EDMONTON –Shae-Lynn Hipkin wants a ranch full of horses when she grows up.
If she gets over her “horse thing,” her next dream is to have cattle on this ranch.
“I am really into cows,” said Hipkin of Sherwood Park, Alta., one of the many young cattle producers showing cattle at Farmfair International, held Nov. 5-14 in Edmonton.
“I want to be a farmer when I grow up.”
Hipkin shows cattle in the junior futurity classes and helps her father show their purebred Red Angus cattle, which has given the 10-year-old a good sense of what is required from an exhibitor on the show circuit.
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“I wash, I groom, I blow dry and I clean up poop.
“I like leading the calves and showing them off and say, ‘this is my calf and this is what I want it to be like,’” she said during a break in the show schedule.
Hipkin’s father, Darren, believes it’s important to keep youth involved in agriculture, which includes the sometimes long and difficult show circuit.
“It’s good she wants to get involved.” He said the responsibility of looking after cattle has improved skills his daughter will use for the rest of her life.
“It has taught her responsibility and how to talk to people.”
Siblings Wacey and Dakota Townsend of Sylvan Lake, Alta., have showed cattle since they were 18 months old with the help of an adult.
“We’ve been doing this all our lives,” said Wacey.
Waking up early to wash, blow dry, fit and show cattle at Farmfair is normal for the home-schooled family.
“It’s fun. We get to hang out with all our buddies from the junior shows,” she said.
Showing cattle is like coming to a big family reunion, they say.
“I don’t have non-agricultural friends. All my friends are here at cattle shows. They know my lifestyle.”
Being around cattle since an early age has given them an eye for cattle.
Dakota said it’s his responsibility to look through the breed books and pick out which semen to buy for his own 10-head herd.
Tyler Dietrich, 15, of Forestburg, Alta., won reserve champion bred and owned female at the junior show. He credits his early life on the show circuit to helping him develop his eye for cattle.
“I plan on owning a herd of purebred Red Angus and one day coming back to take part in Farmfair and winning the Supreme show and winning a truck,” Dietrich said.
“There’s nothing better than that.” In the meantime, he said he enjoys visiting with the other young junior exhibitors at the show.
“These kids have the same interests as I do and they really like showing cattle.”
Shallaine Daley of Carstairs, Alta., misses a few days of school each year to come to the cattle shows but believes she has gained other skills through 4-H and at the shows.
“I have learned a lot of responsibility in taking care of the animals and I have learned a lot of patience.”
Daley is not scared to pick up the microphone and give her opinions about the cattle she has just judged in the ring, which is a good skill for her possible future agricultural career.
“I might want to continue running my parents’ farm when I get older.”
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