The young and the old, the experienced and the newcomers all exhibit cattle at Agribition. But one can’t assume young people are inexperienced at showing cattle. Many who attend Agribition have been showing cattle for most of their lives, and they’ve learned a bit about life along the way.
Ash Davidson is one of four children of Tara and Ross Davidson, who own and operate Lonesome Dove Ranch near Ponteix, Sask. They raise Gelbvieh cattle and work alongside Ross Davidson’s parents, who operate Davidson Gelbvieh.
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Ash Davidson says he’s been showing cattle since he was five. “It gets your name out there and it’s fun.”
He says the most challenging part is getting the cattle halter broke and able to show.
However, he was successful with his 4-H heifer, which he showed at Agribition in the Gelbvieh show. Davidson won Reserve Grand Champion female with her.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Davidson says of the Gelbvieh show. “It felt pretty good. I don’t win a whole lot, so it felt different.”
Davidson also showed in the Junior Beef Extreme at Agribition.
He says showing cattle has been a good way to teach him life lessons he’ll carry on with him.
“Just taking care of things, trust, learning how to be there for something,” Davidson says.
Eighteen-year-old Georgia Beck has been showing cattle since she was six and it’s still something she loves to do.
She’s in her first year at the University of Saskatchewan where she’s studying animal science. Beck grew up in Lang, Sask., on her family’s operation Beck Farms. There they raise 200 head of purebred Charolais cattle, 100 head of commercial Charolais cattle and also farm around 6,000 acres of grain land.
Beck says her favourite part about showing cattle is the people.
“The people you meet and the people you get to see and just having your cattle on display for people to see and just showing off your breeding program,” Beck says about why she likes to show cattle.
Beck has shown cattle in the prestigious Beef Supreme at Agribition three times, including this year. With all this experience showing cattle, she’s learned some life lessons along the way.
“Just patience, really, over everything,” Beck says. “To never give up and just respect for everything and hard work.”
She says one of the most memorable moments for her from showing cattle is when they qualified for the Beef Supreme at Manitoba Ag Ex in Brandon, Man., when she drove six hours and missed school for the event.
“It really made it worth it,” she says.
