Youth programs help attract young people to the cattle breeding sector, where the optimism can be seen in the show barns
BRANDON — It wasn’t hard to find young cattle folk in the barn at Manitoba Ag Days.
“They always say (average age) is getting older, but not in livestock, especially not in this kind of seedstock industry,” said Austen Anderson, as he sat on and stroked one of his Angus bulls, a peaceful creature that seemed interested in the conversation.
“It’s a young (person’s) gig.”
All around him, cattle breeding families were brushing cattle, tending to bedding needs and pitchforking manure. It was a youthful hive of activity.
“We were brought up in the youth programs,” said Brandon-area cattle breeder Lois McRae, adding she is pleased by the relatively young profile of cattle breeder demographics.
Quality cattle production is a demanding business requiring attention to hundreds of animals in challenging environments and weather. Fortunately, that seems to attract the right sorts of people, and youth programs help draw them in.
“You have to have the love of livestock and you have to have the love of being there whether it’s 40 below,” said McRae. “Somebody has to feed the cows.”
One of those youthful cow feeders is Alice Rooke, a 23-year-old English import whose family moved to the Alexander area 10 years ago. They left a sheep and cattle operation in the lush green of southern England and opted for the dry and open territory of Western Canada, where they have commercial and purebred herds.
“You have to have an innate passion for it,” said Rooke, who graduated from the University of Manitoba last spring.
“The livestock industry is a very passionate industry and I think that’s what really makes producers producers. It’s a pride thing.
“Livestock producers are proud to raise quality cattle and that’s what gets us up every day to go out and do the best job that we can, even if it’s -30 outside.”
