MEDICINE HAT, Alta. – Junior cattle events are about more than winning.
For the young producers who last month competed in Bonanza, the Canadian Junior Hereford Association’s annual national event, it was also a chance to talk about cattle and catch up with friends who come from across Canada for the 29-year-old event.
Held Aug. 12-18 in Medicine Hat, more than 130 young people showed 220 head of cattle with all work done by juniors between the ages of three and 21.
Parents were politely shown to the stands where they could shout encouragement but not interfere.
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A common theme among the winners was a lifelong love of cattle and a commitment to the British breed that is the foundation of many herds in Canada.
“I love cattle. It’s my life,” said 21-year-old Raymond Turney of Nanoose Bay on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island.
“My first animal was a Hereford and I grew up with Herefords.”
He finished his junior career on a high note when he walked out the grand champion steer, a Hereford-Angus cross. Turney had a deal with Dusty Howell of Alberta to show the steer, which earned a $5,000 paycheque.
His family has about 30 Herefords and 40,000 broiler chickens.
A welding apprentice, Turney’s ambition is to move to Alberta and have his own place to raise cattle. Vancouver Island is a difficult place to raise beef cattle, considering most animals sold off the island must make a 90-minute ferry ride and then be trucked across the mainland.
“It’s more of a hobby on the island, but there are people who are dedicated to it,” he said.
He wants to be one of those dedicated beef producers.
With a long family tradition with Herefords, another big winner was 15-year-old Kelsey Hirsche of High River, daughter of Grant and Annette Hirsche.
“It’s what I have been raised on – support the Hereford breed,” she said.
Hirsche won the supreme championship with her purebred yearling heifer in the bred and owned class. She owns the mother of her winning heifer, which has been winning for Hirsche wherever it is shown.
She also showed a steer that was her champion 4-H project. The buyers of the steer, Compton Petroleum, agreed to let her continue showing it and it went on to win the Hereford class at the Calgary Stampede, earning her $1,500.
She has been handling cattle since she was five years old and last year attended the junior national show in Kansas City, Missouri, where she was one of two Canadians.
“We were the only Canadians there so we put little maple leaves on all our signs,” she said.
Travel is one of the aspects she likes about the junior program.
“I really like cattle shows because you get to go to a lot of places. I love working with cattle.”
Her plans take her far from the ranch and the Prairies – attending Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she hopes to earn a degree in marine biology with emphasis on research into developing renewable energy from the oceans.
At 13, Julia Pawlitza is equally devoted to cattle and the Hereford breed. She has shown livestock since she was a five year old at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina.
She led out the champion straight-bred Hereford steer at Bonanza, winning an entertainment system and other prizes. She was also reserve intermediate showman.
She lives with her family at Abbey, Sask., and along with her brother and sister actively shows in jackpot events, works in 4-H and competes in roping competitions.
As much as she enjoys the shows, she also likes the social aspect of these events.
“I meet new kids but it is pretty much meeting up with old friends,” she said.
Pawlitza sees her future as a veterinarian so she can continue working on the farm with her father, Alvin Pawlitza, while running a mobile clinic.
Barely into her teens, she has already demonstrated a strong work ethic and at Bonanza she could be seen at her little sister Georgia’s side, helping the four-year-old groom her heifer and lead it around the ring.
The family brought 12 head to the show and her father could not resist pointing out his oldest daughter, who prepared all the cattle for the show.
“She did all the work on the cattle between haying on the farm,” he said.
