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- em..- By JIM AhGIE Sun Times stat? DOBBINTON â€" It's more than a month since a judge at the Royal Winter Fair slapped the llvelvety haunch of Rosanne ~Cols I oun's steer. Buckwheat, winner of this year‘s Queen‘s Guineas l' She still has trouble believing ‘Et. But there are remindersr A large color photograph hangs the wall of her mother’s kit- hen. The photo shows Calhoun d Buckwheat â€" looking named to within an inch of his lgila â€" Ontario Agriculture Minis- .ret' ]ack Riddell. the judges and liwinter fair officials. ‘ And Elderslie Township coun- fliil has presented Calhoun with an “engraved serving tray to remind flier that she. really did win the top prize Ontario 4-H clubs can kffer. Bruce County women. both I embers or the Paisley calf club, “fave taken the guineas two years I unning. V , “We're nobodies." Calhoun said no afternoon at the kitchen table wwith continuing amazement in m'lel' voice. She said it twice. for emphasis. B "I mean, we're nobodies." What 'the 20-year-old accounting stu- IHent really meant is that she and Iii-er parents, Earl and Pat Calhoun. n a relatively straightforward, tommercial beef feedlot on 100 ' ectares of land on the lath Cons lyession of Elderslie Township. The surprise is that ordinary Ifinlk can take away such a prize 7 from the highbrow competition of hire Royal. The Queen’s Guineas was once thought to be the pre» "serve of families active in purebrs d cattle breeding with a long, show-ring history. For a time, it seemed the prop- erty of Wellington County’s Has- |snn family and the Earlys of fivfiddlesex, But coming on the lieels of Margie Fenner's 1986 .wln. Calhoun‘s guineas victory hnekes it look like a new tradition as begun. “1 Both Calhoun and Fenner used | asson-bl‘ed. Angusâ€"Chianina ste- ers. But the secrel nf their back- Ikohack wins is likely that Fenner and Calhoun are just two very den Ikermined young women. . The Queen's Guine' . “allied - r Queen Victoria, is the ulti» morale" in 4â€"H beef calf dub com- petition. Winning takes heavy I‘doses of everything: cattle iudg- ment, management, luck. tender [Fare and plain hard work. The winner not only gets a gens lkmus cash prize and considerable dist" ' "--~ ‘ ~ 113!!! l.“ I A‘ 0 ‘ . 7. guineas wmn Calhoun broke Meat industry buyers compete for the privtlege of owning the Queen‘s Guineas steer. This year. buyers for the Toronto retail food chain Knob Hill Farms Ltd. paid a record $20 a pound for Cals houo’s steer. The carcass was donated to the Hospital For Sick Children. That price works out to 524.400. about 20 times what the animal would have brought at the Ontario Stockyards 'last Novem» her. It‘s a prize worth some work. "It has to be a good steer to start.” Calhoun said. But winning. “depends on the time that you put forth." Now in her final year at Geor- gian College in Owen Sound. Cal- houn walked Buckwheat two ki- lometres a day after classes last winter and through the summer to keep him in top physiclal con dition. Daily for eight months. she spent as much as two hours grooming his dark coat, brushing up his hair. encouraging it to grow and soften so she’d have something tn wnrk with come show day. "Hair makes an animal." Cal~ houn said. A properly prepared animal "just looks like velvet." Without it. "they just don't show as well." Calhoun said. That's the part that takes work An exhibitor's cattle manage ment skill shnws in feeding. Cal- houn Lneu she wanted an animal entering the show ring at about 1,200 pounds. generally con- sidered an ideal slaughter weight. When she brought Buckwheat home from a sale of likely gui- neas candidates last February. he weighed about 650 pounds. Although housed separately from other cattle. the steer ate a fairly routine diet of prepared groin and hay until about August, Then Calhoun began adding corn to his diet to carefully man- age weight gain. "You just have to watch what you're feeding. You don't want to finish too quickly and hold at that weight. ‘cause he'll get kind of stale." Calhoun said. Showing requires a certain amount of animal psychology, as well. Calhoun figures she won this year's Queen‘s Guineas becau5e Buckwheat happened to have a good day. He was up and co-oper- ative. It might as easily have been someone else's turn. But by raisr ing the animal away from others. ed ml .‘nécerriiu 30.’ i937,'iage ‘35 'er‘ Edermnin Queen’s Guineas winner Rosanne Calhoun with her trophies "A lot would never raise them by themselves They'd put twu in But my steers were always [is sed by themselves. It makes them rcs eir best friend. It but it is Lrue." rl of cooperation be- a tween an animal and its handler that makes for a winner at the Royal But it also makes for a dii. licull emotional break when the handler and animal must part. ed young woman {‘30de Sun Tllllus rlitilo bi l-l'i‘ “tux him." she said ‘l tilan 5:0 its-l into the ham m an; him "Thar liatl people i. look ui' ' him. So. I test lctt “You have an image oi llI!!! tlt:l you want to remember Hint ' "ll was reallv sail to leave said Calhmvn Queen‘s Guineas winner, Rosanne Calhoun. was honoured by her township when members at the Elderslie Township council presented Rosanne With an engraved silver tray, on December 21. In making the presentation. Couns cillor Ron Calhoun said Rosanne “worked hard for it. It wasn‘t all luck. She l really’did deserve to win." Elderslie Township Reeve Carmen Fullerton also praised Rosanne “for the honour you have brought, not only to yourself. but to the township." Rosanne won the Queen‘s Guineas competition at the Royal Winter Fair on November 20. Mary Golem photo