

012

Attention Event Organizers! We will run your show results for free! Simply email your results and high resolution pictures of your champions to info@topstockmagazine.com

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

Wash Your Way to the Banner

I N N O VA T I O N M A T T E R S .

• If you’ve got a calf with dull hair, use Brightening Shampoo.

It contains optical enhancers that reflect sunlight to make hide and hair appear more vibrant.

• Working with hair that just won’t fluff up? Degreasing Shampoo strips product buildup that weighs hair down.

Quality. Heritage. Innovation. Commitment.

thewinnersbrand.com

#morethanthebanner

18-1603-LV-DAD

M A G A Z I N E MEET THE TOP STOCK TEAM

Katie Songer Editor-in-chief Creative Direction

Sarah Buchanan Canada Ad Sales

Tracy Kimmel Canada Ad Sales

Meghan Hoffman USA Ad Sales

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jeff Gaye has worked in an ice cream factory and two breweries, fought forest fires, served in the RCAF, and played in symphony orchestras. He has been writing about the beef industry since 2012, and is also the editor of CFB Cold Lake’s weekly newspaper

Jeff Gaye Contributing Writer

Livestock Show Supplies • Dryshod Boots NEW & Muckboots Bonnie Mohr Prints • Clipper parts • Winning Fill

The Courier.

Emily Ritchie is an active member of the Canadian beef industry. Aside from writing, she is involved in her family’s commercial cow/ calf operation and works in industry, promoting youth involvement. Graduating from Lethbridge College with her diploma in Agricultural

Emily Ritchie Contributing Writer

Technology, she keeps busy working an volunteering throughout the beef industry.

Piper Whelan is a writer and editor from Irricana, Alberta. Raised on her family’s Maine-Anjou ranch, she competed in junior shows and 4-H. After graduating from the University of Alberta, she studied at the University of King’s College School

Stop by & Take a Look!

of Journalism. Her work has appeared in

Piper Whelan Contributing Writer

014

Atlantic Beef & Sheep, Western Horse Review, and various breed publications.

Just north of the 4-way stop at Didsbury on the East side 31355 Highway 2A North, Didsbury, Alberta 403.335.3780 or 403.556.9247 carol@cowsmo.com www.facebook.com/cowsmuckboots muckbootsco.com

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

DAKOTA GOLD X PATRON HEIFER

If you're already thinking about To our 2017 customers, congratulations on your successes this spring.

NEXT YEAR

SUMMER PRIVATE TREATY SALES START MID-JULY. CALL US FOR A TOUR!

Champion AOB & Grand Champion Steer PEI EASTER BEEF SHOW Champion Hereford Steer

PEI EASTER BEEF SHOW

Grand Champion Heifer

MUKK BOOTS OR MITTENS

Reserve Senior Commercial Female CODY SIBBALD LEGACY CLASSIC

Reserve Middleweight Steer MAKING CHAMPIONS

Champion Hereford Heifer

DAKOTA GOLD X PATRON STEER

WALKS ALONE

X

MAVERICK STEER

MAKING CHAMPIONS

Reserve Hereford Steer CRY

Grand Champion Steer

BESIEKER 4-H

Champion Senior Steer 4-H ON PARADE

Reserve Hereford Female CRY

Champion Shorthorn Female

CRY

Reserve Senior Open Female OLDS SPRING CLASSIC

WALKS ALONE X MAVERICK STEER

I DA MAN

X

UNSTOPPABLE STEER

LEN & SALLY SONGER & FAMILY • Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada • 403.845.5239 luckyspringsfarms@yahoo.com • www.luckyspringsfarms.com • www.facebook.com/LuckySprings

LUCKY SPRINGS FARMS

016

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

leading example

WORDS BY EMILY RITCHIE

BY

B

ig things are in the works for the 2018 National Junior All-Breeds show this year. The Bashaw Agricultural Show Committee does a great job of supporting youth in the cattle industry, and they have just kicked things up a notch. In a recently announced partnership with MNP, the committee has launched the newly formed MNP Mentorship Program that will take place during the show, August 15-18 in Bashaw, Alberta. The program is aimed at supporting newcomers to the cattle show world by teaming them up with more experienced showmen during this year’s event.

Dawn Wilson, a member of the committee, is thrilled about the new element this year. “We are very fortunate to be working with MNP on this new program. When we contacted Scott Dixon about the concept, he was very excited. Working with MNP is a really natural partnership for us.” MNP has given the show the ability to hire 5 mentors to support young cattlemen entered in the annual event. “The idea is to provide people during the show, who aren’t showing themselves, who are able to assist and teach the less experienced kids.” Wilson explains.

Mentorship has become a large part of the cattle industry in recent years through many different programs. The newly developed MNP program however, takes things in a little different direction. Rather than providing mentors to a select group of hand picked individuals, MNP and the Bashaw Agricultural Show Committee are working to provide assistance to all of those who may be

Left Mentor Andie Hadway helps a youth with their fitting techniques at a 2017 Stock Show-U. © Top Stock

in need at the show. Identified with MNP logos, the group of 5 mentors will be on hand for the weekend to answer questions, provide critique and generally support the young showmen entered in the national event.

The mentors have been carefully selected to be able to provide assistance to young cattlemen of all levels. “The mentors have all gone through or are just finishing the program here at the National Junior All-Breeds show.”

Wilson explains. “They have the ability to help out the new people to the cattle showing world, as well as some of the more experienced kids at the show.” Since the list of mentors includes many friendly faces to the show cattle industry, they will be approachable and relatable to the young cattlemen competing, making it easier to ask for help! The 5 MNP mentors will be roving the show grounds, ready to offer help to anyone who needs it. The addition of the mentorship program is also a benefit to parents at the show. The mentors are able to take some of the stress off by making themselves available to help out where needed, allowing parents to enjoy themselves and take in more of the show as well.

The mentors include familiar faces around the AllBreeds show. Each comes from an extensive background of cattle show experience and knowledge – Garrett Lundago, a Bashaw native who graduated high school in 2017, is now actively persuing a career in the cattle industry and will act as one of the mentors for the weekend. Garrett is a familar face at the fall shows where he is in constant demand as a custom fitter. Shallaine Daley, from the Carstairs area, started her show cattle

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

017

Left Top Mentor Ty Dietrich shows his family's Red Angus at the 2015 Farmfair in Edmonton, where they won Supreme Champion Bull. ©© Show Champions

Left Bottom Mentor Garrett Lundago shows a Champion at Olds Spring Classic. ©© Top Stock

Right Top Mentor Shallaine Daley competes at the 2018 Acme Steer show. ©© Christine Boake Photography

Right Bottom Mentor Laurie Morasch accepts the Supreme Female award for her Purebred Angus at the 2017 Summer Synergy. ©© ShowChampions

018

career with her her time in 4-H and her enthusiastic presence has continued on the jackpot circuit. At age 23, she has recently aged out of the Junior National All Breeds program. Ty Deitrich of Forestburg, AB has been a constant figure among the youth and 4-H cattle shows across Canada.

Graduating from NAIT in 2015 with his Graphic Design Certificate has allowed him to persue a career servicing the cattle industry, while still being involved in his family’s cattle operation at Redrich Farms. Laurie Morasch is integral to the running of her family's Lazy MC Angus – A Purebred Red and Black Angus operation located east of Bassano, AB. Laurie travels with her family all over North America, showing cattle, which makes her an ideal mentor for young people taking their first steps into the show cattle world. Andie Hadway, a past Stock Show-U professor, rounds out the group. Andie hails from Didsbury, AB where she works along side her parents on Westway Farms.

up is available to assist any of the young showmen during the event, keeping the focus of the show on building skills in young producers through experience.

Mentors will be on site to provide hands on help during show day, from the clipping and fitting process, all the way up to when the young showmen walk into the ring. The program is designed to build confidence in the less experienced competitors, while also expanding the knowledge of some of the more experienced ones as well.

The MNP Mentorship Program is ecstatic to be able to supply such a strong lineup of mentors to the young cattle producers entered in the Junior National AllBreeds show this year. The entire line

MNP has been a huge supporter of youth in agriculture in many ways, and the new MNP Mentorship Program is just another example. Their support is working to create a positive and inviting environment for new Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

entrants in the cattle show world, at the National Junior All-Breeds show. Along with all of the work put forth by the committee, MNP is helping to build the next generation of showmen, along with a new generation of mentors and supporters at the same time.

Empowering young competitors to share their knowledge in an inviting and friendly setting, while encouraging those who are less experienced to seek out help and expand their horizons, is the perfect storm when it comes to building new leaders in the industry.

If you are looking forward to the National Junior All-Breeds Show this year, make sure you keep your eyes peeled for the MNP t-shirts!

TRUST YOUR LIVE SALE BROADCAST TO THE PROFESSIONALS WITH OVER 275,000 REGISTERED BIDDERS

OVER 1,255

LIVE CATTLE AUCTION SALES BROADCAST IN 2017 GET THE BEST AUCTION BROADCAST PLATFORM IN NORTH AMERICA WORKING FOR YOU! The fastest growing promotional tool available to livestock producers!

Founded in 1999, DVAuction is the oldest and most respected real-time internet livestock marketing service. Our free viewing capabilities, quick and easy bidder approval, and online video catalogs increase exposure to bidders around the world. Leading producers rely on DVAuction to mitigate weather risks, minimize travel for their customers, and increase their profits.

Sarah Buchanan 306.681.5340 sarah@goldenthread.ca

Emily Gibson 519.440.9907 stockyardswesternapparel@gmail.com

CONTACT US FOR A QUOTE!

DVAUCTION.COM

RK ANIMAL SUPPLIES LTD. RKANIMALSUPPLIES.COM follow us to see our newest products, specials and updates!

7647 Wellington County Rd 10 Moorefield, Ont. N0G2K0 rkanimalsupplies@xplornet.com TOLL FREE 1-800-440-2694

EMAIL

National Junior shows this summer: Bonanza - CJNH, July 17-21, QC Showdown - CJNA, July 19-21, Barrie ON CJNS - August 3-5, Stratford ON For more information, please visit our website!

SHOP ONLINE TODAY!

Fast, Dependable Services Reasonable Prices Canada Wide Shipping!

NEW PRODUCTS

what f o e r o m To view to offer, we have ebsite at rw visit ou alsupplies.com anim www.rk

SULLIVAN’S KNOCK OUT

ANDIS PULSE ZR II

A powerful stain remover that has a unique biodegradable formula that will break the bond in dirt, grime, feces, dust and stains in the coat!

The famous Pulse ZR now comes with a removable battery to ensure you never run out of power!

ANDIS BLUE RIBBON BLADE

Delivers improved hair feed and superior cutting results - even when used with adhesives!

SULLIVAN’S NATURAL WHITE

CARBON FIBER SHOW STICK

Uniquely designed to enhance the skin and hair of all livestock, leaving the animal with a lighter and brighter appearance.

Constructed of high-end carbon fiber material commonly used for aerospace parts - now comes in Silver!

SULLIVAN’S SMART COMB

A new twist to the popular Smart Comb, this new style handle provides a comfortable grip! Also available in a fluffer!

EMERGENCY BRAKE HALTER

Developed for those calves that really need an attitude adjustment. The cable is 3/32” and galvanized.

CRUISE CONTROL HALTER

Developed to be used on calves who have smaller issues such as leading or holding their head high.

WORDS BY JEFF GAYE

Schaake & Mullinix set to judge at Summer Synergy this July.

I

f exhibitors keep a book on the various judges they show under, what would “the book” say

about Scott Schaake and Chris Mullinix, two judges from Kansas State University who will be in Olds for the Summer Synergy show?

Schaake, who coached the Kansas State Livestock Judging Team from 1992 to 2013, laughed when he heard the question.

“Funny you say that, because I've actually seen one of those books,” he said. “And they actually track ‘this particular judge likes this or likes that.’”

The book entry for Schaake is that he is “a fanatic

for structure.” He doesn’t describe himself as a fanatic, but Schaake says structure is important.

“Back then I was doing a lot of steer shows, and of course in a market show you probably put a little more emphasis on muscle as the final product.

But I still think structure is a reflection of all the animals in the population, not just the steers. So [the exhibitor] and I had a long discussion about that. Why do you think structure is so important in a steer? I said well, that steer has sisters somewhere around the counter too and they've got to look like a female.”

summer synergy K-STATE JUDGES AT

022

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

Schaake grew up on the farm his family still operates in eastern Kansas. “When we showed cattle I thought the guy judging was just pretty cool,” he said. Schaake started in livestock judging at the age of 10, and his parents encouraged him to get comfortable with public speaking—a key skill for a judge in the show ring.

"You win the show months ahead of it. It's all the preparation, all the work, everything you do at home...You don't win the day of the show."

“So it is kind of natural for me to be able to give oral reasons, just because I did a lot of speaking growing up when I was in 4H and FFA [Future Farmers of America],” he said.

As Kansas State’s coach, he led his teams to five consecutive national championships.

Schaake did well at livestock judging, and worked his way up in competition. He ended up on the Kansas State judging team that won the national

championship in 1983, and he placed as the high individual judge in the contest.

Mullinix is the current livestock judging coach and an instructor at Kansas State. He grew up on his family’s cattle operation in Maryland, and like Schaake, he caught the judging bug at an early age.

Left to Right Kandi, Scott & Shilo Schaake; and Shane & Melissa Schaake run a familyowned Simmental operation in the Kansas Flint Hills. ©© Legacy Livestock Photography

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

023

But the opportunities on the east coast don’t match what the Midwest has to offer.

to communicate with people and judge

“It's a big reason why I was drawn to Kansas State University to study as an undergraduate. The opportunity to follow my interests academically in animal sciences, but also a chance to be part of a collegiate judging team,” he said.

do that.

“So that's kind of how I got started into doing it, and I've had a lot of good fortune.”

That good fortune includes following Schaake into the ranks of high individual judges at Nationals.

of people in your country would have had

The Animal Sciences program at Kansas State has been home to great teachers over the years. Schaake and Mullinix, who are both currently on the faculty, had the benefit of outstanding mentors.

generation.”

“Don Good would have been one of them,” Schaake recalls. “You know he judged about every show in the world and was just such a great leader. And another fellow by the name of Miles McKee. He was always a favourite judge of mine. I just loved going to shows and listening to Miles discuss the cattle on the microphone, and his ability

024

shows. It was just incredible how he could “Later on I was able to have him as an instructor in class, and he was just as exciting in the classroom. People like that get you excited about doing shows. Joe Lewis would be another one, I'm sure a lot Joe a time or two come up and judge shows in Canada.

“And of course all of those but Miles are deceased, and it's time for the new Mullinix has another name from Kansas State. “Dr. Schaake is certainly a very important mentor,” he said.

But Mullinix takes most of his inspiration from the producers in his family, starting with his parents. He also considers his younger brother Randy, who farms with his wife Jamie, an important influence.

“I've made a career decision to be in education and to work with young people, and they have stayed in production,” he

Top Schaake is well-respected in the judging circles for his ability to communicate with even the youngest exhibitors.

Right Mullinix describes a class while sorting the market steers at the National Western Stock show.

©© Legacy Livestock Photography

©© ShowChampions Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

"Even if [young people] move on to other career fields, they will be positive spokesmen for agriculture."

said. “That's very valuable from a judging standpoint for me, but also for me to help educate young people. I have to stay in tune with what is happening every day in the industry, and he gives me that opportunity to do that.”

For Mullinix and for Schaake, teaching and mentoring are a big part of keeping young people in agriculture. Judging, exhibiting and producing livestock instill a work ethic and a sense of responsibility that will serve them no matter what career path they choose, which is handy: there are few opportunities and few rewards in agriculture for those who don’t see it as a way of life.

“They can make a whole lot more money and do a whole lot less work outside of agriculture,” Schaake said. “And for a lot of young people, to get involved in agriculture is tough—they have to either have a great banker, or be lucky at inheriting a big ranch or work their way into a family program.”

But an education in agriculture pays dividends for the industry even if young people move on to other careers, Mullinix said. “Even if they choose other career fields, they will be positive spokesmen for agriculture. And we need that as much as we need good people in agriculture.

“Obviously we need these young people going back into production and taking over these farms and ranches, and doing it even better in the next generation. But more importantly probably, and we're really seeing it now, we need people in other walks of life that appreciate agriculture,” he said.

“And we're really at a turning point right now,

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

025

where so many consumers really don't know or understand where their food comes from.”

Both men say it’s people, as much as product, that make the beef industry great.

“I don't think there's any question about it,” Mullinix said. “The people that manage these farms and ranches and have done so for so many generations in their families, the passion that they have for what they do and the way that they go about it no matter how things change, no matter what obstacles we have at a given time. The people are our number one asset.”

Schaake says ranching is a great way of life, and that’s what keeps people in the industry. “I see that even more so up there [in Canada], and particularly the Alberta region. You know when you look at livestock or cattle producers, it's just a great family business.”

But Schaake also says that good food value 026

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

“My hope at the end of the day is not that you're happy that someone else maybe beat you or placed higher than you, but that you are satisfied with the explanation I gave." is a key strength of the industry. Beef is a protein of choice, he said, and the industry has a role feeding the world as inexpensively and efficiently as it can.

simple as a little old small county fair.

I think the reason it's special to me is because that's where I started, so even the small shows are favourites of mine.”

“I think we're really pretty good at it,” he said. “If you look at our industry over just the last 20 years, how far we've come along not only in the genetics but our ability to feed cattle, they're efficient. We can do it fairly cheap.”

In the ring, Schaake says it’s the right combination of traits that will carry the day. In his experience—"whether it’s a dog show, a cattle show, hogs or whatever”— judges get into trouble when they single-trait select. “It's easy to do, but it really doesn't get us normally in the right direction,” he said.

The people in the industry make the judging life enjoyable for both Schaake and Mullinix. They have both travelled extensively, and they have both been judges at some of the biggest shows. But when pressed to name a favourite show, they have a hard time.

The big shows in Denver, Colorado and Louisville, Kentucky come to mind for Mullinix, largely because of the high quality of the livestock. But it’s not the scale of an event that makes it enjoyable for him.

Top Left Mullinix gives a young exhibitor the slap during the 2018 Supreme Champion Heifer drive at the Houston Livestock show. ©© Show Champions

Top Right Schaake sorts through the Houston Livestock show market steers, a slick show known for its large entry numbers. ©© Show Champions

Bottom Left Mullinix (second from left) and Schaake (second from right) have lead their Kansas state team through many successful competitions. ©© Show Champions

“You know, those places pop in mind but there's people and acquaintances you make everywhere you go that make each place unique,” he said. “Lots of times at the small ones, the enjoyment comes from getting to really be engaged with the people that are there.”

For Schaake, nothing beats a county fair. He started showing livestock at the county level, and eventually went on to state and national competition. While he was growing up, the family vacation was a week-long trip to the county fair. So for him, the best show is the one he’s at.

“I would say this: I don't know that I've ever judged a show that I didn't say was a favourite show of mine,” he said. “I just enjoy them all. And even something as Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

So instead, a good judge will select for a balance of traits. “Structural correctness or soundness would be one of those at the top of the list. You know the breeding females need to look like females, they need to have some refinement,” he said. At the same time they also need to have some growth and size, some body and some ability to gain weight.

“I mentioned earlier our industry's become really efficient. But that only happens if you get the right kind of animal, and we know that cattle have to have some body, some muscle, some frame so they can grow and be efficient and do it pretty cheaply.”

Mullinix agrees.

“The first and most important thing that I'm looking for is an animal that represents the kind of production traits that can be viable and effective in any breeding program, in any basic environment,” he said.

His first criteria will be correctness of feet and leg structure, and the amount of natural body volume an animal has.

“Those traits relate to their ability to go out and produce effectively and efficiently for a long period of time, so those basic production traits are going to rank at the top of my list,” Mullinix said. From there 027

he will evaluate secondary (“but very very important”) traits like balance or additional appeal in an animal.

“Maybe some differences in growth rates or visual performance are going to play a role in my decision,” he said. “And then we get into things like sex characteristics. If I'm judging females, their femininity. If they're mature cows with calves beside, the quality of their udder is certainly something that is going to play a role in my decision.”

For bulls, masculinity and tested testicular development will be factors.

“But first and foremost I'm going to try to find those cattle that have the correctness of structure and the right kind of body volume to take on the role that they ultimately have to play in production,” Mullinix said.

When it comes to advice for exhibitors on show day, Schaake is straightforward. “You know,” he said, “here's what I always told my boys: you win the show months ahead of it. It's all the preparation, all the work, everything you do at home. And then really in order to win the show, if you've done all your work at home, then you have to have that stroke of luck. And if all the stars line up then you do well.

“You don't win the show the day of the show,” he said.

“That advice may be geared as much toward juniors as anyone,” Mullinix adds. “That's probably especially true for juniors who have to learn that that day is a wonderful event. But if you're not prepared for show day then you're not going to have the success you want.”

And according to Schaake, success in the ring isn’t the biggest prize. “Someday,” he says, ”that ribbon or that plaque or that trophy will really mean nothing to you. It's all of the other skills that you've gotten from showing livestock that are going to be lifelong skills.”

Schaake has visited Canada several times.

He is impressed by the animals he’s seen, but he especially appreciates the role that shows play in the Canadian beef industry.

“The thing I like is that there's still a lot of

028

value in Canadian cattle shows. Breeders still make decisions based on results from shows.

You know here in the United States, the shows are more of a social event, I would say.

Whereas in Canada, I think there's still a lot of mating decisions and a lot of cattle that are sold and marketed via the show.”

This summer’s trip, including Summer Synergy, will be Mullinix’s first time judging in Canada.

“I'm really excited,” he said. “The opportunity to go your direction and judge some shows is something that has definitely been on my short list of things that I hope to do in my career. So I can't wait to get up there.

“I expect it to be incredibly high quality. I can't wait. I do have an appreciation for those breeders over the years that have come to the States, and even some genetics that have

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

originated in Canada that have played such a huge role and in so many different breeds here in the United States.

So a Canadian exhibitor’s “book” on Mullinix will be blank, at least for now. What does he expect will be in it after the summer?

livestock, that generally means there's a large number of animals that you could justify being the overall winner of that given show. And you know no matter what, if you take the time and the effort to be at that show, if you've really worked hard, only one person can be the champion on that given day. That means there's going to be several that are disappointed. And I understand that. That's part of competition.

“I hope first of all it starts with the word consistent,” he said. “I really do feel like I have an ideal in my mind and I stay very consistent, very true to what I believe is the biggest priority in evaluating cattle.

“My hope at the end of the day is not that you're happy that someone else maybe beat you or placed higher than you, but that you are satisfied with the explanation I gave.

“I fully expect it to be an awesome experience.”

Top Left Schaake selects the Grand Champion steer for the 2014 Houston show.

“The second thing that I sure hope is in there is simply the word ‘fair.’ I don't care who owns the animal, how Top Right & Bottom many times it's won a previous show. I'm going to Mullinix sorts the evaluate what I see on that given day. ©© Show Champions

2013 Denver Steer Show. ©© Legacy Livestock Images (Top), Show Champions (bottom)

“And then the third thing that I take a lot of pride in is my ability as a communicator. I've found over the years that when you go to events that have outstanding

“So I would say if they see me as consistent, they think I'm fair in my evaluation, and they can understand why I made it based on the way I've communicated those thoughts, I'd be very happy if the book on Chris Mullinix included those three things.”

Summer Synergy runs from July 9 to 13 at Olds Regional Exhibition.

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

029

Friday Augu

at the Bohrson Sal

ust 10, 2018

le Facility, Olds AB

032

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

SHOW RESULTS

Reserve Champion Simmental, Third Overall Female, Oklahoma Youth Expo

GCC BBR Exactly 761E, shown by Sam Taylor, owned by Double Bar D Farms Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

033

Grand Champion Heifer

Grand Champion Steer

Miss Rusylvia Elite, Taylor Pashulka

Devon Scott

crossroads beef expo FEBRUARY 16, 2018 » OYEN, AB Judges: Hope Eaton & Clayton Andrew Photos: Crossroads Beef Expo

Reserve Champion Heifer Levi Martin

Oct 6

Reserve Champion Steer Trinity Martin

Oct 7

OPEN HOUSE BIDS, BID-OFF TO FOLLOW

2017 Reserve National Champion Maintainer Female

THE DIFFERENCE IS IN Ask about our feeding & breeding assistance program for Bonanza 2019 in SK!

The Service

on offer Prospect steers/heifers, Purebred Hereford Heifer Calves, Purebred Hereford Breds, Club Calf Embryos, Rare semen

034

The Cliffs Farm

Kurtis, Selene & Carlyle 306.220.2226 or 306.280.6858 David & Kathy 306.221.7039 Hepburn, Sask ks.reid@sasktel.net thecliffsfarm.com

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Grand Champion Heifer, Champion Angus Heifer

Grand Champion Steer, Division Two Champion Steer

Reserve Champion Heifer, Reserve Angus Heifer

Reserve Champion Steer, Division Two Reserve Steer

Hoffman High Rose 7069, Kodie Doetzel

J Square S Ellen 715E, Nolan Glover

Emma Thomason

Lexie Pirlot

regina spring show Champion Hereford Female Blair Athol 1024 Ramona 44E Kylee Dixon

Champion Shorthorn Female Hill Haven Verona Girl 2E Rylan Knupp

Champion Simmental Female TCCO Koko 727E Casie Brokenshire

Champion Commercial Female Blondie Cole Reid

Champion Charolais Female Elder's Revealing 92E Cassidi Elder

Champion AOB Female Anchor B Eva 26E Avery Bohrson

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

FEBRUARY 24-25, 2018 Âť REGINA, SK Judge: Chase Miller Photos: ShowChampions

Division One Champion Steer Keaton Kauffmann

035

gmack MARCH 3 & 4, 2018 » LLOYDMINSTER, SK Judges – Junior: Hugh Ross Open: Jordan Buba Photos: Grant Rolston Photography Inc.

Champion Open Heifer & Champion Junior Heifer New Trend Elegance 10E, Jacey Massey

Champion Open Steer

Jacey Massey & Devon Scott

Champion Junior Steer

Reserve Open Heifer

Jenna Schmidt

Reserve Junior Steer Blayde Lehmann

036

GCC Lovely Ann 934E, Boss Lake Genetics

Reserve Open Steer

Paige & Jaryn Lehmann

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Reserve Junior Heifer

HLC Hi Lite 965E, Riley Pashulka

little royal MARCH 10, 2018 » VERMILLION, AB Judges – Junior: Katie Sierenko & Brandon Hertz Open: Garth Rancier Photos: Lakeland College

Champion Junior Heifer

Miss Rusylvia Elite, Taylor Pashulka

Champion Junior Steer Cole Reid

Champion Open Heifer

Boss Lake Ms Munroe 729E, Boss Lake Genetics

Champion Open Steer, Reserve Junior Steer Cobi Quiring

Reserve Junior Heifer Blondie, Cole Reid

Reserve Open Heifer

HLC Hi Lite 965E, Riley Pashulka

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Reserve Open Steer Braydon Thompson

037

Champion Simmental, Champion Purebred, & Supreme Champion Female

Champion Senior, Grand Champion Commercial Female

Reserve Simmental, Reserve Champion Purebred Female

Champion Senior, Reserve Champion Commercial Female

Champ Angus & Ch Red Angus Madison Sibbald

Champion Black Angus Female Kalsie Sibbald

Champion Hereford Female Luke Andrews

Champion AOB Female Kord Phillips

Res Angus & Res Red Angus Bailey Dietrich

Reserve Black Angus Female Garrett Liebreich

Reserve Hereford Female Kylee Dixon

Reserve AOB Female Taylor Pashulka

Jacey Massey

Cooper Brokenshire

038

Levi Martin

Jacey Massey

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Grand Champion Steer, Champion Heavy Weight Steer Trinity Martin

Champion Light Weight Steer Kord Phillips

Reserve Champion Steer, Reserve Heavy Weight Steer Devon Scott

Champion Middle Weight Steer Blayde Lehmann

Reserve Champion Light Weight Steer Casie Brokenshire

cody sibbald legacy classic MARCH 17 & 18, 2018 » MEDICINE HAT, AB Judges: Dawn & Lee Wilson Photos: Grant Rolston Photography Inc.

Reserve Champion Middle Weight Steer Paige Lehmann Junior Res Commercial Female Cole Reid

Int. Commercial Female Riley Pashulka

Res Senior Commercial Female Hailey Sibbald

Reserve Int. Commercial Female Luke Webb Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Cody Sibbald Legacy Classic Spirit Award Heather LeBlanc 039

junior beef expo

Reserve Champion Market Animal Trey White

Grand Champion Market Animal Brad Regts

Third Overall Market Animal Reegan Sawyer

Fourth Overall Market Animal Ashley McConnell

Fifth Overall Market Animal Ashley McConnell

MARCH 17-18 Âť LONDON, ON

Photos: Barn Girls Photography

040

Champion Charolais Female Ashley McConnell

Champion Crossbred Female Brinley Miller

Champion Limousin Female Brinley Miller

Champion Maine-Anjou Female Jessica Miller

Reserve Charolais Female Dylan Black

Reserve Crossbred Female Ben Scott

Reserve Limousin Female Carolyn Darling

Reserve Maine-Anjou Female Shelby Higgins

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Champion Mainetainer Female Alex Coultes

Reserve Simmental Female Kade Earley

Champion % Simmental Female Jarret Scott

Champion Speckle Park Female Emily McNeil

Reserve Mainetainer Female Emily Duenk

Reserve Hereford Female Abby Murray

Reserve % Simmental Female Laura Scott

Reserve Speckle Park Female Addison Newman

Reserve Shorthorn Female Carsyn Byrne

Reserve Breeding Female, Champion Simmental Joey Miller

Third Overall Breeding Female, Res Angus Denver Bolton

Grand Champion Breeding Female, Champion Angus Female Hailie Conley

Fourth Overall Breeding Female, Ch Hereford Owen Elmhirst Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Fifth Overall Breeding Female, Ch Shorthorn Layton Chamberlain 041

manitoba winter fair

MARCH 30-31, 2018 Photos: Melissa McRae, Sadie Anwender

Champion Angus Heifer, Reserve Royal Lady Ponderosa 1418 Fay 178E, Justin Carvey Champion Hereford Heifer C Sull Harley Miles, John Hogberg

Champion Commercial Heifer MTF Legally Blonde, Kaitlyn Davey

Champion Simmental Heifer RJY Signature Lady 79E, Katie Falconer

Champion AOB Heifer RCN Eye Candy, Jules Smyth

Champion Market Steer Contagious Steer, Tracy Wood

Champion Boys & Girls Market Steer Emily Speers

Champion Shorthorn Heifer Hatfield Baroness 3E, Nolan Vandersluis

Champion Prospect Steer Fu Man Chu Steer, Claire Lavallee

042

Reserve Angus Heifer, Champion Royal Lady J Square S Ellen 715E, Nolan Glover

Reserve Hereford Heifer Churchill JR Lady 786E Madison Petracek

Reserve Comm Heifer Ellie Grace Glover

Reserve Shorthorn ST Betsy 14E Rylee Paterson

Res Simmental Heifer RJY Pocahontas Cody Carson

Reserve Prospect Steer Angus x Charolais Grace Glover

Reserve Market Steer Black Angus x Club Calf Cade Rutten

Reserve Boys & Girls Market Steer Kaitlyn Davey

Reserve AOB Heifer McCaw Pandora 4E Madison Petracek

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

APRIL 4, 2018 » CLARESHOLM, AB

chinook junior stock show

Judge: Zane Baragree Photos: Grant Rolston Photography Inc.

Grand Champion Steer

Reserve Champion Steer

Grand Champion Purebred Heifer

Reserve Champion Purebred Heifer

Grand Champion Commercial Heifer

Reserve Champion Commercial Heifer

Devon Scott

Jacey Massey

Jacey Massey

Jacey Massey

Angus Banks

Travis Edwards

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

043

Grand Champion Steer (Round A)

Grand Champion Heifer

Reserve Champion Steer (Round A)

Reserve Champion Heifer

Trinity Martin

Jacey Massey

Kord Phillips

Taylor Pashulka

making champions APRIL 8, 2018 » RIMBEY, AB Photos: Jenna Lingley

Third Overall Steer (Round B) Cole Reid

044

Champion Steer (Round B) Kord Phillips

Reserve Steer (Round B) Devon Scott

Fourth Overall Steer (Round B) Trinity Martin

Fifth Overall Steer (Round B) Jacey Massey

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Grand Champion Heifer

Grand Champion Steer

Wyatt Cuthbertson

Layne Cuthbertson

prospect 2000 APRIL 8, 2018 » KAMLOOPS, BC Judges: Riley Chalack Photos: Grant Rolston Photography Ltd.

Reserve Champion Heifer Paige Thompson

Reserve Champion Steer Jake Smith

saskatoon jr beef expo APRIL 8, 2018 » SASKATOON, SK Judges: Cam Sparrow Photos: Prairieland Park

Reserve Champion Heifer Alexandra Johnson

Grand Champion Heifer Owen Willms

Reserve Champion Steer Courtney Hanson

Grand Champion Steer Colt Blacklock

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

045

REgistration

Open

Driving Demand

with keynote speaker Rex Murphy A trusted face and voice across Canadian media. Rex will simultaneously inform and entertain with his provocative commentary.

August 14 – 16, 2018 London Convention Centre, London, ON Register at canadianbeefindustryconference.com facebook.com/canadianbeefindustryconference @CDNBeefConf #CDNBeefConf

2018

junior heifer calf extravaganza October 1 9 th- 20 th

join us in olds, alberta! over

$50,000 has been received by juniors to make a purchase of red angus genetics. contact the canadian red angus promotion society or any director for details on the 2018 show & sale!

canadian red angus

promotion society

OFFICE: RR #2, NEW NORWAY, ALBERTA T0B 3L0 | P: 780-678-9069 | F: 780-855-2581 redoffice@sasktel.net | www.redangus.ca |

/CanadianRedAngus |

@CdnRedAngus

APRIL 13-15, 2018 » HAMBURG, NY Judge: Parker Henley

Reserve Supreme Female, Champion Angus Female BNWZ/SWNY Rosebud 7255, Clay Howe

APRIL 21, 2018 » OLDS, AB Judge: Jared Jackson Photos: Prime Cut Publishing

048

empire state beef classic

Reserve Light Weight Steer, Third Overall Steer Reegan Sawyer

canada's richest youth show

Champion Angus Female Jacey Massey

Champion Charolais Female Evan Jameson

Champion Hereford Female Kord Phillips

Champion Maine-Anjou Female Taylor Pashulka

Reserve Angus Heifer Garett Liebreich

Reserve Charolais Female Aubrey Fraser

Reserve Hereford Female Hailey Sibbald

Reserve Maine-Anjou Female Julie Sharp

Reserve Red Angus Heifer Tavianne Yoder

Reserve Simmental Female Casie Brokenshire

Champion Shorthorn Female Delanie Knull

Reserve Shorthorn Female Sadie Anwender

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Grand Champion Heifer, Champion Simmental New Trend Elegance 10E, Jacey Massey

Champion Charolais Steer Kord Phillips

Grand Champion Steer, Champion Maine Steer Cobi Quiring

Reserve Champion Heifer, Champ Red Angus Brynne Yoder

Reserve Champion Steer, Champ Simmental Devin Scott, Jacey Massey

Reserve Charolais Steer Evan Jameson

Champion Angus Steer Tyler McMurray

Champion AOB Steer Spencer Mcmillin

Champion Hereford Steer Shelby Bygrove

Champion Limousin Female Tait Ackerman

Reserve Angus Steer Devyn Richards

Reserve AOB Steer Abbegayle Brady

Champion Shorthorn Steer Jacey Massey

Reserve Limousin Female Jaydon Ackerman

Reserve Maine Steer Casie Brokenshire

Reserve Simmental Steer Tessa Brokenshire

Reserve Shorthorn Steer Elizabeth Brady

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

049

Grand Champion Open Heifer (Junior Div)

Grand Champion Open Steer (Light Weight Div)

Grand Champion Youth Heifer (Junior Div)

Grand Champion Youth Steer (Heavy Weight Div)

New Trend Elegance 10E, Jacey Massey

Merit Socialite 7163E, Garrett Liebreich

Cobi Quiring

Trinity Martin

olds spring classic APRIL 22, 2018 » OLDS, AB Photos: Grant Rolston Photography Ltd.

Reserve Champion Open Heifer (Junior Div) GCC Lovely Ann 935E, Boss Lake Genetics

Reserve Champion Youth Heifer (Junior Div) New Trend Jewel's Dream 14E, Jacey Massey 050

Reserve Champion Open Steer (Heavy Div) Devon Scott / Jacey Massey Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Reserve Champion Youth Steer (Light Div) Jacey Massey

Champion Senior Youth Heifer Four Mac Echo, Kathryn Dolliver

Champion Open Senior Yearling, Res Senior Youth Heifer Merit Jilt 7060E, Carson Liebreich

Reserve Light Weight Open Steer, Reserve Light Weight Youth Steer Devyn Richards

Reserve Open Senior Yearling LSF Miley 8Z 23E, Lucky Springs Farms

Reserve Heavy Weight Open Steer Shelby Bygrove

Reserve Heavy Weight Youth Steer Tay Miller

Grand Champion Heifer

Grand Champion Steer

Dallas Grona

Ava Timm

weldon steer & heifer show MAY 5, 2018 » WELDON, SK Judge: Virginia Peters Photos: Colleen and Myles Hansen

Reserve Champion Heifer Colt Blacklock

Reserve Champion Steer Kylee Hansen

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

051

Champion Open Heifer Jacey Massey

Champion Open Steer Trinity Martin

Champion Junior Steer Devon Scott

Champion Junior Commercial Heifer Jacey Massey

Champion Junior Purebred Heifer Jill McLerie

Champion PeeWee Heifer Indy Fowler

Reserve Open Heifer Levi Martin

Reserve Open Steer Kade Rancier Champion PeeWee Steer Kade Rancier

bashaw spring round-up Reserve Junior Steer Ashlyn Chessall

Reserve Jr Commercial Heifer Cache McLerie

APRIL 28, 2018 » BASHAW, AB Judges | Open: Greg Pugh Junior: Darrell & Leila Hickman Photos: Top Stock

Reserve Junior Purebred Heifer Evan Patriquin 052

Reserve PeeWee Heifer Reed Howell

Reserve PeeWee Steer Arynn Rodgers

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Reserve Champion Steer, Res Overall & Reserve Senior Showmanship Jean Macaulay

Grand Champion Steer, Int. Showmanship, Res Int. Fitting Hailey Martin

Reserve Champion Heifer Jenna Neilson

island spring beef show Grand Champion Heifer, Junior Fitting, Junior Showmanship Peyton Haslam

Res JR Showmanship Paisley Kovacs

MAY 4-5, 2018 » VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC Judge: Chad Oates Photos: Erin Campbell

1st Year Showmanship Jordan Etele

Int. Fitting & Res Int. Showmanship Layla Dorko

Hon. Mention Steer Peyton Haslam

Res Junior Fitting Jackson Phillips

Res 1st Year Showman Jack Walker

SR & Overall Showman Matt Moore

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Hon. Mention Heifer Victoria Kovacs 053

youth forum

Reserve Champion Female, Champion Hereford Female

Grand Champion Female, Champion Angus Female

Champion Charolais Heifer

Champion Maine Anjou Heifer

Champion Limousin Heifer

Reserve Charolais Heifer

Reserve Maine Anjou Heifer

Reserve Limousin Heifer

Reserve Angus Heifer

Reserve Hereford Heifer

Champion Crossbred Heifer

Katie Elmhirst

Katie Elmhirst

Jackie Wismer

Owen Elmhirst

054

Hailie Conley

Morgan MacLachlan

Logan Sisson

Abby Debus

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Paul Twiss

Carolyn Darling

Grace Kuhl

APRIL 28-29, 2018 Âť LINDSAY, ON Photos : Barn Girls Photography

Grand Champion Market Animal, Champion Light Weight Market Steer Ashley McConnell

Reserve Champion Market Animal, Champion Heavy Weight Market Steer Chris Hargrave

Champion Simmental Female

Champion Market Heifer

Reserve Light Weight Market Steer

Reserve Simmental Female

Reserve Market Heifer

Reserve Heavy Weight Market Steer

Reserve Crossbred Heifer

Champion Shorthorn Heifer

Reserve Shorthorn Heifer

Ashley McConnell

Abby Debus

Brad Regts

Ashley McConnell

Jordan Phillips

Maurice Verstraete

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Reegan Sawyer

Trey White

Jacob Bott

055

mukk boots or mittens MAY 5, 2018 » WEBB, SK Judge: Matt Cridle Photos: Mukk Boots or Mittens Committee

Grand Champion Heifer Sophia, Hailey Sibbald

Reserve Champion Heifer

Gold-Bar Elba 116E, Hillary Sauder

Reserve Champion Steer

Grand Champion Steer

Hillary Sauder

Tyson Buist

paul delong memorial jackpot APRIL 22, 2018 » DAVIDSBURG, MI

3rd Overall and Champion Crossbred BNWZ/SWNY Rosebud 7255, Clay Howe

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

057

Grand Champion Steer

Grand Champion Female

Tess Brokenshire

Carson Liebreich

se club calf cruze MAY 12, 2018 » WEYBURN, SK Judges: Tyson Hertz Photos: Top Stock

Reserve Champion Steer

Reserve Champion Heifer

Champion Herford Heifer

Champion Crossbred Heifer

Champion Charolais Heifer

Champion AOB Heifer

Champion Maine Heifer

Champion Simmental Steer

Eric Fettes

Kylee Dixon

Luke Webb 058

Justin Carvey

Heather Le Blanc

Waylon Blacklock

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Jorja Beck

Casie Brokenshire

Reserve Champion Steer, Champion Crossbred Steer Maguire Blair

Grand Champion Steer, Champion AOB Steer Tess Brokenshire

Reserve Champion Heifer, Champion Simmental Casie Brokenshire

Grand Champion Heifer, Champion Angus Female Justin Carvey

lord of the ring MAY 13, 2018 » ESTEVAN, SK Judges: Allan Hjertaas Photos: Top Stock

Champion Angus Steer Baxter Blair

Champion Charolais Steer Nolan Glover

Champion Hereford Steer Kalen Dunn

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Champion Maine Influence Steer Zane Short

059

ufa country classic MAY 27, 2018 » JOSEPHBURG, AB Judges – Open: Owen Leegarden Junior: Leah Allen Photos: Christine Boake

Open Champion Steer

Jacey Massey, Devon Scott

Open Reserve Steer Trinity Martin

Youth Champion Steer Jacey Massey

Youth Reserve Steer Kord Phillips

Open Champion Heifer Levi Martin

060

Open Reserve Heifer Boss Lake Genetics

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Youth Reserve Champion Female Wyatt Bradford

Youth Grand Champion Female Thomas Wildman

Reserve Champion Steer Elle Groeneveld

Grand Champion Steer Clara Blatz

4-h on parade JUNE 3-5, 2018 Âť CALGARY, AB Photos: James Hudyma

Champion Purebred Female Elle Groeneveld

Reserve Purebred Female Shae-Lynn Beattie

Champion Commercial Female Brannon Piepke

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Reserve Commercial Female Tyler McMurray

061

bruno lion's steer show JUNE 6, 2018 » BRUNO, SK Photos: Bruno Lion's Show Committee

Grand Champion Steer Ava Timm

Reserve Champion Steer Courtney Hansen

Grand Champion Heifer Alex Johnson

Reserve Champion Heifer Justin Harcourt

4-h expo JUNE 2-4, 2018 » LLOYDMINSTER, SK Judge: Justin Morrison (Steers) Chase Miller (Females) Photos: Grant Rolston Photography Ltd.

Grand Champion Steer Shelby Bygrove

Reserve Champion Steer Paige Lehmann

Grand Champion Heifer Jaxon Payne 062

Reserve Champion Heifer Shay Hunt-Sissons Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Reserve Champion Steer Devon Scott / Jacey Massey

Grand Champion Steer Landon Schutz

heartland classic JUNE 9, 2018 Âť STETTLER, AB Photos: Christine Boake

Grand Champion Commercial Heifer Jacey Massey

Reserve Champion Commercial Heifer Cache McLerie

Reserve Champion Purebred Heifer Halley Adams

Grand Champion Purebred Heifer Kathryn Dolliver

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

063

acme jackpot JUNE 16, 2018 » ACME, AB Photos: Christine Boake

Grand Champion Steer, Champion AOB Steer Devon Scott / Jacey Massey

Reserve Champion Steer Landon Schutz

Steer and heifer calves on offer sired by

MAN AMONG BOYS, THRILLER, UNSTOPPABLE & FU MAN CHU Field Day and Sale

SEPTEMBER 15, 2018

At The Farm

36121 RANGE ROAD 254, RED DEER COUNTY, AB T0M 1R0

KELLY, SCOTT & AUBREY FRASER 403-598-4323 klkfraser@gmail.com KRISTINE SMITH 403-227-2523

064

Top Stock Magazine / Show Results

Photo Leta Boake with her first prize winner in the Boys & Girls Baby Beef Competition at the 1945 Calgary Spring Stock Show. ŠŠ Leta Wise

lookin One writer explores the first junior beef program held at the Calgary Stampede grounds through her family's stories.

066

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

ng back baby beef WORDS BY PIPER WHELAN

AT THE ENDURING LEGACY OF

T

he thing that stood out most of all to Leta Wise was the size of the barn at the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede Grounds.

“What I see is a very big barn, huge compared to everything else,” she recalls. “I was just this little scrubby kid flying inside of this big barn.”

Inside, the aisles were filled with bulls, while steers and nurse cows were stalled in the part of the barn usually designated for horses.

“The nurse cows would be tied up in the old horse barns, and they put a chain around their neck,” she says. “You just let your calf out of there and nurse … then you put its feed in there, and you could brush it some more.”

In March 1945, Calgary was growing, no longer a little cowtown in the valley where the Bow and Elbow Rivers meet. Young people dreaming of a future in the cattle industry did not have as many opportunities to exhibit livestock as today’s juniors. And Wise, who was then Leta Boake of Acme, Alberta, was 12 years old and attending the Calgary Bull Sale for the first time. In fact, this was the first time she ever visited the city.

Her father, E.J.C. Boake, had been selling purebred Shorthorn bulls from his Downsview Farm herd at the Calgary Bull Sale since 1920, winning the Champion Shorthorn Bull title numerous times. When Wise got to come along to the sale with her father and older brother in 1945, she brought her own Shorthorn calf to exhibit in the Calgary Bull Sale’s youth event, the Baby Beef Competition.

All Trails Lead to Calgary Before the first Calgary Stampede ever took place, the new Calgary Exhibition Grounds at Victoria Park boasted fresh, pristine barns and a grandstand in the first years of the 20th century. With the exception of a few trees growing along the banks of the Elbow River, the land was mostly clear. This location would undergo myriad changes throughout the next century, becoming a place where generations of beef producers would flock to showcase the best cattle in what would soon become southern Alberta.

Much as it is today, Calgary was the centre of the region’s beef industry in 1901. With this in mind, the Territorial Purebred Cattle

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

067

“During the late forties fad of small, blocky cattle, photographer Ed Saxton (Montana) used to dig a hole in the racetrack, then fill it with straw and stand the bull in that for his photo.

Perhaps some of those cattle weren't as short and "legless" as they appeared."

Breeders Association (TPCBA) held the first Calgary Bull Sale in April of that year, at a stable on Stephen Avenue in what is now downtown Calgary. The TPCBA was established to “promote the development and improvement of purebred cattle in Western Canada,” writes JoAnn JonesHole in her history, Calgary Bull Sale, 1901-2000. Calgary was the ideal setting for the TPCBA’s first sale of purebred bulls, she continues, “because the thriving young town was central to the main ranching areas as well as to the purebred breeders. It was on the main CPR line, there was hotel accommodation for people and enough stabling for the animals.” After the first year, the TPCBA decided to hold the sale annually at the Calgary Exhibition Grounds.

When Alberta and Saskatchewan joined Confederation in 1905, the TPCBA changed its name to the Alberta Cattle Breeders Association (ACBA). “By 1905 the Calgary Bull Sale had gained the distinction of being the largest individual purebred cattle consignment sale in the world,” writes Jones-Hole. It was also in this year that the event introduced a new component: the Fat Stock Show, which was held during Calgary’s annual Livestock Convention Week and was comprised of beef, sheep, poultry, swine and carload divisions.

With the success of the Fat Stock Show’s beef division, the Calgary Bull Sale introduced the Baby Beef Competition in 1917, giving youth under the age of 21 the opportunity to exhibit 068

a market animal. Many young competitors were the children of breeders who sold bulls at Calgary. Steers and market heifers were shown in three breed divisions—Shorthorn, Angus and Hereford—and breed champions then vied for the honour of being named the Grand Champion Baby Beef Animal.

The grand and reserve champions would then compete against the champions of the Fat Stock Show for the Champion Market Animal title.

The prize for winning the Baby Beef Competition signifies just how prestigious this show was, and as a result was highly sought after. D.E. Black, a well-known jeweller and Calgary businessman, donated a shield to be presented to the first champion of the Baby Beef Show in 1917. The hope of having your name engraved on the D.E. Black Shield provided the motivation that would spur on juniors for the next 57 years.

March 1945: In the Shadow of the Big Barn Although the 1945 Baby Beef Competition was Wise’s first show-ring experience, working with cattle came easily to her, and there were many opportunities to develop her skills at her family’s operation. “There was always a big show string every summer that went out on the circuit … The whole show string would be led every night.

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

After supper, everyone had to go out and lead something. They needed to be led up the road and back,” she explains. “I was involved with that, and I was always in the barn, if I wasn’t on a horse. I was always doing something with the cattle.”

Though two of her older brothers exhibited Baby Beef steers, Wise didn’t necessarily

expect to do the same. “You never asked.

Somebody said, ‘you can show this,’” she says. At this time, 4-H didn’t have the local presence that it would later. Even as 4-H grew in prominence and more clubs were established in the next decades, some families continued to focus on raising and showing Baby Beef calves, often coming from far beyond the Calgary area to compete.

Wise’s older brother helped her to get her steer ready for the show. “He clipped them with hand shears, which would have been done at home, too,” she says. Blowers had yet to be invented, so every animal had to be dried by brushing. While Bull Sale was held in winter, with some of the years that she competed there being extremely cold, she notes that the barns were usually warm.

In the late 1940s, the beef cattle portion of the Fat Stock Show was moved to March and was no longer held in conjunction with Livestock Convention Week, as Bull Sale was a now separate entity. In the Fat Stock Show, prize money was paid out to ninth place in each of the three weight classes, and a Fat Stock or Baby Beef animal could sell for as much as $300 in the 1950s. The majority of the calves exhibited in both market competitions were purebred

animals. Calves were generally spring calves, some not yet yearlings, and Wise recalls some being on nurse cows.

The animals shown in the Fat Stock competition were usually two-year-olds, as were the bulls sold at this event.

Wise remembers a responsibility afforded to her at the show that children may not experience today. For example, one might not let their 12-year-old find their way to a hotel in the downtown core of a city she’d never visited before. For her first Bull Sale, Wise stayed at the St. Regis Hotel in downtown Calgary, in her own room with her father staying in the adjoining room. This hotel advertised itself as the “headquarters for stockmen” and charged $2 per night for a room with a bath. Other exhibitors stayed at downtown hotels like the York Hotel, the King Edward and the Palliser Hotel.

Though she didn’t know the downtown area at all, she had to find her way from the St. Regis to the nearby Palliser to attend the prestigious Calgary Bull Sale banquet that year. “That hotel was something else, and the place was just packed with cattlemen and a few kids,” she recalls. After being at the barns for the day, her father took her back to their hotel so she could

Top Baby Beef Exhibitors from 1949 gather in front of the administration buildings, along with the Champion Angus, Champion Shorthorn, and Champion Hereford Steers. ©© Leta Wise

Bottom Helen Yule presenting the trophy for the Grand Champion Market animal in 1973. ©© Jones-Hole: Calgary Bull Sale 1901-2000.

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

069

get ready for the banquet, and then let her walk to the banquet all by herself. “So here I’m running up the street—you’ve got to get over there—and I hardly know how the hell to get there. Anyway, I stepped in a puddle and soiled my stockings, so I had to turn around and run back and change them,” she continues. “You had to go to the counter and get your key and go upstairs, and then I went back over.”

Wise’s determination, as illustrated here, and her love of raising cattle only increased as she grew up. She went on to compete in the Baby Beef Competition many times, with a number of successes throughout the years. In 1947, Wise exhibited the Reserve Champion Baby Beef animal with a Shorthorn steer, and in 1949, she won the Grand Champion title with her Champion Shorthorn steer, and had her name engraved on the D.E. Black Shield for this honour. “It always amazed me, how these were made,” she says of the Shield. “The trophies were always so beautiful then.”

Decades later, Wise remains humble about her early show ring achievements, and speaks of them in a matter-of-fact way.

“You know, I never thought I was better than anyone (for winning at this event).

When you went back to school, because you were gone for a week, I don’t know if anyone asked about it,” she notes. “I don’t think I would have mentioned it.”

March 1970: Making History Wise went on to become a respected cattlewoman, establishing a well-known herd of purebred Shorthorns under the Boa-Kae Ranch name with her late husband, R.B. Wise, before they began raising purebred Maine-Anjou cattle.

They exhibited a number of Shorthorn champions at the Calgary Bull Sale during the 1960s, and it was no surprise that their eldest daughter, Debra, would also excel in the Baby Beef Competition.

Debra Rest, like her mother, found the barns and the Pavilion to be larger than life. “I remember thinking how big the Pavilion show ring was, and everybody’s in

070

Photo The D.E. Black Shield, presented to the exhibitor of the Grand Champion Steer. ©© Leta Wise

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

“After 57 years, the Fat Stock Show and Baby Beef Competition was suspended in 1975 – the unspoken reason likely being that "fat" had become a word cattle producers did not want connected in any way with the word "beef".

the stands and standing around the ring,” says Rest. “Now when I go there, when you’re there as an adult, you’re thinking, ‘this is pretty tiny.’” She can see herself on the halter, waiting to enter the Pavilion with her steer, in the tunnel-like entrance to the old show ring. “I remember that, standing outside there getting ready to go in, and then you go in through the tunnel and the gate,” she recalls.

Rest started competing in this event in the mid-1960s, and cattle shows had evolved in some ways in the 20 years since her mother competed. While there were still no blowers to dry animals at this time, Rest notes that saddle soap was used to fit a calf’s legs. “You basically washed them, you brushed them, you did their legs a little bit and fluffed their tail, and in you went,” she explains.

The event continued to be a prestigious program, and there were many prizes put up for the young exhibitors. For several years, Roy Ballhorn, a prominent Angus breeder and one of the Bull Sale organizers, donated wallets to be given to the two youngest competitors in each breed category. Rest was one of these lucky exhibitors in the first year that she competed in the Baby Beef competition. “I still have mine,” she notes.

When Rest won the Grand Champion Baby Beef title in 1970, accepting the D.E. Black Shield was even more meaningful because her mother had won it, too. She made history that day, as she and her mother

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

remain the only mother and daughter to have both won the Grand Champion Baby Beef title. “All the trophies that were at Bull Sale, of all the champions, they were so prestigious,” she recalls. “The Shield was so unique, being round like that with the animal’s head in the middle. When you look at it (you thought), ‘Oh, if I could just win that!’”

The moment was made even more special because her uncle, Bill Boake, also a wellknown Shorthorn breeder, presented her with the Shield, and this year her parents were competing at the International Shorthorn Show in Brandon, Manitoba, so the 15-year-old had to take care of things on her own.

Although the Baby Beef exhibitors had to be 21 or younger, she remembers feeling very young compared to some of the oldest competitors. “It was pretty cool for me. I was only 15, and there were a lot of older showmen in the ring with their calves,” she says. “It was an honour to do it, to come out of that ring.” Afterwards, Rest and her steer were then able to compete against the Champion and Reserve Fat Stock animals, and won Reserve Champion Market Animal of the 1970 Calgary Bull Sale. “To go up against them, it’s kind of ominous, because you’re this little kid in this ring, and here’s this big steer and this big guy,” she remembers. Rest would be one of the last Baby Beef Champions, as the era of this competition would soon draw to a close.

071

A Welcoming Place From the beginning of the Baby Beef Competition, female exhibitors were well-represented, and the number of young women listed on the D.E. Black shield reflects what a valuable opportunity this program was for girls to achieve excellence in the cattle industry in decades when young women weren’t always given the chance to prove themselves in other fields. To Wise, this didn’t seem unusual, as she always felt she had a place in this world. “It was just like anything else,” she says. “I was always at the barns.” She also describes the young women who won the show in its first decades as being particularly mature. “They’d come with their fathers’ bulls, for instance. I’d say that’s how most of those girls came,” she says, adding that she even remembers a girl coming all the way from Brandon, MB, to compete. “It was a privilege to enter this, and it was pretty big to come to Calgary.”

“If you were there, everybody worked just as hard, shoulder to shoulder,” Rest adds. “Everybody did chores, everybody got the cattle ready, it was all the same. There was no, ‘you’re a girl, so you can’t do that’ … It was your animal, and you were expected to be part of everything that was going on. But we were raised that way here, too.”

Wise feels that the organizers of the Baby Beef show made all the exhibitors feel welcome, and there was a high level of professionalism involved. She remembers cattlemen such as Roy Ballhorn and Frank Collicut, who helped to put on the Calgary Bull Sale, as gentlemen. “They were businessmen.

They always had a suit on.” Charlie Yule, who played a major role in running the Calgary Bull Sale, was the organizer who stands out the most to her. “To me, he always was special. Always a gentleman,” she says.

“Not everybody was like him.”

Originally from Manitoba, Yule came west in 1913 and raised purebred Shorthorns at Carstairs, AB. After selling bulls at the Calgary Bull Sale for a number of years and judging cattle shows throughout North

072

Top Leta shows in 1952, when the presence of Foot and Mouth moved the steer show to the stockyards.

Bottom Left Leta's Champion Shorthorn and Reserve Champion Baby Beef steer in 1947.

Bottom Right Leta with her brother Ken (left) and their steers in 1946.

©© Leta Wise

©© Leta Wise

©© Leta Wise

America and the United Kingdom, Yule became involved in the organization of the show, first through his role on the ACBA executive. From 1937 to 1940, he served as president of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, and then became the Stampede’s general manager from 1940 to 1951, and is remembered as first-rate promoter of Alberta beef genetics. Wise got to know Yule through the show and her involvement with the Shorthorn breed, and remembers going for dinner at the Yule home with her parents one year during Bull Sale. In 1959, the J. Charles Yule trophy was first presented in his memory to the Grand Champion Fat Animal of the Calgary Bull Sale.

Numerous others sponsored prizes for the Baby Beef Competition, making this a worthy payday for the young exhibitors. The Shorthorn, Angus and Hereford breed associations provided cash prizes, and breeders sponsored special prize money awards.

The Royal Bank of Canada awarded a five-dollar cash prize to each of the youngest exhibitors in each breed category, and also sponsored a prize for “the

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

two most outstanding black calves” in the show, consisting of a show halter, show stick and watch. There was also a cash prize for the top 10 Angus calves, and in the 1950s, Canada Safeway sponsored a special dinner for all of the competitors at the Palliser Hotel.

Fading into History Though the Calgary Bull Sale is still held annually, both the Baby Beef Competition and the Fat Stock Show ended after 1974.

Entries had decreased in the early 1970s, and Jones-Hole writes that by the early 1970s, more young people had access to local 4-H clubs, and there were more steer shows that attracted juniors’ attention away from this event. As well, she notes that the ACBA’s mandate “to promote and improve pure breeds of cattle” clashed with the latest changes to the beef industry, as crosses of European and British breeds ushered in a new era for the show ring.

The D.E. Black Shield remained on display at the ACBA office until it was brought out of retirement in 1988 for a new purpose.

The winner of the Senior Aggregate award at the Calgary Stampede’s International

Youth Livestock Show had their name added to this prestigious award for several years; today, this honour is given to the Senior Aggregate Champion of Summer Synergy, the current junior livestock competition tied to the Calgary Stampede.

It was at the International Youth Livestock Show, more than a decade ago, that I first saw the D.E. Black Shield. This beautiful perpetual trophy speaks to another time, another era of livestock exhibitions. The names inscribed on the shield echo the roots of southern Alberta’s ranching heritage, with past champions going on to become respected cattlemen, or having careers related to agriculture. Some may have stepped away from beef production altogether, but never forgot the feeling of rising above the competition at a prestigious steer show.

August 2017: The Sunny Slopes of Long Ago In my grandmother’s living room, I examine old photos and newspaper clippings. Black and white photos, taken outside at the Stampede grounds, of a girl and her show steers over the years. The steers, all Shorthorn, built in the shorter, square frame favoured in the late 1940s and ‘50s. The girl, slight, with short curly hair, glasses and a determined gaze that didn’t change as she grew up.

The oldest photo shows the girl and her steer at the 1945 Calgary Bull Sale. “It was taken on the racetrack, and this was one side of the barn,” my grandmother, Leta Wise, explains, adding that this was before there was a high fence around the track. Another photo, this time in a

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

073

newspaper clipping, shows her and one of her younger brothers, proudly displaying their steers together.

The last photo shows her at 19, looking mature and determined, now setting her sights beyond the Baby Beef Competition, with her steer for the Fat Stock Show in a different location than the other photos. “That was in 1952, when Foot and Mouth Disease was around,” she tells me.

“The bulls were alright at the Bull Sale in that area, but the steers had to go to the stockyards and be shown there.”

There’s one photo that’s always stood out to me—the Baby Beef exhibitor photo from 1949. Each year, the competitors posed for a group photo in front of the old Calgary Stampede Administration Building. The boys and girls line up on the steps, while the exhibitors of the three breed champions stand in front with their winning animals.

In this particular photo, Wise is in the centre with her Shorthorn steer, the Champion Baby Beef Animal.

“Look at this,” she indicates to the photo. “That was cold. I think it was about 20 below.” She isn’t wearing gloves for the photo, but her free hand is curled tightly into a fist. You can see the steam coming from the steers’ noses, and many of the kids are bundled up. Wise and a few other exhibitors are wearing special Shorthorn sweaters, and some of the Angus exhibitors, she tells me, are wearing white collared shirts with black ties. At the halter of the Champion Angus Steer is Michael Boyce, who died of polio later that year, Wise explains. The next year, the Michael Boyce Memorial Trophy was given out to the Champion Showman in his memory, and was awarded each year until 1973. Today, the Intermediate Aggregate Champion of Summer Synergy has their name engraved on this trophy.

Wise tells me that the exhibitors of the breed champions had their prize money doubled if they fed their calves Quaker Ful-o-Pep ration. “I made a few bucks there,” she adds. What she’s not saying is that she used that money to help build the barn that now stands at our home, and this reminds me of the scholarships I received from the International Youth Livestock program. Junior shows, it seems, have helped to set young people on their career paths for a lot longer than some may realize.

This is what I see in these photos from another time, with older-styled cattle and an exhibition ground that has changed so much: the juniors are so familiar. They are just like the young people I competed with in junior shows.

There’s an eagerness, a hope and a determination in them that doesn’t belong to any particular decade. And while this story has a personal connection for me, it shows a common link—of where we came from, and the moments that allow us to be at our best, something all the more valuable when we’re young.

074

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

The CHAROLAIS female...

Supremely Competitive AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL

Supreme Champion Female, 2017 Agribition

Supreme Champion Female, 2017 Farmfair Supreme Champion Female, 2015 Agribition

WWW.CHAROLAIS.COM

2320 41 Ave NE Calgary, Alberta T2E 6W8 Phone 403.250.9242

find us on the web www.topstockmagazine.com

UPCOMING SALES + EVENTS SEPT

15

SEPT

22

SEPT

29

OCT

?

OCT

6-7

OCT

19

NOV

3

NOV

10

DEC

-

Nu-Haven Cattle Co Field Day & Sale

Red Deer County, AB

3rd Annual "Colours of Fall" Steer and Heifer Sale Calmar, AB

Crossing Creek Cattle Steer & Heifer Sale Morinville, AB

3

JULY

11-14 JULY

15

JULY

20-22

Rocky Coulee Ranch Prospect Steer & Heifer Sale

JULY

The Cliffs Farm "Take the Lead" Prospect/Hereford Sale

JULY

sconlinesales.com

Hepburn, SK

Red Round-up Junior Heifer Calf Extravaganza Olds, AB

17-21

19-21 JULY

28-29

Roch Springs/Tableland Cattle Steer & Heifer Sale

25-28

6th Annual Arch Holdings November Gold Sale

30-31

Estevan, SK

Lloydminster, SK

Double Bar D "Sharing the Herd" Female Sale Grenfell, SK

DEC

UPCOMING SHOWS + EVENTS

JULY

JULY

AUG

1-4

Lloydminster Colonial Days

AUG

Calgary Stampede Junior Steer Classic

AUG

Ontario Simmental Trillium Classic

AUG

Canadian National Junior Hereford Bonanza

AUG

Lloydminster, AB

Calgary, AB

Navan, On

St. Hyacinthe, Qc

Canadian National Junior Angus Showdown Barrie, Ontario

3-5 3-5

9-12

14-16 AUG

15-18

Maple-Ridge/Pitt Meadows Countryfest

AUG 30

Canadian Charolais Youth Association Conference & Show

AUG 29

Maple Ridge, BC

Brandon, MB

Prince Albert Exhibition Summer Fair Prince Albert, SK

Canadian National Junior Limousin Impact Show Great Village, NS

Golden Oak/AXA Farms "Nothing But Nellie" Sale Liveauctions.tv

SHOW RESULTS LISTED FREE Attention Event Organizers!

We will run your show results for free! Simply email your results and high resolution pictures of your champions to info@topstockmagazine.com

076

UPCOMING SHOWS + EVENTS

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

-

SEPT 2

-

SEPT 2

SEPT

14-16 OCT

5-7

Canadian National Junior Shorthorn Show Stratford, On

Manitoba Youth Round-up 11th Annual show Neepawa, MB

Young Canadian Simmental National Classic Olds, AB

Canadian Beef Industry Conference London, ON

Canadian National Junior All-Breeds Show Bashaw, AB

Young Ranchman's Junior Show

Swift current, SK

Interior Provincial Exhibition Armstrong, BC

Hants County Exhibition

Windsor, NS

Olds Fall Classic Olds, AB

SATURDAY

NOV 3 CALVES SIRED BY Here I am, IGWT, Huff and Puff, Walks Alone, Fu Man Chu, Italian Stallion, Man Among Boys, No Worries, Bourbon Street

FIND

THE ONE

YOU ARE LOOKING FOR

ROCH SPRINGS SHOW CATTLE Colten Brokenshire 306.421.6262 rochspringsshowcattle@gmail.com

TABLELAND CATTLE Wade Brokenshire 306.421.7967 Heather Brokenshire 306.421.9891 / 306.634.5535 Cooper 306.461.4948 Casie 306.461.9891 tablelandcattle@sasktel.net

Follow our Tableland Facebook page

SELLING 40 STEERS & HEIFERS Including more than a dozen flushmates!

www.facebook.com/topstockmagazine

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS AgPlus

30

Chinook Junior Stock Show

72

Oattes Cattle

Arch Holdings

14

The Cliffs Farm

32

Olds Regional Exhibition

Cowsmopolitan Boots & Show Supplies

14

RK Show Supplies

Crossing Creek Cattle

76

Rocky Coulee Ranch

6

AXA Farms Bohrson Marketing

IFC 11

Boviglow

Double Bar D

3

BC

DVAuction

Canadian Beef Industry Conference

44

Genex

Canadian Charolais Association

73

Golden Oak Livestock

Canadian Maine Anjou Association

63

Hiller Hay Farms

77

Canadian Red Angus Promo Society

45

Lucky Springs Farms

15

Tru-Test

Nu-Haven Cattle

62

Weaver Leather & Livestock

IFC

SEPT PROSPECT STEER & HEIFER SALE

29

2018

54 20-21

Roch Springs Show Cattle

Calgary Stampede

Canadian Sires

19

4

Saskatchewan Verified Beef Sullivan Supply

6

Summer Synergy

54

Tableland Cattle Co.

75

You only get one chance at

A SECOND LOOK Calves by Italian Stallion • Dakota Gold • Amen • Saskvalley Yesterday 116Y

Lots of variety and colour to choose from this year! Contact us to arrange a pasture tour of the calves at Sundre or Morinville.

Congratulations to all juniors exhibiting our calves this year, we are proud of your hard work and achievements!

078

COLIN & TESSA VERBEEK

Morinville, Alberta, Canada crossingcreekcattle@hotmail.com 403.636.1066 www.crossingcreekcattle.com

Top Stock Magazine / Summer 2018

9

5

Morinville, Alberta Open House 11AM, Phone bidding until 8PM

Find us on Facebook

75 IBC

8

at the Ranch

CROSSING CREEK CATTLE

13

12

third AN N UAL prospect steer & heifer sale

We would like to thank all our customers, past and present, and look forward to seeing you this fall!

saturday,

sept 22

Live auction on the farm with online bidding provided by DLMS www.dlms.ca

with guest consignors

Hiller Hay Farms

Calmar, Alberta Doug Hiller 780.991.8136 Wyatt Hiller 780.991.8966 Jordie Buba 780.818.4047

Follow us on Facebook for sale updates

Connecting Sustainability and Beef Production in Canada

VERIFIED BEEF PRODUCTION PLUS

IN SASKATCHEWAN

DRIVING CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO VERIFYING SUSTAINABILITY

PROOF OF RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT

Canadian Beef is Sustainable, Safe and Wholesome.

Let’s become VERIFIED and show consumers why!

Photo credit: Sam Wirzba samwirzba.com

THE

Take the Training

Apply SOPs on the Beef Operation

IN-PERSON WORKSHOP OR ONLINE

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES

Education on Food Safety, Animal

Industry-led practices focused on Food

Care, Biosecurity, and Environmental

Safety, Animal Care, Biosecurity, &

Stewardship Management Practices:

Environmental Stewardship during beef

•

Inject in the Neck, Reduce Broken

production are being used on the cattle

Needles, Meet Withdrawal Times

operation:

•

Keep Records (Treatments, Deaths)

•

Beef Code of Practice, Disease Prevention, Manure Management

:

OF Complete the PRO ILITY IB D CRE On-Farm Audit VERIFICATION OF THE OPERATION Our 3rd party auditors are also beef producers and understand the industry. It takes about 3.5 hours and is mostly done in the comfort of your home, through discussion and review of your records.

•

Feedlots: 3 months of Records

This 3rd party verification gives credit

•

Cow-Calf: 6 months of Records

towards the excellent things you do.

ENHANCING CONSUMER CONFIDENCE IN THE WHOLESOMENESS OF BEEF To learn more about Visit verifiedbeefproductionplus.ca or contact Coy Schellenberg, VBP+ in Saskatchewan: SK Coordinator, at 306.859.9110 or SK@verifiedbeef.ca

The dairy, pork and poultry industries have all implemented some type of Quality Assurance program similar to ours.

Retailers and consumers are looking for it.

This is our opportunity to use an industry created program to enhance our social license to produce beef, and to increase consumer trust. There is strong potential to increase local consumption and global exports of Canadian beef. VBP+ validates sustainable production practices, onfarm. Let’s show the world why Canadian beef is the safest, highest quality protein product on the planet!

WANT TO BECOME REGISTERED WITH THE VBP+ PROGRAM? VBP+ REGISTRATION STEPS •

you need records as per the Must Do’s in the VBP+ Producer Manual and complete the VBP+ training (workshop or online)

•

then contact your provincial VBP+ office to request a validation audit

•

we will help prepare you for the audit, ensuring that you understand our program and that you are ready (Producer Checklist & SelfAssessment)

•

VBP+ IS A NATIONAL PROGRAM RECOGNIZED BY THE CFIA

then the auditor will connect with you directly to schedule the on-farm audit

•

Audits Rates in SK: $650/cow-calf & $850/feedlot

To learn more about Visit verifiedbeefproductionplus.ca or contact Coy Schellenberg, VBP+ in Saskatchewan: SK Coordinator, at 306.859.9110 or SK@verifiedbeef.ca

NOTHING BUT THE BEST CALGARY STAM PE DE

JUNIOR STE E R CLASSIC E XTE NDS A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS IN 2017, BOTH CHAMPION STEERS WERE PURCHASED BY

THE FRIENDS OF RON DALEY GROUP THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF OUR YOUTH!

2017 Grand Champion Steer exhibited by Devon Scott, AB

2017 Reserve Champion Steer exhibited by Casie Brokenshire, SK

CELEBRATING THE 36TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CALGARY STAMPEDE JUNIOR STEER CLASSIC IN 2019 As part of the Calgary Stampede’s commitment to developing the next generation of agriculture advocates, the Junior Steer Classic show is entirely oriented to youth competitors aged 9-21 years. We are proud to award over $73,000 in scholarships and prizes to Canada's future farmers.

JULY 5-14, 2019 STAMPEDEJUNIORSTEERCLASSIC

CALGARYSTAMPEDE.COM/AG @CSSTEERCLASSIC

@STAMPEDESTEERCLASSIC