Peel dairy team competes at Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

Local residents James Thompson, Gordon Jefferson, Lindsay Bebbington, Jennifer Woodill, Hannah Richards, Claire Johnston, Jordan Thompson, Ryan Thompson were competing last week in the 4-H events at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Submitted photo

On the opening weekend of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, 358 of Canada's top dairy youth from 52 teams across eight Canadian provinces took part in the 29th annual Classic Canadian Junior Dairy Show. This elite event is the country's premier dairy youth event, bringing the best of the best to the cattle show ring.

Throughout the two-day long competition, competitors first compete in heats for each of the calf conformation and showmanship classes to earn qualifying spots in the finals. Among the contenders who competed in the cavernous and prestigious Ricoh Coliseum were the top-ranked members selected from the Bolton and Brampton Dairy Clubs.

Hannah Richards, of Caledon, pulled off a top-20 finish, finishing 18th with her Holstein junior heifer calf, Woodfield Contender Jeannie. She was also the only member of the eightmember team to earn a berth in the junior showmanship division finals.

Fellow team members Lindsay Bebbington and Jennifer Woodill, also of Caledon, each passed the qualifying round in the competitive field of 68 summer yearlings, earning spots in the division final with their 4-H project animals, Woodfield Contender 1618 and Woodfield Contender Janet. They were the only Peel team members to make the cut in the conformation division.

All three are members of the Brampton Dairy Club, which operates out of west Caledon.

Gordon Jefferson and Claire Johnston of the Bolton Dairy Club and James Thompson, Jordan Thompson and Ryan Thompson, all of the Brampton club, rounded out the eight-member team.

The team bettered their 2007 finish in the herdsmanship portion of the competition, finishing two group placings higher than last year.

Many talented showmen and exceptional 4-H heifers have paraded through the show ring over the 29-year history of the event, with Peel members having performed strongly and leaving their mark.

To this day, Peel is the only county or provincial team who can boast of having four conformation winners: Connie Dixon (1984), Jim Bursey (1985), Steve Fraser (1996) and Lisa Wood (1999). Prince Edward Island follows a close second with three winners.

In the showmanship division, Peel also boasts four grand champions, just slightly behind the Durham West team, who can claim five showmanship winners: Donna Rowntree (1987), Jim Bursey (1988), Paul Cleave (1992) and Steve Fraser (1997).

Bursey and Fraser are two of only four competitors in the history of the competition who can boast of having won Grand Champion distinctions in both divisions of the competition.

Although the event has been known as the Scotiabank Classic Canadian Junior Dairy Show for the past 23 years, a partnership of new sponsors stepped up to the plate for the 2008 edition. This year the national competition was jointly sponsored by TD Canada Trust Agriculture Services, Kubota Canada Ltd., Holstein Canada, Semex Alliance (with their partners Westgen, Gencor, Eastern Breeders Inc. and CIAQ), the Ontario Holstein Branch and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

Participating at the Royal event takes a lot of hard work and teamwork, not just from the team, but from community partners as well. The 2008 dairy team had excellent support from the local businesses and agricultural community, including Clark Moore Motors, Conestoga Agri Systems Inc., Davis Feed and Farm Supply Ltd., Ed Stewart's Equipment Ltd., Elmira Farm Service (2000) Ltd., Fines Ford Lincoln Sales and Service Ltd., Frost Pontiac Buick Cadillac Ltd., Halton-Peel Holstein Club, Hogg and Nevills Electric Ltd., James Dick Construction Ltd., John F. Smith Insurance Brokers Inc., Peel Region Chair Emil Kolb, Maple Farm Supply Limited, Norval Farm Supply, Peel Seed Cooperative Inc., RBC Royal Bank (Fergus), Reinhart Trailer Sales/Brampton Livestock Exchange, RE/MAX in the Hills Inc., Swanston Farm Equipment Ltd. and the Town of Caledon council.