When judge Dan Skeels viewed the Westlock District 4-H 2018 Achievement Day class of 56 steers, he told the crowd he wasn’t there to judge showmanship, or grooming and he wasn’t looking for pretty.
He was looking for steers that would bring the most money on the rail and comments overheard from many after the show was that he had done an excellent job.
The 56 steers came from the four clubs in the Westlock District with beef projects — Golden Sunset 4-H Beef Club, Double Diamond 4-H Multi Club, Sunniebend 4-H Beef Club and Pembina West 4-H Beef Club.
The district show is a two-day event held at North Central Livestock at Clyde — June 3 was the Female Show, with the Steer Show held the morning of June 4 with the sale at 1 p.m.
For his District Grand Champion Steer, Skeels went to the Simmental x Angus steer CHRISTOPH, shown by 14-year-old Paige Snyder of the Double Diamond 4-H Club, the one he had chosen earlier as Club Champion.
Her steer started out the 4-H year at 855 pounds and by sale day, he had an ADG of 3.63 pounds. With a sale weight of 1,624 pounds, her steer was purchased by Westlock Veterinary Clinic for $3.20/pound.
For the District Reserve Champion steer, Skeels turned to the Sunniebend 4-H Beef Club, and the Charolais x Angus steer BASIL, shown by Laurel Taylor. Her steer was selected earlier as Club Champion. Her steer started out at 723 pounds and had a sale weight of 1,554 pounds for an ADG of 3.90 pounds. Her steer was purchased by Bar None Ranch for $2.75 per pound.
The totals for the sale of the 56 steers (unofficial figures) was 77,457 pounds bringing $18,732.55 to give an average of $2.359 per pound.
Other steer champions included Golden Sunset Club Champion Brienna Nyal and Reserve Club Champion Taya Lusson. For the Double Diamond Club, the Reserve Champion was won by Macy Kaliel. The Club Reserve Champion for the Sunniebend Club was Payton Gregoire, and in the Pembina West Club, the Champion was won by Haley Chapotelle with her brother Shaye taking Club Reserve.
The Heifer Show held Sunday was also the day for various awards and for showmanship and grooming competitions.
Four steers selected by members from each club were brought out for the group of four competition, won this year by the Golden Sunset 4-H Beef Club.
While the Golden Sunset steers were very good, the other three clubs had some excellent steers as well, making it a much more difficult for steer judge Dan Skeels on Monday when he had to select winners from the from the 56 steers.
This year, the Champion and Reserve Champion heifer from the Golden Sunset Club were Evan Patriquin and Karis Huppertz. for Double Diamond it was Jesse Tufty and Brooklyn Felske, for Sunniebend Seth Fairholm and Payton Gregoire, and for Pembina West Haley Chapotelle and Sarah Kingma.
At the District level, the Grand Champion Heifer was won by Jesse Tufty of Double Diamond, with Reserve going to Evan Patriquin of Golden Sunset.
The Grand Champion two-year cow/calf was won by Ryley Patriquin with Heidi Huppertz taking Reserve. Both are Golden Sunset members.
The Grand Champion three-year cow/calf award went to Seth Fairholm of Sunniebend, with Reserve going to Emma Grimmeyer of Golden Sunset.
The Overall Champion Cow/Calf award was won by Ryley Patriquin of Golden Sunset, with Reserve to Seth Fairholm.
In Heifer Senior Showmanship it was Evan Patriquin of Golden Sunset first and Payton Gregoire of Sunniebend second.
Heifer Junior Showmanship honours went to Emily Dick of Sunniebend while second went to Nate Rigney of Golden Sunset.
Senior Steer Showmanship was won by Jesse Tufty of Double Diamond with Reserve going to Payton Gregoire of Sunniebend.
Jr. Steer Showmanship was won by Paige Snyder of Double Diamond with Reserve going to Rebecca Felske, also of the Double Diamond club.
