A Moo-ving performance: youth cattle handlers wrangle in awards

ROCHESTER — At the end of June, three young cattle handlers and five cows made the 13-hour drive out to Medina, Ohio to show judges and competitors what they’re made of.

The group traveled to Ohio for the second Belted Galloway Junior National competition, where around 60 young cattle handlers showed off 75 Belted Galloway cattle to a panel of judges in a competition that took place from June 25 through June 29.

The handlers competed in six contests: sales talk, public speaking, showmanship, judging, fitting contest, photography and the cattleman’s quiz comprehensive written test.

Paycience Boudreau, 19, placed third overall in the senior division; Molly Quinn, 14, placed first overall in the intermediate division; and Elowyn McCarthy, 13, placed second overall in the junior division.

“It’s kind of a big deal because the kids work with the animals from the time they’re very young,” said Melissa Weigel, who owns Olde Post Farm in Rochester where the cattle are raised and the girls take care of them.

She explained there are a variety of factors the handlers have to consider when choosing an animal to work with, such as whether it has a competitive bloodline and a “decent sized frame.”

To prepare for competitions, the girls rinse and comb the animals, use products to ensure their hair is full and black and work to keep their hide clean and healthy so hair is encouraged to grow. 

They then must comb the fur forward and use clippers to “accentuate some really awesome parts of the cows and also hide any flaws that they might have,” Weigel said.

She said taking care of the animals and preparing them for competitions doesn’t happen overnight.

“They have to practice — there’s hours and hours and hours of practice,” she explained, adding, “The more they work with them, the better relationship they have with the animals [and] the better their showmanship will be.”

Quinn, a Middleboro resident who has been working with animals since she was four-years-old, said, “You have to put a lot of time into working with your animals, so it can get hard, especially during the school year.”

She added, “I love doing it, so it’s worth it.”

Rochester resident McCarthy started working with cattle four years ago after joining a 4-H club to work with animals.

“I just ended up starting to work with cattle, and I ended up loving it, and so I just kind of started showing them from then on,” she said.

She said the Belted Galloway Junior National competition was cool for her because she hadn’t taken part in any sales talks before.

“I actually did better at it than I thought I would,” she said.

While Quinn joined a 4-H club 10 years ago, but it wasn’t until last year that she started showing cattle in competitions.

She said the Belted Galloway Junior National competition was “really cool” because it was the first time she competed in the public speaking and photo contests at a cattle show. It was also the farthest show she has ever been to.

“It went really well,” she said.

Boudreau of New Bedford has been involved in competitions for the past four years and said that while she enjoyed competing in the junior national competition, her favorite part was the networking.

“There’s a lot of other farms around [that] you get to communicate with,” she said.

She explained that during downtime, competitors hang out with each other and get the chance to “really branch out to other breeders and talk about pedigrees.”

Quinn said the competition gives her a chance to be “around people who love the same things that you do.”

“I get to hang out with them and talk about what they’ve been doing and learn from them and then show them how I’m doing things,” she said, adding, “Our community is really great at those things.”

McCarthy noted that even though everyone at the events are competitors, they are also friends.

“It’s fun to be able to hang out with everyone in your downtime, even though within a few hours you’re going to be competing against each other,” she said.

The Belted Galloway Junior National Competition is just one of many competitions and fairs that McCarthy, Quinn, Boudreau and other 4-H members participate in, which include the Westport Fair, Barnstable Fair and the 4-H fair in East Middleboro at the end of August.

Quinn said she enjoys attending the local county fairs because she gets to educate people about agriculture, which she said is a “dying industry.”

“I like to be able to share what we do and share the agricultural industry, and hopefully get more interest in pursuing careers in it. It’s really important right now,” she said.