Making History

WORDS BY JEFF GAYE

Reegan Sawyer loves cattle, and she loves cattle people. Her enthusiasm for the industry, and her hard work, led to a banner year for the 15-year-old from Middlesex County near London, Ontario. On January 17, the Middlesex County Cattlemen’s Association presented her with a special award recognizing her achievements.

“It’s not something we present annually,” said Mel Curtis, the association’s secretary-treasurer. “We’re just recognizing her with a token and a gift to congratulate her for her success in 4-H this year.”

“She’s had an incredible year,” Curtis said.

Reegan earned grand champion showmanship honours at the 2018Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto. She also showed at the 2018 North American International Livestock Expo (NAILE) in Louisville, Kentucky.

Winning Showmanship at the 2018 Royal Winter Fair National Junior Beef heifer show.

Photo: Barn Girls Photography.

Her family runs a small operation in Middlesex County—35 to 40 head of cross-bred cows, with a focus on club calves. She’s a bright light on the junior circuit with whatever she’s showing, but she especially loves showing steers.

“I like show day,” she said. “I like the whole hype of it when you get there, it’s just a whole different world than showing heifers.”

Much of the difference, she says, is because steers represent the final product of a beef breeding and production program.

“When you show a steer, you’re raising it for the market,” she says. “You create a bond with it all year long, and then you get to show it and display it to the public and eventually sell it. And you can gain a perspective of ‘you know, I raised that, and it’s going to go to market and put food on the table for people.’”

Her white steer Howie was her partner through last year’s triumphant show season, which included a win in her class at NAILE in Louisville. That show stands out as her favourite.

“Louisville is a completely different world. When you show up you're completely in awe,” Reegan said. “I'm just this small girl from Canada that only has a couple head of cows, and you're running with the big guys down there. But it's cool to gain that perspective—this is people's income, this is how they live their life going from show to show.”

Reegan in her element with her 2018 projects.

Photo: Jodie Aldred Photography.

She says the NAILE win was a great opportunity to show the quality of the beef animals coming from her family’s operation, but her personal highlight as a show exhibitor was winning showmanship at the Master Feeds Junior Beef Heifer Show at the Royal this year.

She said that win, under judge Jon Gevelinger, was “amazing.”

Winning all comes down to the quality of the animal, how it’s shown, and what a judge sees on a given day. It’s important for the exhibitor to hold up her end of the arrangement, and to work with—rather than against—the animal she’s showing. Reegan says there’s no substitute for knowing your calf well.

“My biggest thing is knowing what your animal likes and what your animal doesn't, what they're susceptible to, what they might get triggered by,” she said. “It's important to create a strong bond with the animal you're showing. You really don't know teamwork until your partner is a 1500-pound free spirit, right?”

But things don’t always go as planned. Reegan says the funniest thing that has happened to her in the ring is when she’s trying to move a back foot with her stick, “and their foot will move. But then they step on my stick and I'm sort of stuck in the middle of the ring. That's happened a few times more than I care to admit, actually.”

She says when glitches and snafus happen in the ring, “you just make the best of it.”

Reegan is a competitor, and she’ll admit she enjoys winning. But she clearly loves the friendship and camaraderie of the show community, and the way everyone supports each other.

“There's really nothing quite like the rush of when you're in the champion drive and a judge comes over and slaps your steer. One of my all-time favorite things is when you see the hand coming down,” she said.

Reegan shows "Howie" at the 2018 NAILE.

Photo: ShowTimes Junior Livestock Magazine.

“And just being with people that love and respect the industry as much as I do. It's not as big as it used to be, but there's still those people that go strong and are still making it what it is today.

“It’s sort of all just one big family. Everybody’s here to do the same thing, which is show and have fun.”

That unity of purpose keeps Reegan, and the rest of the showing world, grounded. There’s enough attitude, bullying, and drama outside of the business, she says, and there’s no place for it in the show game. If she was to offer advice to other juniors, it wouldn’t be about technique—it would be about stockmanship and sportsmanship.

“Winning is great but winning isn't everything,” she said. “It's important to work hard, stay humble, and be kind to others. Try to be a friend with everybody in the show barn. Focus on what everybody loves feeling, and not worry about drama that is involved.”

In fact, her role models are those exhibitors who take winning and losing in stride, and focus on the job at hand. “Girls that are a true class act in and outside of the ring, that win gracefully and celebrate other people's successes,” she says.

“If somebody beats them, they're not sore losers. They just brush it off and go to the next show and forget about it. I think it's like being a gracious winner, it is a very important thing.”

Mel Curtis says Reegan is on the right track.

“We're certainly proud of everything that Reegan's done this year,” she said. “We know how hard she's worked. She's a strong 4-H member, she's a great role model for young members, and she works really hard at home. She puts the hours in and she knows what it takes to win.”

Reegan competes with her home-raised steer Howie at the 2018 Youth Forum.

Photo: Barn Girls Photography.

Reegan’s love for cattle and the industry promises to be a lifelong passion. She intends to become a large-animal veterinarian or a large-animal acupuncturist, and plans to continue raising cross-bred cattle for club calves and steers.

For now, though, nothing beats show day. “I’d show for anyone, anytime, any day,” she said.“Showing it isn't just my passion, it's really my life and what I love to do.

“I mean when you're riding home with your trailer behind you and calves in the trailer,and you look back and you're like ‘I remember doing this,’ and ‘oh we made that memory.’ Andyou really can't trade it for anything else in the world, because there's nothing quite like it.”