REGINA – The Heartland First Lady Classic, the Beef Supreme Challenge, the beef carcass competition, the Cinderella Classic, Agribition Pen-Arama – these multi-breed cattle events continue to attract crowds and entries at purebred cattle shows across North America.
“Excitement. It is exciting. It is unpredictable. It pits our best of breed against theirs,” said Karen Anderson of Bethune, Sask.
Those from Anderson Limousin Farm should enjoy these competitions. In the past four weeks they’ve won the Saskatoon Farm Fair’s Cinderella Classic all bred heifer show, competed as the top Limousin entry in the Agribition First Lady Classic, another heifer event, and were selected to compete in the Royal Bank’s Agribition Beef Supreme Challenge for bulls.
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Breed awards at large shows like the one in Regina can drastically improve the price and prospect of selling bulls and replacement heifers.
“This is more about the best of open competition,” Anderson said. “The commercial producers do get to see all the breeds though, and that can give them other choices for a bull.”
Those other choices at the multi-breed competitions are more important to the minor breeds.
Galloway producer Clay Salter of Max Creek, Missouri, has a Canadian herd and an American one. He said the opportunity to show off his breed to commercial buyers is important.
“In my mind this is the greatest cross-breeding animal alive today. You just have to look at the size of one of our heifer calves to realize that those producers that need hardy cattle that can gain quickly should be going with Galloway,” said Salter.
He points out a big boned, six-month-old, 600-pound heifer he brought from his Suncrest herd in Listowel, Ont.
“Whether you are in Canada or the States, it is the commercial guys that need to see what we have to offer and when we compete head to head they can see our cattle beside something else. That’s when they make choices,” he said.
Darryl Sanders of Markdale, Ont., was one of five judges at this year’s Heartland Livestock First Lady Classic held last week during Agribition.
“These are tough choices for the judges. They are based on what the industry is buying this year, what makes a good animal and what we’ve seen ourselves,” he said.
The judges’ choices at Agribition were so tough during that event that a three-way tie occurred and had to be broken by a single alternate’s vote.
For the fourth consecutive year, a Black Angus heifer won the Heartland show.
The title and $4,600 in prize money went to Remitall Cattle Co. of Olds, Alta.
Kevin Dempsey of West Brome, Que., had the Shorthorn finalist at the show and said being in the final and allowing commercial breeders to see his animal next to other breeds makes it worthwhile.
“We want to win, but we also want to sell some heifers later at this show, and being top of your breed helps,” he said.
