POST-SHOW REVIEW
Colton Hamilton Gets back to “The Classic” WORDS BY MONA HOWE
PHOTOS BY LOREE PHOTOGRAPHY, BOX T PHOTOGRAPHY, & SHOWCHAMPIONS
And after a year filled with uncertainty, Stampede Steer Classic exhibitors get back to the ring. orn and raised just up the road, Colton Hamilton is no stranger to the Calgary Stampede, and 2021 certainly wasn’t his first time setting foot in the ring for the Calgary Stampede Junior Steer Classic. This time, however, Hamilton would be the judge rather than an exhibitor at Canada’s most prestigious steer show.
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Judge Hamilton’s roots run deep in the cattle industry. His parents, Gavin and Mabel Hamilton, started Belvin Angus 42 years ago. When they were married in 1975, Gavin worked for Colton’s great-uncle, David Bradshaw, at Aberlynn Angus. “This is how our family got started in the Angus breed,” he says.
“It was a really cool honor to judge the steer show, to be part of the history of it,” says Hamilton, who raises cattle with his family at Innisfail, Alberta.
Before then, the breed of choice was Shorthorn for the Hamiltons and horned Hereford for the Churches, his mother’s family. While both are good, solid foundation British breeds, “I’m biased towards the Angus and glad my parents chose that route,” he chuckles.
Growing up, showing their purebred Angus cattle at the Calgary Stampede was a can’tmiss event for Hamilton and his family. At that time, prior to Steer Classic moving to its junior format, open breed shows were part of the Stampede’s livestock shows. “I only showed in the Steer Classic one year,” he recalls, “but was always there helping my cousin and friends fit their cattle.”
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FALL 2021
A couple years after completing his economics degree from the University of Calgary in 2006, Hamilton purchased the original family homestead from his grandmother. It was originally settled by his great-grandfather Matthew Hamilton in 1892.
Belvin Angus continues to grow and evolve with the next generation, which includes Hamilton, his sister Quinn and her husband, Brendyn Elliot. Their cow herd numbers have expanded to more than 350 head, supporting their annual bull sale in March and their recent addition of a fall female sale every second year. Increasing their herd numbers hasn’t been the sole priority though. “It is just as important, if not more, that we use and produce the highest quality genetics possible for our customers,” Hamilton explains. “Ninety percent of those customers are our commercial bull buyers,” he says, “so we focus on traits that are important to them.” This means they are constantly breeding efficient, sound, good mothers with good udders. “Cattle that can go out and work and be low input is one thing we strive for.”
