Weldricks win Jersey cattle show Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

The Royal Supreme Junior Champion, Perennial Getaway Frosty, for the Weldrick family of Oxford County. Photo by Vicki Fletcher

By Gary West

Every year when the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair rolls around in November, there are many area dairy cattle breeders who take time to get animals ready for the biggest and best show in the country. The Weldrick family on the 16^th Line near Cassel in East Zorra-Tavistock were busy doing just that. Bryan and Jennifer Weldrick, and their two small children, are becoming known very quickly as one of the top Jersey cattle breeders in the country. As the saying goes, “The proof is in the pudding. ”In the past, we have reported on this young family being the breeders of one of the top Jerseys at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis. for an animal they had raised and sold.Bryan Weldrick will say nothing makes them prouder than to see an animal with their Perennial Farm prefix do well for other breeders, no matter where they farm. At this year’s 102^nd annual winter fair, the Weldrick family did what most can only dream of, and that was being named breeder of the Supreme Junior Champion.Perennial Getaway Frosty ended up first in her class, and later was named Supreme Junior Champion over all other top-placed class winners. If that wasn’t enough, the young Oxford County family also brought home the first-place prize in the Junior Breeder’s Herd competition that included an unprecedented 18 other junior breeder’s herds from across Canada and the U.S. The three top-placing Jersey heifers to make up this winning junior herd included Perennial Maverick Kass, Perennial Geronimo Kinky and Perennial Getaway Frosty.Even though Bryan and Jen Weldrick were very humbled by the awards, Bryan Weldrick’s parents, Bruce and Sharon Weldrick, had trouble keeping both feet on the ground dealing with the excitement of the junior couple’s wins.