Cow-calf pairs claim top female spots at the National Hereford Show
Two cows with calves at their side were the grand and reserve champion females of Canadian Western Agribition’s National Hereford Show.
Haroldson’s Marvel 7437 ET 39K, shown by River Valley Polled Herefords from Newburgh, Ont., was the grand champion and was exhibited with her male calf, RVP 0016 Maximus 200M, at her side.
Marvel was the winner of the class for females born in 2022 with calves at side.
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Judge Lance Leachman of Maidstone, Sask., said when making the grand and reserve placings that Marvel represented the “elite quality we’re after, especially in a show ring setting.”
Reserve champion female was HMS Hi-Cliffe 646 Juniper 3J, winner of the class of females born in 2021, with calves at side. She was shown by HMS Hi-Cliffe of Outlook, Sask., with her male calf HMS Hi-Cliffe 608H Matador 33M.
The grand champion bull was CCD Kingsman 3K ET, exhibited by MJT Cattle Company Ltd., of Egerton, Alta. Chesney Doubet is an additional owner.
The reserve champion bull was K-Cow Knockout 79K, exhibited by Triple A Herefords from Moose Jaw, Sask., with additional owners Murray Andrews, K-Cow Ranch, Kailey Wirsta and Lexi Wirsta.
Leachman said Hereford females are known for their soundness.
“They have sound structure, good on their feet and their legs, however you want to describe it, and that’s something that I think we need to hang our hat on and should continue,” he said as he placed the top females in the show.
There were few animals in the show that didn’t exhibit the soundness qualities of Hereford, he added.
“Commercially, that’s something we should underscore as a strength of this breed that we need to recognize with a little more aggression.”
He said that the Hereford breed went through a period of deterioration, but the past few years have seen improvement, “and I think our direction is extremely promising because the things that Hereford cattle do uniquely mesh really well with where this world is headed, if we talk about utilization of limited resources or expensive resources, the feed efficiency of these cows is going to align with that very favourably.”
