RBC Supreme Winners Dominate Fall Show Run

WORDS BY JEFF GAYE

This acorn didn’t fall far from the tree.

Greenwood Electric Impact ET won the RBC Supreme Bull title at Canadian Western Agribition in November, two years after his sire, Greenwood Canadian Impact ET, took the same title.

And while “Electric” was strutting his stuff in the ring, his new owner Ben Armitage was watching his investment grow before his eyes. Ben bought the bull sight unseen just two days before. His first glimpse of hisnew acquisition was just hours before the Supreme competition started.

Electric’s breeder, Scott Payne, had called Ben from the Limousin sale at Agribition to tell him he had a good bull on offer. “Scott said he was probably going to go quite a ways, he's a pretty good bull. So that's about all I needed to know,” Ben said. “That probably doesn't happen in the cattle business much anymore. Just honesty and word of mouth—you don't even need a handshake.”

Out of Greenwood Young & Restless, Electric was bred by Scott and Jackie Payne of Greenwood Limousin and Angus at Lloydminster.

Jaxon Payne, who showed the bull, said there are some calves that show you how special they are from the get-go. “Well, to be honest, as soon as he was born I knew he was pretty special. We had lots of calves off [Canadian Impact], but he was just a standout from day one.”

Celebrating a Supreme night.

Photo by ShowChampions.

“We showed him as a calf and he did really well. He was reserve behind his dad at Agribition as a bull calf. And then we showed him as a yearling and he did really well, and then showed him as a two-year-old. That's when he had the unreal year.”

Jaxon said that as a calf, Electric held his head high. He was thick and “hairy and kind of fancy-looking,” and showed a lot of his sire’s look.

“All the way through summer, he was just always our best. He just gave us that look. Yeah, he's our favourite one, I guess I could say,” he said.

Electric has been a favourite of judges this season, too. He won the Supreme titles at Lloydminster Stockade Roundup and Farmfair on his way to his big Agribition win—a triple crown. Jaxon said they knew they had a competitive animal, but they also knew Electric wasn’t the only one in the ring.

“After the first one and then after winning Edmonton and going into Regina, we knew we had a good shot. But we knew it's not going to be easy because there's a lot of new competitors and new bulls there to compete against,” he said.

“I guess we just had some luck and did the best we could. And with a panel of five judges, you don't know where it goes.”

Every win along the way was a thrill, especially with the high quality of the competition.

“It's crazy how good it feels,” Jaxon said. “It’s what you work for, and what everyone wants to do when you're showing cattle. It's just a big thing to win.”

That winning feeling got better every time, and when they took the RBC Supreme Jaxon said the rush was “just crazy.”

“I was so excited, it’s still hard to believe. I still go back and watch the video on my phone and it still gets me excited. I've always wanted to be on the halter and win one so yeah, it's pretty exciting.”

Electric is definitely delivery on the promise he showed as a calf. Jaxon described him as being “extremely sound (“it’s unreal how he could walk,” he said), massive in his thickness and soft-middled. It is impressive to see him in person.”

Scott congratulates Electric Impact's new owner, Ben Armitage.

Photo by ShowChampions.

“He was kind of ‘talk of the barn’. A lot of breeders, even of other breeds, would talk about him and just how good of a Limo bull he was.”

The bull’s genetics will go to programs around the world, and he already has semen and embryos sold to Australia, South Africa, Mexico, the United States and all over Canada.

Jaxon said Electric’s genetics can deliver some star quality to a Limousin breeding program and can perform equally well with commercial cows. “I think he'll sit well with any type of female, to be honest,” he said.

“It depends what you're gonna want out of them. I think he can make it for you if you want a showy calf. And if there's commercial guys wanting the pounds on their calves, I think he'll do it on any cow he'd work on.”

Limousin breeders will recognize the maternal value and softness in the Impact line, but Jaxon said Electric offers value for commercial crosses. “It'd be really cool to see him used commercial as another cross opposed to the mainstream breeds, as he has a lot to offer maternally or for raising heavy steers,” he said.

Ben Armitage sees the same things. He’s heard from Hutterite colonies that would like to cross Electric with their Holsteins. “They cross like you wouldn't believe with a Holstein. They will cross with Angus, Holstein, pretty well anything.”

Ben runs 350 Limousin-cross and Simmental-cross cows on his own operation, but he doesn’t think he’ll be putting his new bull out on his herd.

Competing in the Farmfair Supreme, a title Electric Impact also took home.

Photo by ShowChampions

“That Saturday morning at Agribition I turned to Scott and said ‘well, he's not walking this summer with my commercial cows.’ And Scott burst out laughing. I said, ‘he’s way too valuable for that.’”

And that was before Electric won the RBC Supreme show. He has since added North American and World Limousin titles.

The big wins don’t just come from an animal showing off what nature gave them—it takes a lot of work, it takes time and it takes a team. Jaxon and his brother Jayden,

who showed Canadian Impact to his RBC Supreme win in 2017, put in the hours to get Electric into show shape, and the payoff in the ring is definitely worth the effort.

“Winning each Supreme was unreal,” Jaxon said. “And it's definitely hard to do because there's so many good ones out there. But when you get to win it, it's pretty special.”

It was pretty special for Ben Armitage, too— not bad for a blind purchase made on the recommendation of a trusted breeder.

“Scott said he was a good bull—that’s all I needed to know.”