BASHAW, Alta. – Cattle producers don’t need piggy banks – they need Moo-Lah Banks.
The bovine equivalent of the piggy bank is the brainchild of Kendra Hofstra, who dreamed up the idea as part of the Senior National Young Cattlemen marketing competition at the Canadian Junior All Breeds Heifer Show.
Hofstra and 11 other competitors came to the cattle barn with a product, a booth and a prepared pitch for the judges. The competition is designed to increase young cattle producers’ sales skills and business acumen.
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Hofstra, who raises Angus cattle but works on a dairy farm near Leduc, was searching for a possible product to sell at the competition when she saw a piggy bank in the store.
It gave her the idea for the Moo-Lah bank and with the help of a friend with a ceramic kiln, her idea was born.
“I wanted something that was fun and easy to market,” Hofstra said at her booth at the end of a cattle barn.
Customers can buy a ceramic cow already decorated or they can decorate the cows themselves with pens, markers, stickers and cloth.
“There’s lots and lots of interest,” said Hofstra, who uses her Moo-Lah Bank for spare change in her truck.
In another row in the cattle barn, Jamie Buba was selling decorated show harnesses – show vests that hold a contestant’s number.
Buba came up with Harness the Bling after seeing sparkly show harnesses in her travels.
“I saw one with a couple sparkles on it and thought I’d expand it with different decorations,” she said.
“I love it. It’s good for the little kids. It jazzes it up.”
Shannon Northey, who judged the competition, said the marketing ideas ranged from fudge to crop scouting.
“There was a lot of creativity.”
The competitors were initially nervous as they gave Northey their two-minute marketing pitch, but they soon warmed up and sounded like trade show professionals.
“This really gives them skills to market and go on with their own business,” Northey said.
