Haglin raises back-to-back steer champion

Taking home the grand champion market steer award is a big accomplishment for a 4-H member. Winning it two years in a row is even bigger.
Jusk as Greg Haglin, who raised the grand champion steer at the fall fair in Emo earlier this month, repeating his performance of a year ago.
“It feels pretty good,” Haglin said Monday, noting he didn’t expect his 1,275-lb limousine steer to take first place, which was bought by T.W. Judson and Son of Emo for $2.77/lb.
He also said he didn’t expect such high praise from the judge on the quality of the animal.
Haglin said he doesn’t have any secret for raising top-quality animals. He just “picks out a calf and hope he does well.”
“[My friends] bugged me about it, thinking that I must have done something to the judge to make me take [first] again,” he laughed.
Haglin’s prize-winning steer is a double source of pride for Susan Irvine, who is Haglin’s steer club leader as well as his mother. “I wanted to check and see if it’s been done back-to-back in this area [before],” she said.
But Irvine noted all 29 steer entries were very good this year, with the smallest weighing in at 1,010 pounds.
“They were closer in weight than in past years,” she said, adding 4-H members keep producing better finished animals the more years they participate in the clubs.
Irvine also said the steer auction went very well this year, with the lowest price being $1.30/lb.
“I believe [the kids] were very pleased,” she remarked.
The steers went to an abattoir in Beausejour, Man. last Monday for slaughter and arrived back in the district on Sunday. Buyers can pick up their steer carcasses to be cut and wrapped at Sunset Ridge Meat Processors in Emo.
In the meantime, Haglin has earned a bit of downtime from maintaining a 4-H steer project, something which Irvine admitted will feel a bit strange.
“You get in such a routine, you kind of miss them when they’re gone,” she noted.
But it won’t be long before Haglin has another steer under his care–and a chance of a possible grand champion three-peat.
“I already have another [calf] picked out of next year,” he said, noting he’s chosen another limousine.
“Another month when [the calf] is weaned, it starts all over again,” added Irvine.