Summer 2017

Blogging during the summer, always takes a backseat to other farm work.
With the long summer nights and lots of farm work to be done, there is little time to sit behind the computer and write.
When the long cold winter nights roll back in, I will have  more time again to write.

Here is a short catch up on our summer.

In a nutshell, the summer began with the kids and their sheep and cattle show at Summer Synergy.
Both the kids did very well and both moved on to Calgary Stampede and won scholarships.
Part of their Synergy competition was their Marketing projects, this year they needed to do some market research and required them to do surveys on opinions. Thank you to all the people who took the time to respond and complete the surveys of Jess and Roy. I know a lot of people asked to see the final results, so here is the marketing project of Roy. (Once I get the one from Jess, I will post it too.)
 Click here: Roy

Here is an impression of some of the activities the kids did at Summer Synergy.

After Summer Synergy, it was time for haymaking on the ranch. We rented additional land this year so we had plenty of hay making to do. With a big effort from Eric, myself and Roy we got the job done. Eric bought a hay mover this year, so that task of getting all the hay hauled home should go smoothly.

We decided to go camping in the mountains with the horses for a few days. This was a great break for all. It was also a learning experience for 3 of the horses, as none of them had ever been to the mountains before. We sat around the campfire, ate well, rode our horses, went for walks. A perfect vacation!

                                                                                     

We also had the sweetest litter of sarplaninac pups this summer. It is so nice to have a small litter, so easy to cuddle all the pups.

Most of the lambs are sold, breeding is in full swing for January lambing.

This summer has also had its share of sadness.

We lost our dear matriarch sarplaninac,  Fena.

She died quietly, while sleeping under a tree watching over her sheep.

She is missed everyday.

So despite the slow down in blog posts,

we are well, busy and enjoying summer.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Summer Synergy and Provincial Sheep Show 2016

Off to Summer Synergy..

The kids and I are back from a week-long sheep and cattle show held in Old, Ab. This is the "BIG" show highlight for the kids, where they can compete in various categories; such as marketing, multi-judging, conformation of their animals, grooming/trimming/fitting and showmanship. This year Jess took her heifer, as well as some of her sheep breeding projects, and Roy his sheep breeding projects.

Around 200 youth from all over Canada come to Synergy where they compete for Scholarships provided by the Calgary Stampede International Youth Livestock Program.
Over $70 000 worth of scholarships are handed out every year to outstanding youth in Agriculture.

This  program/event is not just about the money, it is a great learning experience for the youth competing in all the shows.
It is highly competitive, and yet most of the youth love the experience, friendship and fun they have while participating in Summer Synergy.

The week is jam packed and quite exhausting.
Showing sheep is not for the meek, the time it takes to groom and prepare sheep is at least four times more time consuming than showing a heifer.
It is hard work and I must say "hats off to all the 4-H kids who show sheep" in fleece.

Trimming and carding.. some more trimming and carding..

Summer Synergy is composed of 5 components, all the kids must participate in all 5 categories in order to be considered for a scholarship. The points are added together and the top scores in each age category, go through to the interview process.
Based on the interviews the amounts of the scholarships are determined. These components are marketing,  (their) species specific conformation, species trimming/grooming/fitting, showmanship and multi-judging.
The dairy, beef and sheep kids compete for the same scholarships, and the overall aggregate scores is what counts for scholarships.

Here is a little rundown of what the kids need to do during this week.

 Before Summer Synergy gets underway, they have to complete their marketing project. The marketing project is different every year. The Seniors had to make a "My Story" video focusing on one (or all three) of these themes; quality food production, farm safe practices and rural & family lifestyle. The video must be 1-2 minutes long.

You can view Jess and Roy's videos here:
 http://predator-friendly-ranching.blogspot.ca/2016/06/catch-up.html

Both kids placed really well in their video, with Roy placing 3rd overall ( much to our surprise) and Jess placing in the top 5.

The next part of Summer Synergy is  the show portion. Summer Synergy works together with various breed clubs and 4-H to host the Provincial sheep, dairy and beef breeding stock shows.

The kids have entered their animals into the various classes. Jess did double duty having both a heifer and her sheep at the show this year.
 Jess participated with her Angus heifer in Commercial breeding heifer, conformation, showmanship and fitting.



Both kids did a ewe lamb, yearling ewe with lambs at foot and mature ewes with lambs at foot.
 Roy did a flock class, his flock was not quite complete as one lamb got ill just before the show and had to stay home.

Jess showing her 2016 ewe lamb in conformation class.

Roy with his Dorset flock.

The results from the conformation class was:
Jess placed reserve champion ewe lamb.
Roy placed 4th with his mature ewe and her lambs.

Next up was the sheep trimming.
This competition is perhaps the toughest for the sheep kids. They are given a wild ( not halter broke lamb) that needs to be hand trimmed to look as show ready as possible in 45 minutes time. This is a dry show so no products, water or washing. Just trimming and carding.
This year was extra tough as the lambs were soaking wet and extremely dirty. Very tough on the kids and on their equipment.
So, the kids needed to knuckle down, and just go at it, as best they could.

Here are some pictures of the sheep trimming competition:

Lambs lined up and the kids have 45 minutes to trim them to show ready state.

Jess; the first cut is the hardest

Roy just dived right in and started to clip 'the pattern" into his lamb.

Jess clipping away.

Roy is good with a pair of shears

and done... after 45 minutes

The end product!

As Jess also did the beef, she had her beef fitting competition. This was way simpler as they used their own (already clean) animals. The got 20 minutes to fit them for the show ring. The kids were judged on their ability to correctly fit their animals, use of products and techniques. Directly after fitting, they went into their class showmanship.

The results from the sheep trimming was:
Champion was Roy and reserve Champion was Jess.
Roy won this awesome and hard earned buckle.

Jess did well with her fitting on her heifer, I admit I do not know the placings for her beef fitting and beef showmanship.

The next component was showmanship.
The kids are judged on their ability to show their animals to the best of their abilities. The judge will generally watch the kids throughout the show to determine if they consistently show well, and the judge will watch and judge them during the showmanship class.

Beef Showmanship

The final component for the Summer Synergy was the multi-judging.
 For the judging, the kids had to judge 10 classes, 3 where reasons classes and 7 placings only.
They got to judge Cow/calf pairs, market steers, 1st lactation Holsteins, market lambs, katahdin ewe lambs and yearling katahdins, Jersey cows, steak  yearling heifers and spring heifers.
This is a grueling day,  over 2 hours spent judging 10 classes and making notes for the reasons, then 2 hours of  presenting reasons, all while being absolutely silent.

That wraps up all the activities and components for the scholarships, however, the week is filled with other "non scholarship" activities and competitions such as show team judging, educational components, species specific activities such beef marketing, dairy quiz and sheep learning days. There are also some fun social activities such as the dairy kids hosted an ice-cream social, a hypnotist show and an awards banquet.

 Show team judging, where the kids make teams and then are judged on how they judge and run a class. One member is the judge and the other the ring-person.

Judge Roy looking over his class, while ring person Shellain manages the ring.

The stalling area for the sheep.

Once the week is done and 6 pm Friday afternoon rolls around, the excitement for the scholarship announcements increases.

The scholarship winners are announced, those kids  then head down to Calgary Stampede to be interviewed by various executives. This interview process is the final step, and based on the interviews will determine the scholarship amounts awarded to each contestant.

Both Jess and Roy were scholarship winners this year. Roy placed 16th overall, from close to 100 Senior contestants and Jess was reserve Champion aggregate winner.  The scores are totaled over all the 5 categories.

Top 5 aggregate winners, with Jess being reserve Champion.

Roy won a $1000 scholarship and Jess had a fantastic interview and won the top amount for scholarships!

The top 4 scholarship winners.

All the scholarship winners were given an awesome buckle to commemorate this win.

Calgary Stampede gave out over $70 000 in scholarships to outstanding youth in Agriculture.

to celebrate this and honor these hardworking kids, they are paraded out onto the main grand stand at Stampede in front of a huge audience.

An awesome and proud moment for all these young people.
Here is a small clip of the celebration of the youth winners..

And, then it was time to head back home.

Tired but with a great feeling of accomplishment.

As parents we are proud of what they have accomplished, we know that some days they needed a boot up the rear end to get them going, and on other days it simply is no fun to have to work on their livestock when others go out and party.

These things don't just happen overnight. Their animals require daily care, hours of training and washing, the kids need to learn new skill sets and have to push their own boundaries.

Finally, a huge thank you to organizations such as Calgary Stampede that make these opportunities available for the youth, to Summer Synergy for putting on this premier event, to 4-H, to sponsors, partners and volunteers. Even in these hard economic times, you gave money, time and resources to allow these kids to compete, meet other youth, have fun and learn.

Thank you.

Jess giving a toast to the sponsors at the Evening of Excellence:

Another final shout out.. and for our small family, perhaps the most important shoutout of them all.

A big thank you goes to Eric who makes this possible. Not only does he have to run and manage his full time job away from the farm but also has to do all the farm work while the kids and I are away.

Without his support and hard work all this would not be possible.

This year was especially stressful as Eric had to deal with someone leaving a gate open at our cows, the cows wondered onto the highway and three where hit and killed. Luckily nobody was injured in this collision. In fact the person who hit the cows, reported to the police and then drove off and never stayed for the police to arrive and access the damage.

This certainly put a big damper onto a great week.

Thank you Eric, for all you do.

Roy's First Demolition Derby

One of the projects Roy did this year within 4-H was the building of a demolition derby truck.
He, along with 6 other members helped build, paint and prepare a truck for the demolition derby held every year at the Pioneer Threshermans Association annual event.

Our neighbors, Roeby and Martin, ran the project and did a fantastic job of getting the truck ready to go.
As Roy was the olderst (15), he got to drive the truck.

He was very nervous the first day, knowing full and well when you play with the big boys, things can get rough.

He got loads of advice and plenty of tips from us armchair quarterbacks.


The pit crew:

The days started good with them winning the Best Dressed Demo Derby vehicle.

The competition was tough with all the beat up trucks and vehicles.

and, the checkered flag goes to the Coyote Acres 4-h team!

Last minute advice from dad to son, before he enters the pit.

A few rounds of 6 and 8 cylinder vehicles started the derby.

Roy was in the first heat of the trucks.

He got a few big hits, but the truck held up well.

Unfortunately, it was soon over for Roy, as his battery stopped working and he could not get the truck running in the designated time. 

So, back at the "base" a new battery was put in, some body work was hammered in and the truck, and Roy,  were ready for a new day. 

Heading to the pit for day 2 rounds.

This was a buy back round, so another shot of getting into the finals.

Ready, set and go

This round went way better for Roy, being the youngest and most inexperienced driver ( he has only has his learners license a few weeks),

 he gave a few good hits, and received a few big ones back.

Roy was more aggressive and had more strategy this time round.

"Ouch"

"go get him, Roy"

"Give her", Roy

" Go hard, or go home" was the motto today.

Once again, he had to quit again, this time due to a seat belt malfunction.

His belt came undone, and he could not continue, the chance of injuries would be too high if he got flung out of the truck or parts of his body got outside the vehicle.

Safety first, so he broke his stick and had to sit it out until this round was done.

He, and the 4-H crew had a great time building this truck and putting a few dents into the truck.

The plans are big for next year,

this truck will be outfitted again and they will build a second vehicle for the derby.

This two day event was great fun, the kids had a blast, we got sunburnt, we had an eventful dance, where Eric was security, we came home tired, and Roy made some memories.