On Thursday February 21st, producers came from all directions to attend the 9th annual Cramer Expo. The sponsored lanes were crowded with attendees from Alberta, Montana, and Manitoba and of course majority from Saskatchewan.
Kelly Turcotte, event coordinator stated, “we sold over 500 lunch tickets, plus many go off site to eat.” She smiled when asked about the turn out for the one-day sold out trade show.
Exhibitors were pleased with the traffic at their booths, from Pharmaceuticals, to Genetics, to Feed Companies, Equipment and everything in between.

While attendees explored the aisles and chatted to multiple onsite companies and their representatives, the highlight of the day comes at the end of the show with the Cramer Cup series. Winners are announced in various categories, Pie baking, cereal and grains, eggs and of course the biggest draw is the Carcass competition. Trophies are handed out and live auction takes place but the biggest winner by far are the charities that reap the rewards, both the cash donations which exceeded $30, 000 this year but the over 2600 kg of pork – that’s almost 6000 lbs. of pork.

As Doug Cramer of Cramer Ag Expo and Event Management Inc., mentions giving back to those in need and in the community hits home after a personal tragedy in their own lives years ago, since then both Doug and Kelly have found a way with the help of the Hutterite Brethren of Saskatchewan to give back.

Of course also with the help of those generous companies that donate during the auction.
Eighteen Colonies entered 29 carcasses for the coveted top prize. These are the 18 who participated; Baildon Colony, Cypress Colony, and Downie Lake Colony, Earview Colony, Grassy Hill Colony, Kyle Colony, Main Centre Colony, Matador Colony, McMahon Colony, Pontiex Colony, Smiley Colony, Sovereign Colony, Spring Lake Colony, Springfield Colony, Tompkins Colony, Valley Centre Colony, Vanguard Colony and Wymark Colony.
Judging these 29 carcasses fell to Jason Care from Manitoba Pork Council hog grading program, he shared that judging these carcasses was impressive, out of a possible 111 points the top five scored 87 points or higher, with first place scoring 97 out of 111.
The top five were: 5th Tompkins Colony, 4th Baildon Colony, 3rd Wymark Colony, 2nd Smiley Colony and in 1st place Earview Colony.
Handling the auctioneering duties this year was Tyler Smyth from Pattison Agriculture. Roger Kostron from Masterfeeds helped call bids from the floor, together they had both hands and bids flying. Roberta Essex owner of Superior Meats donated the processing of the animals once again. Recipients of the nearly 3000 kgs of meat were The Salvation Army Regina and The Souls Harbor Mission. Special thanks to Paul Jr and Miriam Hofer from the Webb Colony for delivering it the pork to us, greatly appreciated, stated Joe Miller of Souls Harbor Mission.

As mentioned previously charity was the big winner of the day. First place pie from Ida Stahl at Earview Colony was bought by Master Feeds for $275 donated to STARS, Fifth place Carcass from Tompkins was purchased by Friesen Nutrition for $500 donated to HEART Diving Team, fourth place Baildon carcass bought by Proveta Nutrition for $9000 donated to Ronald McDonald House, third place Wymark carcass bought by Matrix $3250 donated to Stars, second Smiley carcass bought by Standard for $6750 donated to Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon and first place Earview carcass bought by Fortified Nutrition for $5000 donated to Stars. In addition the top three egg classes were also auctioned off and were purchased by Master Feeds with donations going to both Stars and Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon.

Totals raised for charities was $30,125, with STARS receiving the lions share at $9150, Ronald McDonald House at $9000, Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon receiving $6975 and HEART Diving rescue team $5000.
At the end of the day Doug in his closing statements thanked the sponsors, who he said help make this show possible. The Street Sign sponsors were, Western Ag Systems, Standard Nutrition, Fast Genetics, Pattison, K & J Services, and Friesen Nutrition. Coffee sponsor was Merck Animal Health and SASK Pork. Milk break sponsored by Sure Bond Safe Floors. Carcass Cooler sponsors: Friesen Nutrition, Genesus, h@ms, Canadian Bio-Systems, Thunder Creek Pork, Masterfeeds, matrix, Standard Nutrition and Prairie Hog Country. Friesen Nutrition also sponsored this year trophies as well.
Make sure to mark your calendars for the 10th annual Cramer Livestock Expo Thursday February 13th, 2020. •
— By Laurie Brandly