Major winds, blowing snow and a temporarily closed highway could not keep attendees away from the 15th Saskatchewan Livestock Expo, previously known as Cramer Ag Expo. While some got stuck on Highway 1 (West of Swift Current) for almost three hours, others chose to detour their route, adding a hour and a half, but could get through.
The aisles were once again buzzing with conversations, producers catching up with current suppliers and even meeting a few new ones too. The once again sold-out show was filled to every corner of the building. Doug Cramer, event organizer, had to even create a few booth spots by moving the coffee and milk station to main entry way.
This year featured not only the pie baking contest but a new second category, birthday cake. The four that had the very hard job of judging both the pie and cake entries were; Darcy McDonald WAGS, Ken Friesen Merck, Dean Fraser Castorland and Lindsay Bisio Connect On Farm. Voted on taste, texture and presentation. Barb (pie) and Laura (cake) Kleinsasser from Sand Lake Colony took top honours in their respective category.
There were 30 carcasses in this year’s pork quality competition. Points scored according to the Thunder Creek Pork Grid, by Jason Care with a total possible 111 points. Jason commented the competition was very tight with only one point difference between 1st & 2nd place and two points between 2nd & 3rd place. A huge thanks to Thunder Creek Pork for processing, Jason shared that everything was so organized when he showed up to do the judging the day prior to the show in Moose Jaw. Both at North 49 (1) and Thunder Creek (29).
Participating Colonies were: Baildon, Bench, Downie Lake, Gander, Hodgeville, Main Centre, Matador, McMahoon, Ponteix, Quill Lake, Rose Valley, Sand Lake, Smiley, Springfield, Vangaurd and Wymark. A total of 1591 kgs (3,500lbs) of pork was donated which translates to approximately 15,000 meals for Souls Harbor Mission in both Regina and Moose Jaw. Top five awarded to 5th Hodgeville, 4th Downie Lake, 3rd Smiley, 2nd Matador and this years Cramer Cup winner was Quill Lake.
Also presented were the top pie and cake, both from Sand Lake Colony, Barb and Laura Kleinsasser.
As in previous years at the Sale of Champions, charity is the biggest winner of the day. Helping with the duties as auctioneer once again was Tyler Smyth, of Horsch Canada. He did a great job keeping all the bids straight.
For the pie and cake category, both were purchased by Cramer Event Management for $175 each, and the charity of choice was Val Marie Ambulance.
Shifting to the hens 19 – 34 weeks won by Sunset Colony, purchased by WAGS for $400, and donated to STARS. Hens 35 – 55 weeks, won by Matador Colony, purchased by Masterfeeds for $150 which was donated to Childrens Hospital in Saskatoon. The older hens 55+ week won by Tompkins Colony, purchased by WAGS with the donation going to the HEART team.
The breakdown of the top five carcasses in Sale of Champion was, 5th place Hodgeville sold to Fortified Nutrition for $4,000, with the donation split between Swift Current Hospital and Christian Childrens Aid, 4th place Downie Lake sold to Sollio Ag for $3,700, with the donation going to Maple Creek Hospital, 3rd place Smiley sold to Fortified Nutrition for $3,500 with the donation going to STARS, 2nd place Matador sold to Masterfeeds with funds being donated to Saskatoon Childrens Hospital., and 1st place Quill Lake was sold to Masterfeeds for $3,500 donation going to Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Doug thanked all the sponsors and sale of Champion bidders, together over $32,000 of pork donations and charity auction fundraising was raised.
Mark down February 19, 2026 for the 16th show. •
— By Laurie Brandly
