“I like show day,” she said. “I like the whole hype of it when you get there, it’s just a whole different world than showing heifers.” Much of the difference, she says, is because steers represent the final product of a beef breeding and production program. “When you show a steer, you’re raising it for the market,” she says. “You create a bond with it all year long, and then you get to show it and display it to the public and eventually sell it. And you can gain a perspective of ‘you know, I raised that, and it’s going to go to market and put food on the table for people.’” Her white steer Howie was her partner through last year’s triumphant show season, which included a win in her class at NAILE in Louisville. That show stands out as her favourite. “Louisville is a completely different world. When you show up you're completely in awe,” Reegan said. “I'm just this small girl from Canada that only has a couple head of cows, and you're running with the big
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guys down there. But it's cool to gain that perspective—this is people's income, this is how they live their life going from show to show.” She says the NAILE win was a great opportunity to show the quality of the beef animals coming from her family’s operation, but her personal highlight as a show exhibitor was winning showmanship at the Master Feeds Junior Beef Heifer Show at the Royal this year. She said that win, under judge Jon Gevelinger, was “amazing.” Winning all comes down to the quality of the animal, how it’s shown, and what a judge sees on a given day. It’s important for the exhibitor to hold up her end of the arrangement, and to work with—rather than against—the animal she’s showing. Reegan says there’s no substitute for knowing your calf well. “My biggest thing is knowing what your animal likes and what your animal doesn't, what they're susceptible to, what they
Top Stock Magazine / Spring 2019
