OLDS, Alta. — Cayley Peltzer saved her sheep for Summer Synergy.
The 14-year-old winner of the Supreme sheep contest at the Calgary Stampede’s junior livestock show had the biggest win of her 4-H career. A lively redhead who also shows cattle and horses, Peltzer devoted most of her energy to her ewe with a set of twins.
A summer show takes extra commitment for many young people because the market lambs are likely gone after achievement day and their days are filled with other activities once school is out.
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That was not the case for Peltzer, who had six lambs for the show at Olds July 14.
“I saved my lambs for this show,” she said. “I had more time now grooming and getting them ready for this show than I did during the 4-H year.”
Peltzer lives at Rosemary, Alta., and is a member of the Brooks and Area 4-H club.
Her win included cash prizes and a $1,000 scholarship, which she plans to use to study to become an equine veterinarian.
High achieving youngsters are the kind the Summer Synergy program hopes to attract. It is held in conjunction with the Calgary Stampede and the Olds Agriculture Society and puts $54,000 in scholarships up for grabs among the 350 entrants.
The show invites junior purebred associations, 4-H provincial shows and open categories, said committee member Tracy Lundago.
It started last year as a beef and provincial 4-H dairy show.
“There is tremendous potential for growth in terms of the youth,” Lundago said.
The provincial 4-H sheep show was added this year.
“Most of the kids who are here are potentially sheep producers,” said sheep committee chair Andy Pittman. The committee of 12 worked for more than a year to co-ordinate the show and make it worthwhile for youngsters to attend.
Many of them brought their flock projects. These small flocks are a commitment of at least three years from the time a ewe lamb is selected and raises her own lambs.
“They enjoy raising sheep and this is icing on the cake if they do well,” Pittman said.
Other junior livestock winners
•The beef show saw Laurie Morasch, 13, of Bassano, Alta., win with her Red Angus cow-calf pair. The cow is the daughter of her supreme champion cow from Canadian Western Agribition, which she won when she was 11.
•The commercial beef prize went to Kyle Dodgson of Sangudo, Alta.
•The supreme dairy champion was Jacklyn Hunter of the Lacombe 4-H dairy club. The 18-year-old plans to farm full time with her family this year and then apply to university, majoring in either agriculture or health care.
