Sometimes, the ‘little guys’ do win big, by hard work and commitment.
This time, at the Royal Winter fair in Toronto in November, a 41-year-old second-generation Alberta dairyman was awarded the biggest showmanship prize among Canada’s dairymen – and it is named in honor of a former Alberta dairy.
At the national show the 2023 Curtis Clark Achievement Award was handed to Markus Hehli, operator of Mosnang Holsteins & Jerseys of Rimbey. Last year, Canada had approximately 9,700 farms shipping milk, including 488 in Alberta.
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The annual national award was established in 1988 in memory of a Holstein breeder from Acme, Alberta. The Curtis Clark Achievement Award committee seeks out dairymen who possess “the ability, sportsmanship and character necessary to be respected by fellow breeders and showmen.”
Hehli’s name was added to the Clark trophy. Hehli also received a gold belt buckle as a personal keepsake.
The journey to one of Canada’s top dairy awards was a long one.
Markus’ parents, Heini and Ruth Hehli, left Mosnang, Switzerland, in 1980 to start a dairy in Alberta. Today, Markus and his wife Amanda, along with their four children, Wyatt, 11, Adair, 10, and twins, Sawyer and Georgia, 7, are partners in the Mosnang farm corporation.
They routinely milk 110 Holsteins and 10 Jerseys. The herd has become one Canada’s best, with 10 cows holding multiple excellent awards, plus 12 excellent, 75 very good and 29 good-plus cows.
Markus journey to his own award began in 2009 with marriage to Amanda.
“That’s when we really started taking over the dairy,” Markus says. “Dad is still about half-time on the farm today. For land, we own two quarters and rent another two. We are on that nice black dirt in central Alberta, with a little bit of low land, a bit of trees and hills. It’s a good place for a dairy and a family.”
The family was building a calf barn in November, hoping to put some animals inside before Christmas. The barn measures 67 x 180 feet and will hold about 80 animals.
“You milk an extra cow or two every year for ten years and, all of a sudden, they’ve all got calves and heifers and we’re running out of space,” he says.
He traces the route to the award back to his 4-H days. He was involved with the dairy from when he learned to walk.
Hehli began showing cattle when he was 10 years old. In 4-H, he was grand champion showman at the 2003 Western Canadian Classic (WCC). At 15, he exhibited his family’s first show string at the Olds Fair all by himself. Hehli has been exhibiting Mosnang cattle ever since at major shows across Western Canada, as well as the Royal Winter Fair and World Dairy Expo. Every year he supplies animals to many 4-H members looking for a project calf to show.
He started clipping and fitting cattle at shows and sales in Alberta as a teenager. Later, he travelled throughout North America, Australia, and Switzerland, helping to prepare cattle. In 2007 he was selected by Holstein Canada and Semex to participate in the Canada-Australia-New Zealand young adult exchange program. He worked as a fitter for well-known Western Canada show strings like Stanhope-Wedgwood, Morsan and Westcoast Holsteins.
At the 2022 National Holstein Show at the Royal, Mosnang was runner-up for overall premier breeder. Another three Mosnang cows at the 2022 Royal — Liquify, Lipstick and Live Wire — combined to take second place in the breeder’s herd class and later were acclaimed Reserve All-Canadian Breeder’s Herd. The Mosnang Jersey herd also has enjoyed great success at shows and, in 2022, Markus and Amanda were presented Jersey Canada’s Young Achiever award.
“When you like animals, that just kind of grows. The real showing, judging, genetics, all that kind of comes from 4-H. You meet a lot of people, learn a lot, and it grows from there. I went to university; you learn what finances mean and, you know, breeding is just another aspect of being the best farm you can be.”
He adds, “Every farmer is a judge. You learn it for yourself, so you recognize what you want in a cow.”
He’s been “fairly successful” at selecting his cows and bulls, and he traveled a lot, being part of a structured judges program.
“We have at the provincial level a couple schools every year where judges just learn and practice and discuss. And there’s a national one every two or three years through Holstein Canada. An aspiring judge can keep learning, doing smaller shows. Then, if you get approved, you can become an official judge and travel quite a bit.”
Hehli began with judging in provincial and western Canadian 4-H programs for five years or more. At 25, he got onto an ‘aspiring judge’ list, and then became an official judge. For more than 15 years now, he’s been on the national circuit for judging dairy animals.
He’s seen the Clark Achievement Award presented a few times. For a Canadian dairyman, there’s no higher award, and he’s among the youngest to receive it.
“It’s a great award to receive from that end, because it’s your peers that vote on it. That makes it pretty unique,” he says.
Working in the dairy industry at that level has taken a toll in time, he admits. He’s away a lot.
“It’s probably the biggest struggle we face, and my dad is less-and-less involved, so it only gets harder. It was a lot easier when I could just hire one person and know my dad would run the farm with somebody to help him. It’s a balancing act, depending on who I have for labour. It’s got to be somebody I can trust,” he says.
His biggest helper of course, is Amanda. Markus says, “She usually stays behind and takes over day-to-day operations for us when I go away. Figuring that out is definitely one of the harder parts of being a judge.”
At the end of 2024 Markus will pass along the trophy to another winner, but he won’t be done with his activities as a breeder, showman and judge.
“Once you’ve won, it’s not over. It keeps changing. You keep trying to improve. There’s never really a top; the ceiling just keeps moving as you get closer to it.”
