Manitoba Ag Ex tagged ‘huge success’

The Manitoba Ag Ex wrapped up its four-day run Saturday with organizers calling this year’s version of the province’s largest all-breeds cattle show a “huge success.”

The annual event, held Oct. 28 to 31 at the Assiniboine Credit Union Agricultural Centre, featured the Limousin National Show, sheep competitions, livestock judging and a range of agricultural and commercial exhibitors.

Trade show was well received, with visitors moving through the halls throughout the event, The Manitoba Ag Ex co-chair Tracey Wilcox said.

“We had over 500 head entered this year with the national Limousin show, which went off without a hitch” Wilcox told the Sun after the show on Saturday.

The show was free to attend, meaning organizers did not have an exact count of spectators, but Wilcox said the crowds appeared larger than last year.

“The halls were packed at times,” she said. “A lot of stands were packed through all the shows.”

The event was also available to viewers beyond Brandon, with DLM Show Cattle broadcasting the livestock shows online.

Wilcox said exhibitors were also treated to an appreciation event following Friday night’s Supreme competition, with beef on a bun and salads provided as a thank-you to those who participated.

One of the highlights of the event was the Supreme Championship, which brought the champions from each breed together in the ring to compete for the overall title, she said.

Wilcox said three judges evaluated the animals before the scores were tallied to determine the Supreme Champion.

The competition also came with cash and prizes donated by supporters, including flushing vouchers for females and semen collection vouchers for bulls.

Horner Cattle Co. from Minnedosa won the female Supreme Championship, while Beck Farms took the bull title with its Charolais entry.

The event’s success was reflected by exhibitors as well.

The event has evolved over the years, Second Chance Speckle Parks (in Fairlight, Sask.,) co-owner Darla Sauter, whose family has been attending the Brandon show since 2018 and has watched the quality improve over the years, said.

“I would say that the quality of the animals that are here and the exhibitors gets better every year,” Sauter told the Sun. “They had a lot of good booths and a lot of variety of things for people to shop at and look at.”

Second Chance Speckle Parks brought 10 animals to this year’s event. Sauter said one of the biggest challenges for exhibitors is finding enough people to help care for the animals during a show.

“Sometimes it’s challenging to find enough people to help, to volunteer, to do the things that need to be done to keep a show like this going,” she said.

Sauter said favourable weather also made the trip easier for her family, which is about an hour and a half from Brandon.

“We were really, really lucky,” she said.

For Nikki Breckner of INC Cattle Company, this was only her second time attending the event, although the farm has participated for years.

“It’s been really good,” Breckner told the Sun. “It’s been super amazing to be here. It’s a great experience.”

She also described the turnout as strong and comparable to last year.

Twin Meadow Livestock Farm in Treherne has attended the cattle show for decades, co-owner Patrick Wilcox said.

“This year brought a new development for the Simmental side of the competition,” he told the Sun. “We had a new show division this year. We had the fullblood show on top of the purebred show.”

The organization and turnout were strong, said Patrick Wilcox, who has attended the event for about 40 years, consistently for the past 25.

“Great exhibitors. Great, no problems,” he said.

Twin Meadow brought five cattle of its own and helped care for another three from Ontario.

The strong showing has organizers already looking toward next year, when the event is expected to grow further with several national competitions planned.

Tracey Wilcox said the Simmental, Charolais and Shorthorn associations are scheduled to hold their national shows at next year’s event.

Wilcox said he hopes the additional national competitions will bring even more exhibitors and spectators to Brandon.

She said organizers also want to fill the trade show halls again and continue building on this year’s exhibitor experience.

“With the extra national shows, I’m hoping our numbers will be even more,” she said. “And I’m hoping trade show we can have all the halls filled like we did again this year.”

For exhibitors such as Sauter, the planning has already begun.

“We’re always trying to improve, always trying to make it better,” she said.

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