May2011Banner_51-58_Layout 1 11-05-09 11:57 AM Page 54
YOUTH ACTIVITIES
CCYA Essay Winners An Unforgettable C.C.Y.A. Conference – Shelby Evans, Kenaston, SK Junior – $125
When the bell rings on the last day of school, the first thought to cross my mind is “Only a few more weeks until C.C.Y.A.” Each year C.C.Y.A. is my favorite event of the summer and I have loved every conference. I have been attending since 2004 and I have had a great time at every conference, but my all-time favorite show and conference was in Olds, Alberta, in 2008. I was ten years old and had a blast! One of my favorite memories of the Olds Conference was the Mixer. Every year I love the mixer, but this year it was the best! There were so many events and everyone had a chance to participate. My favorite events were the messy but fun ones One of them had us applying whipped cream, shaving cream and chocolate syrup onto other people’s faces. A more challenging event involved people putting fizzy candies into their mouths and then taking a sip of Sprite. You then had to hold that in your mouth as long as possible. The mixer was awesome, but even better was the rodeo! It included some of the most terrifying and thrilling moments of my life! The rodeo was so much fun, but for eight seconds I was scared to death. I will never forget that night when a big black bull rolled out of a stock trailer and I met my worst enemy: the horned, black mechanical bull. I dreaded the moment someone would ask me to ride the bucking beast. After a lot of encouragement from my ‘friends’, I got onto my enemy. The next eight seconds were a blur as I held on for my life as the bull rocked back and forth. To my surprise, it was actually a lot of fun! After this, we roped some longhorn steer. I had never roped before, so it was quite a challenge. 54
My partner and I had no luck in roping any of the steers until we spotted a slow and sick one and walked up to him and slipped the rope right over his head. That’s smart cowboy work! The C.C.Y.A. Conference in Olds was an amazing week packed with tons of fun. I loved every second of it and it will always be unforgettable to me. I can’t wait for the next C.C.Y.A. to start because I know it will once again be a blast! CCYA Conference and Show – Tyson Black, Foresters Fall, ON Junior – $75
I belong to CCYA which means Canadian Charolais Youth Association. This is a group of young people under the age of 21 who like Charolais cattle. Do you know what Charolais cattle look like? They are the cows in the field that are all white from head to tail. My family raises Charolais cattle in Foresters Falls. Last July I went to CCYA camp in Peterborough, Ontario. We packed the truck full of feed and clothes and loaded the trailer with 8 cows. My sister Courtney, mom, dad and I all got into the truck to start our long drive. We were off for a week of fun. When we got to Petergborough we unloaded everything. The camp was at the fairgrounds. We were put into groups with 6 other kids from across Canada. Ben was from Alberta, Alberta was from Toronto, Haylen was from Manitoba. What a mix of people! In total I think there were 100 kids at the camp. First we had a mixer to meet all the other kids. We were split into new groups and did relay races that got everyone wet and dirty. It was so much fun. At the end we had to make someone look like a cow with shaving cream, chocolate syrup and toilet paper. Charolais Banner • May 2011
I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to go feed and wash the cows. My sister Courtney dislocated her knee on the very first morning while feeding grain. She spent the rest of the morning in the hospital while we finished up chores. We split into groups and had to judge bull calves and yearling heifers. There were four animals in each class and we had to place them in order from best to worst. We gave reasons why we placed them in the chosen order. I even had to say my reasons to the judge. After we went to dance class with Amy. She tried to teach us to two step, but it didn’t work. The next morning I paired up with my new best friend Wyatt. We had to make something to sell to the judge in the marketing competition. We made a drawing of a farm with all the buildings, tractors and a pond with fish. We walked up to the judge and told him all about the farm and the benefits of owning it. We placed second in our age group. The judge liked our excitement so much that he mentioned it at supper to everyone at camp. Each night for supper we got on a bus and went to different farms to eat and do other activities. At one farm we judged cows and at the other farm we judged steers. I’m not really good at judging yet. On Friday morning we showed our cows in showmanship class. Since we were the youngest we had to wait all morning to go into the showring. I took in 6U and she behaved like a puppy dog. Everyone was amaged by how well she behaved. I came in first. The judge left right after the show and came up to Beachburg Fair. She saw my grandma and grandpa and told them she had judged this little kid that thought he knew it all. Sometimes a little confidence goes a long way. I made a magazine advertisement for Blackbern Farm with coloured paper and pictures. I got first. We had a banquet on Saturday