Domolewski showing Canadian pride in New Zealand

Local finalist to represent Canada at the upcoming World Angus Forum, Stacey Domolewski, is off to New Zealand Oct. 8. Domolewski is a juniors finalist, along with fellow youth finalists from across the country.

“It was in Calgary four years ago,” said Domolewski, adding it’s basically a big cow show with a youth component.

“I’ll be competing on one of the team Canada youth teams. What we do down there is we do some cattle show prep type things so we have to get cattle ready for the show and show them. We also compete in typical contest, like what you would see at a Canadian type of show — showmanship and fitting and things like that. We also have to compete. They have what they call Agri-Sports. What it sounds like, we’re really not sure, but it’s like a relay race type of thing with all sorts of farm tack but it’s tack that they would see. We’ve seen some videos of contests and it definitely is not what we have. It’s putting together irrigation but it looks way different than ours. Another one, they were building bee hives and different things that are components of agriculture,” added the 21-year-old.

There are 12 youth going to the event from Canada and there are four youth to each team. Domolewski believes there are five finalists from Alberta. Youth competing in the competition are between 18-25 years old.

According to Domolewski, in January, competitors submitted a resume and an essay about how each individual would represent Canada to the powers that be. The resume included past experience with the Canadian Angus Association and other related experiences in judging, showmanship and other contest involvement. Domolewski added, in February, a board reviewed all of the submissions and chose finalists, which included the Taberite.

“I’ve grown up here on our Red Angus farm. I’m very involved with the Canadian Angus Association. I’m on both the Canadian National Junior and the Alberta Junior Angus boards. Plus, last year I was the Canadian National Ambassador. I’ve had a lot of experience planning things and working on shows from a planning stand point. Being younger, I did participate in a lot of shows around the area and my dad is on the Alberta adult board. I’ve spent a lot of time doing Angus things with the board and I grew up on the farm and we raise cattle. It’s always been what I’ve done,” said Domolewski, who recently finished a four-year degree program in animal science at the University of Saskatchewan and is a graduate of St. Mary’s School in Taber.

“I’m hoping to get into agriculture research. This trip kind of postponed things but hopefully in January I’ll be going back and doing my Masters Degree.”