For 50 years, Agribition has been the training ground for the industry’s future, 2021 was no exception
Jorja Beck is a determined teenager.
Once the 16-year-old from Lang, Sask., decided she wanted to show cattle at a September show she made it happen — with a little help from her family.
“I had an old 4-H heifer that had a pretty decent bull calf,” she explained. “I told my brother I wanted to show her.”
Her brother, Mason, got a trailer and went out to the field to get the pair for her.
The daily work began.
“She was just a special 4-H heifer, and her calf was pretty showy from the start, so I figured they’d maybe make good show cattle in the future.
“I just kept working on her for the September show and after that was done I just kept working on her and hopefully Dad would say yes and we’d go,” she said, referring to more shows.
A trip to the Manitoba Ag-Ex in October solidified her decision to show her cow.
“I didn’t think we’d do that good, honestly,” she said. “I was really worried ahead of time that our cattle weren’t prepared for the show since it was our first time showing, and it’s really a competitive show at all the fall shows. But we ended up doing far better than I ever expected.”
In fact, Beck’s Tequila 69F, with her calf Beck’s Thread 2176J, won the grand championship at the Brandon show and qualified for the Canadian Western Agribition Beef Supreme last weekend.
“I was kind of shocked, to be honest. I didn’t expect that,” Beck said before her Agribition events.
Her dad, Wade Beck, said he is proud of all the work Jorja did to get her animals ready.
“Every morning and every night since the first of September she’s tied this cow up and fed them and worked their hair and it’s really all paid off,” he said.
In past years, Beck Farms has shown in the commercial barns and both Mason and Jorja have worked for other purebred breeders.
“Over the years, they’ve said we need to show our own cattle; our own cattle are good enough people need to see them. I always said, well when you can do the work we will do it,” Wade said. “They put in the work. They said to me the other day we’re never going back to what we did before. We’ll see.”
At Agribition, Beck’s cattle came up against the eventual Supreme winner.
But now that she has had a taste of the big fall show circuit it seems she is hooked.
“This year has been our learning year and we’ve learned so much. I never thought I could get a pair ready, let alone be in the Supreme,” said Jorja.
Another teenager in the Supreme show to end Agribition was 14-year-old Kasey Adams from Forestburg, Alta.
She had an extraordinary fall, winning the grand champion Red Angus female at the Olds Fall Classic, Farmfair International and Agribition. She also won the First Lady Classic interbreed show and the Extreme championship in the Junior Beef Extreme, both at Agribition. She finished in the Supreme top 10.
“It’s all her,” said Corinne Gibson, from Six Mile Ranch, which is an additional owner of Red Ter-Ron 6 Mile Misty 131H.
Adams agreed she did all the work with her animal, saying simply, “She’s just awesome.”
