REGINA — A 17-year-old Hereford breeder surprised everyone, including herself, when she had the high selling bull at the national Hereford sale held Nov. 22 at Canadian Western Agribition.
The high seller was a three-quarter interest for $20,000 in a yearling polled bull.
The bull, YouTube, was consigned by Larissa Lupul, owner of Barefoot Polled Herefords at Foisy, Alta., and went to Dennis Babiuk of Brosseau, Alta.
The bull has a long list of show wins, including reserve champion polled senior yearling at the World Hereford Show last July at Olds, Alta.
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The Grade 12 student owns four Herefords and has decided she wants a career in agriculture, even though her parents are not ranchers. Her mother is a nurse and her father is a trucker and landscaper.
“I want to do it for the rest of my life,” she said.
Her parents were not always convinced this was what she wanted.
“When they see how hard I’m working and the respect I’m getting from other people, they see where I am coming from,” Lupul said.
She received help from neighbours who own polled Herefords when she was seven to acquire her first heifer and has steadily worked her way through the junior program and 4-H.
“This has been my best year. I’ve been working hard for a long time to get here,” she said after the sale.
The family owns a quarter section of land in northeastern Alberta. Her father named it Barefoot Farm because as a young man he water-skied barefoot in a nearby lake.
Herefords were an easy choice. The cattle were quiet and easy for a youngster to handle. She also liked the distinctive red and white coloring.
YouTube has been winning shows throughout its short life, but it means plenty of work and days off school for Lupul. She has missed 15 days of school this fall to attend shows.
“I had to convince my math teacher I could come,” she said.
To her surprise, her parents and math teacher were watching the sale via the internet, and her phone was jangling with congratulations from home as soon as she left the auction ring.
