STRATHMORE, Alta. – After a sweltering job leading cattle around a ring at high noon, sometimes the handlers just need a nap.
With temperatures reaching 30 C late last month during the Strathmore Heritage Days’ open junior show, a big drink of water and a snooze in a shady spot were just the thing for both the cattle and the youngsters.
Many fairs have eliminated their livestock shows and substituted them with petting zoos, but Strathmore has continued the tradition, which includes a full day for children and a chance to win cash prizes and merchandise.
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The long-time fair offered about $8,000 in prizes this year for three days of showing for children and adults, and a jackpot show, said Cody Lee Bolton, one of the show organizers.
The junior show enticed young people from Alberta and Saskatchewan to walk out their 4-H projects as well as some first time entries.
That was the case for seven-year-old Jacey Massey of Strathmore, whose parents Tim and Derri raise Simmentals at New Trend Cattle Co. Entering the ring for the first time, she showed several animals that towered over her. Her bull calf, Way Cool, ended up as grand champion. Another of her entries was a champion heifer calf. Both belong to the Grade 2 student and resulted from embryo transplants from a single cow.
“All the calves were from different cows so you know the cows are working genetically,” Derri said.
Jacey was less impressed with the science and more interested in the prize money. And where will the money go?
“In my piggy bank,” she said.
At 11 years old, Laurie Morasch of Bassano, Alta., was more businesslike.
An experienced showperson, she won the grand champion female with a bull calf at side. The red two-year-old female won the Canadian Western Agribition supreme championship in 2008 and was named show cow of the year for the Canadian Angus breed. The pair is owned in partnership with Corner Creek Angus.
Only a few of Morasch’s friends knew why she missed a week of school last November and when she won big, everyone at Rosemary school found out about the $10,000 win.
“They announced it over the intercom. It was exciting.”
The cow, Red Lazy MC Bess, may step out of the spotlight for a year.
“We have been flushing her so we aren’t going to take her to too many shows,” she said.
Morasch has a small herd of seven cows that she shows in junior and adult competitions. She is not sure who might replace Red Lazy MC Bess because she feels this was a once in a lifetime cow.
Showing Red Angus cattle is a big part of her life and when she wins there is just a hint of a smile before she accepts the handshake from the judge. A quiet girl, Morasch said she likes the independence of being in the show ring on her own.
Her seven-year-old brother Layne has also started showing cattle. He won junior champion female at this show with a Red Angus-Shorthorn cross heifer.
