May 2011 - Charolais Banner

YOUTH ACTIVITIESCCYA Essay WinnersAn Unforgettable C.C.Y.A. Conference– Shelby Evans, Kenaston, SKJunior – $125When the bellrings on the lastday of school,the first thoughtto cross my mindis “Only a fewmore weeks untilC.C.Y.A.” Eachyear C.C.Y.A. ismy favorite event of the summer andI have loved every conference. Ihave been attending since 2004 and Ihave had a great time at everyconference, but my all-time favoriteshow and conference was in Olds,Alberta, in 2008. I was ten years oldand had a blast!One of my favorite memories of theOlds Conference was the Mixer. Everyyear I love the mixer, but this year itwas the best! There were so manyevents and everyone had a chance toparticipate. My favorite events werethe messy but fun ones One of themhad us applying whipped cream,shaving cream and chocolate syruponto other people’s faces. A morechallenging event involved peopleputting fizzy candies into theirmouths and then taking a sip ofSprite. You then had to hold that inyour mouth as long as possible.The mixer was awesome, but evenbetter was the rodeo! It included someof the most terrifying and thrillingmoments of my life! The rodeo was somuch fun, but for eight seconds I wasscared to death. I will never forgetthat night when a big black bull rolledout of a stock trailer and I met myworst enemy: the horned, blackmechanical bull. I dreaded themoment someone would ask me toride the bucking beast. After a lot ofencouragement from my ‘friends’, Igot onto my enemy. The next eightseconds were a blur as I held on formy life as the bull rocked back andforth. To my surprise, it was actually alot of fun! After this, we roped somelonghorn steer. I had never ropedbefore, so it was quite a challenge.My partner and I had no luck inroping any of the steers until wespotted a slow and sick one andwalked up to him and slipped therope right over his head. That’s smartcowboy work!The C.C.Y.A. Conference in Oldswas an amazing week packed withtons of fun. I loved every second of itand it will always be unforgettable tome. I can’t wait for the next C.C.Y.A.to start because I know it will onceagain be a blast!CCYA Conference and Show – TysonBlack, Foresters Fall, ONJunior – $75I belong toCCYA whichmeans CanadianCharolais YouthAssociation. Thisis a group ofyoung peopleunder the age of21 who likeCharolais cattle.Do you know what Charolais cattlelook like? They are the cows in thefield that are all white from head totail. My family raises Charolais cattlein Foresters Falls.Last July I went to CCYA camp inPeterborough, Ontario. We packed thetruck full of feed and clothes andloaded the trailer with 8 cows. Mysister Courtney, mom, dad and I allgot into the truck to start our longdrive. We were off for a week of fun.When we got to Petergborough weunloaded everything. The camp wasat the fairgrounds. We were put intogroups with 6 other kids from acrossCanada. Ben was from Alberta,Alberta was from Toronto, Haylenwas from Manitoba. What a mix ofpeople! In total I think there were 100kids at the camp.First we had a mixer to meet all theother kids. We were split into newgroups and did relay races that goteveryone wet and dirty. It was somuch fun. At the end we had to makesomeone look like a cow with shavingcream, chocolate syrup and toilet paper.54 Charolais Banner • May 2011I woke up at 5:30 in the morning togo feed and wash the cows. My sisterCourtney dislocated her knee on thevery first morning while feedinggrain. She spent the rest of themorning in the hospital while wefinished up chores. We split intogroups and had to judge bull calvesand yearling heifers.There were four animals in eachclass and we had to place them inorder from best to worst. We gavereasons why we placed them in thechosen order. I even had to say myreasons to the judge. After we wentto dance class with Amy. She tried toteach us to two step, but it didn’t work.The next morning I paired up withmy new best friend Wyatt. We had tomake something to sell to the judge inthe marketing competition. We madea drawing of a farm with all thebuildings, tractors and a pond withfish. We walked up to the judge andtold him all about the farm and thebenefits of owning it. We placedsecond in our age group. The judgeliked our excitement so much that hementioned it at supper to everyoneat camp.Each night for supper we got on abus and went to different farms to eatand do other activities. At one farmwe judged cows and at the other farmwe judged steers. I’m not really goodat judging yet.On Friday morning we showed ourcows in showmanship class. Since wewere the youngest we had to wait allmorning to go into the showring. Itook in 6U and she behaved like apuppy dog. Everyone was amaged byhow well she behaved. I came in first.The judge left right after the show andcame up to Beachburg Fair. She sawmy grandma and grandpa and toldthem she had judged this little kidthat thought he knew it all.Sometimes a little confidence goes along way.I made a magazine advertisementfor Blackbern Farm with colouredpaper and pictures. I got first.We had a banquet on Saturday