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EXPERIENCE The WORDS BY PIPER WHELAN Montana caleman and judge Brian Barragree looks to the north this September for his first Canadian show W hen Brian Barragree crosses the Canada-United States border this September, he’ll be on his way to judge his first-ever Canadian cale show. The Absarokee, Montana, caleman is no stranger to Canadian shows, however. “I used to come up there a lot and go to shows and work, or take cale to the shows,” he explains. “I think it will be really interesting.” Barragree will be judging conformation at the third-annual Young Ranchman’s Show on Sept. 25 - 27 in Swiſt Current, Saskatchewan. This will consist of the junior female show, as well as the open Southwest Prospect Classic Steer Show. Respected in American livestock judging circles, Barragree has years of experience in evaluating cale, and has done so at some of the most prestigious stock shows in the United States. Like the stockmen of old, Barragree got his education in livestock judging through practical experience. He judged his first show in the early 1990s. “I judged a show in Reno, Nevada — the Western Angus Futurity,” he recalls. Since that first experience, he believes his approach to judging cale as stayed relatively similar throughout the years. “You still need cale that are functional as far as being sound on their feet and legs, and cale that have some ability to flesh. I don’t think it’s really changed all that much.” Barragree has been in the cale business for 35 years, growing up in the industry and then working for a number of operations, including the Beartooth Angus Ranch, before establishing his own ranch with his family in the picturesque Beartooth Mountain region. Barragree Cale Company is primarily a seed stock operation. “We run about 400 head of cows, and we have an annual bull sale in March. We run prey much all Angus cows,” he says. “Both my kids are somewhat involved. My son is there all the time and my daughter’s in college, so she’s up there in the summers. We’ve been at the present location about 10 years.” He counts starting their own ranch as the prime achievement of his career. “Just VOICE Top Stock Magazine / Fall 2015 062

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  • EXPERIEN CEThe

    WORDS BY PIPER WHELAN

    Montana cattleman and judge Brian Barragree looks to the north this September for his first Canadian show

    When Brian Barragree crosses the Canada-United States border this September, he’ll be on his way to judge his first-ever Canadian cattle show. The Absarokee, Montana, cattleman is no stranger to Canadian shows, however. “I used to come up there a lot and go to shows and work, or take cattle to the shows,” he explains. “I think it will be really interesting.”

    Barragree will be judging conformation at the third-annual Young Ranchman’s Show on Sept. 25 - 27 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. This will consist of the junior female show, as well as the open Southwest Prospect Classic Steer Show. Respected in American livestock judging circles, Barragree has years of experience in evaluating cattle, and has done so at some of the most prestigious stock shows in the United States.

    Like the stockmen of old, Barragree got his education in livestock judging through practical experience. He judged his first show in the early 1990s. “I judged a show in Reno, Nevada — the Western Angus

    Futurity,” he recalls. Since that first experience, he believes his approach to judging cattle as stayed relatively similar throughout the years. “You still need cattle that are functional as far as being sound on their feet and legs, and cattle that have some ability to flesh. I don’t think it’s really changed all that much.”

    Barragree has been in the cattle business for 35 years, growing up in the industry and then working for a number of operations, including the Beartooth Angus Ranch, before establishing his own ranch with his family in the picturesque Beartooth Mountain region. Barragree Cattle Company is primarily a seed stock operation. “We run about 400 head of cows, and we have an annual bull sale in March. We run pretty much all Angus cows,” he says. “Both my kids are somewhat involved. My son is there all the time and my daughter’s in college, so she’s up there in the summers. We’ve been at the present location about 10 years.”

    He counts starting their own ranch as the prime achievement of his career. “Just

    VOICE

    T o p S t o c k M a g a z i n e / F a l l 2 0 1 50 6 2

  • An accomplished cattlemen, Barragree has judged at some of North America’s premiere events, including the National Western Stock show.

    © ShowChampions.VOICEof

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  • establishing our own operation was probably one of the bigger things, I think, we’ve ever done. I worked for several places for years, and going out on our own is probably our biggest accomplishment, I’d say.”

    Another noteworthy highlight on Barragree’s list of accomplishments is definitely the biggest show he has ever judged. In 2010, he judged the Angus show at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado. “It was a good experience,” he says. “It’s the breed I’m already in, so there was probably a little more pressure than any other show

    I’ve ever done. Then I helped judge the Herefords last year, and that was maybe a little bit more enjoyable because it wasn’t quite as stressful.”

    When asked what he considers the best way to keep youth in agriculture, he brings up the importance of encouraging youth in our families and getting started at home, if you can. “It’s difficult,” he says of establishing yourself in the industry and making a living out of it. “Support from our families is certainly the number-one thing, I think. It’s an expensive project to establish an operation. The cost of just

    Above Zane Barragree claiming the Reserve Grand Champion Female at the 2009 National Western Stock Show. Previously named Junior Champion, H C A Estella 782 was a daughter of Plainview Lutton E102.

    © ShowChampions

    Right Barragree’s Supreme Bull athe 2014 NILE, Billings, MT. BCC Windy 66A was previously named the Champion Angus Bull.

    © ShowChampions

    “You still need cattle that are functional as far as being sound on their feet and legs, and cattle that have some ability to flesh. I don’t think it’s really changed all that much.”

    QT o p S t o c k M a g a z i n e / F a l l 2 0 1 50 6 4

  • As the associate judge of Troy Thomas of Harold, South Dakota, Barragree sorted the Herefords at the 2015 National Western Stock show.

    © ShowChampions.

    ALL TIME FAVORITE COW/BULL

    Probably my last favourite cow was a heifer that was Reserve Grand Champion in Denver three or four years ago — H C A Estella 782, a heifer that my son had while he was showing in the junior shows.

    We were kind of a dark horse, and she just blossomed with a week at National Western, it seemed. As far as bulls, I’ve had several really nice ones, and probably the last one that I think about is from my last year before Beartooth Angus Ranch sold out. We had a bull called BT Crossover 758N, and he was popular with several different sides of the business. It turns out he was a carrier for one of these genetic defects, but we didn’t know that at the time. But he was a pretty popular champion that we had in Denver in the show ring.

    FAVORITE SHOW JUDGED

    To this point, probably the National Western Stock

    Show. Since I was a kid and first started going, it’s always been my favourite stock show, and it probably meant the most to me to judge what I consider to be my favourite stock show.

    QA&

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  • doing business is high, and I do think being involved in a family operation is the best thing that can happen for them.”

    Encouraging youth in agriculture is at the heart of the show Barragree will judge in late September. The Young Ranchman’s Show was created “to provide a competitive platform for the talented youth in this part of the province to showcase their skills, and further their development as young stockmen and women,” says Jamie-Rae Pittman, who is part of the show’s organizing committee. “The support has been tremendous; in our first year we drew participants from Alberta and all over Saskatchewan, and the numbers have been steadily increasing.”

    This three-day event includes a conformation show and a number of skills competitions, including showmanship, show team judging, team grooming, public speaking, art and photography. This is a qualifying show for the National Young Cattleman of the Year competition

    and the Western Canadian Show Team Judging Finals.

    “Last year we also developed a workshop series, and we are thrilled to be presenting two new workshops this year: Livestock Photography, and Agvocacy and Social Media,” Pittman continues. “Also new this year, we are excited to be able to provide some scholarship opportunities to our participants.” Another facet of the show is the Little Rancher’s day, a special line-up of agriculture-related games and crafts for participants eight years old and under.

    Barragree is looking forward to seeing the Canadian cattle that will be exhibited at the Young Ranchman’s Show. “I’ve seen a few of the cattle that have come down to the National Western,” he says. “There’s some interesting cattle up there, and I think they’re a little different pedigree, and now that we’ve kind of moved past our border issues, I think they’ll be a little more trade between the two countries from a seed stock

    Top Left Young participants enjoy arts & crafts at the 2013 Young Ranchman’s

    © Mary-Kate Robertson

    Middle Left Cody Lafrentz, SK, shows the Grand Champion Steer at the 2013 event.

    © Meghan Kimmel Hoffman

    Bottom Left Darby McCormick in the wash rack. The Young Ranchman’s show encourages hands-on participation and learning.

    © Sandra Kimmel

    T o p S t o c k M a g a z i n e / F a l l 2 0 1 50 6 6

  • standpoint, so I’m kind of anxious to see what’s there. I think I’ll see some good ones.”

    Barragree’s long-term goals for the future of his family’s cattle operation are focused on expansion and meeting the growing demand they’re facing. “We’d like to take our cow numbers up. As we’ve had this bull sale for several years, our demand has increased, and along with raising our cow numbers, we’d like to increase our land, too — our base for our operation.”

    At the moment, Barragree is pleased with what he sees going on in the cattle industry, particularly dealing with demand and profit. “Right now, on both sides of the border it’s really been good; it’s been a profit margin. There’s high demand right now, and it’s made the seed stock cattle worth considerable more, too, with the market being up,” he says. “I think we’re in an expansion mode, but I don’t think it’s going to be like any other in history. I think it’s going to be more controlled, and as we do control it we can control what we’re getting for our product to some degree, and I think it will stay in the profit margin for a few years.”

    Above Center Sadie Anwender and Garrett Leibreich in Show Team judging at the Young Ranchman’s show.

    © Meghan Kimmel Hoffman

    WORDS OF ADVICE FOR JUNIORS

    I would ask the people that are successful, whether they’re your neighbour down the road or somebody from the next province or state. Most people, if somebody has some

    genuine interest, will give them the time, and I think people are pretty good in agriculture about helping if somebody has some interest.

    FAVORITE SHOW DAY TIP

    I would caution them all to spend a bit of time ahead of time with (their show animals) and know their animals’ strengths and weaknesses. Keep in mind the more natural

    you can make one look, the better they look to the judge from his viewing distance. I think if you do a little more natural job of fitting them, you can catch the judge’s eye just as well that way as you can over-fitting them.

    ROLE MODELS GROWING UP & HOW THEY AFFECTED YOU

    Some of my role models were older people who I respected when I was a kid because they were people who were successful in the seedstock business. I guess

    some of them weren’t that much older than me, but they were successful. There’d be people like Eldon Krebs (of Krebs Ranch in Nebraska) and Bill Couch (of C-Bar Ranch in Indiana) — those guys who had been successful at showing cattle, which, when I first started in the business, was still a huge part of promotion. We didn’t have as nearly as many EPDs, and those guys knew how to show cattle and how to sell them to people, and those kind of people were the people I looked up to.

    YOUNG RANCHMAN’S SHOW DAY CRITERIA

    I like a female that’s feminine, and yet we want her to have some width when you view her from behind. I like straight lines. I like heifers that have a feminine front end

    on them and look like they’re going to make good cows. I like cattle that have some spring of rib and depth of rib, and cattle that are good-footed and good-legged. That’s a big part of it — cows are harvesters of grass, so they have to walk to survive. On the steer side of things, you sure want a steer that’s adequate in terms of being sound — maybe not quite as critical on that at that point. I like cattle that have some top in them, cattle that have some rear quarter to them and are reasonably level in their underline. As we view the market, I think those steers that are finished need to be in that upper 1,200 to almost 1,400 (pound range). That’s where the buyers are giving the premiums at this point.

    JUDGE INTERVIEW (CONTINUED)

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