Islanders on 4-H beef team excited to compete at 'the Royal'

Eight young Prince Edward Islanders are headed to Toronto this week to compete as members of the 4-H Royal Beef Team.

"Going to the Royal was always a dream," said Daniel Naddy, 16, who's in his seventh year in the Millview-Vernon River 4-H. 

"It was one of those things you hear people going to and it's always something you'd want to be a part of."

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Naddy is from Orwell Cove, P.E.I. and will be showing his heifer, Allen's 0220 Elegance 4E, or Ellie, for short.

"I've had a few years experience showing beef," Naddy said. 

"I'm still very new to the game but I've had a lot of help and everyone in the show community is really there to help young members out."

Naddy has spent the summer training Ellie at shows across the Island, culminating with the final qualifying for the Royal at the Rural Youth Fair.

"I really like her attitude," Naddy said. 

"She doesn't get worked up too easily and is very nice to work around and I think that's one of the key reasons why we're going to the Royal is just because of how she's behaved for me all summer."

Growing interest

The 4-H beef team has rebounded since 2016 when no one from the Island 4-H clubs competed in beef at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Last year, five members took part.

"It's a pretty amazing experience, the quality of animals is just amazing," said Jory Donovan of the Summerville 4-H Club.

"Here you get 60, 70 head and you think it's a big show and you get up there and there's a couple of hundred up there."

Donovan is one of the veterans on the beef. This will be her fifth trip to Toronto.

"The first time going up I was pretty nervous, I'm not going to lie, because of the size of the classes," Donovan said.

"Up there they will come and ask you questions, and if they like how you show, they'll pull you out, if not you just head back to your stall and that's your day."

Competing in the big city

Donovan is excited to be sharing the experience with the younger members, some of them going to the Royal for the first time.

"Definitely be prepared for the long hours, you're going to be up early mornings, four in the morning you're going to be up there washing," Donovan said.

"You're going to be pretty tired by the end of the day but the show, it's just so big and exciting that you don't even worry about how tired you are."

One of the biggest challenges, she says, is getting animals to the show in Toronto, walking more than a kilometre from the truck to the barn, twice a day.

"They have the streets blocked off but you do have to be cautious about the noise of the truck and trailers that are coming in," Donovan said.

"You have to have them trained really well so we practise every day up and down the driveway so she's used to the long walks.

Donovan says she loves the experience of the Royal. 

"I raise my own Herefords and I just love seeing how well I can produce them and make sure I can do the best that I can," Donovan said. 

"Go up against these high-quality animals and get good results, it just makes you feel so good about what you produce yourself."

Dairy honours

There is also a 4-H dairy team from the Island heading to the Royal, with a full contingent of eight members and an alternate.

Last year, two first-time competitors from P.E.I. placed first and second in their division, showing their dairy calves among the best in Canada.

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Reagan Bouma went on to compete for grand champion calf, placing second among more than 360 participants. She is part of the team again in 2018.

Naddy is hoping this will be the first of many trips to come for him. But Ellie will come back to the Island and will be getting ready to calve in January. 

"She probably won't be [to] anything to the scale of the Royal again so this is kind of a one-shot deal for her," Naddy said.

"Once we both get there and get settled in, I think it's going to be a great time."

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