Brianna Elliot, a cow/calf rancher from Sundre, is this year’s recipient of the annual Reg Schellenberg Next Generation Legacy Award.
Elliot, 30, is the manager of forage and grazing research at Olds College in the Technology Access Centre for Livestock Production. She sits on the board of directors for the Western Stock Growers Association, and is the mother of two young children, ages 3 and 4.
“The winner is selected from this year’s Canadian Cattle Young Leader’s program (CYL). You’re nominated by your peers, and then it’s decided by a panel of judges that are various people from the Canadian Cattle Association (CCA), and the Canadian Cattle Foundation (CCF),” she said. People affiliated with the Reg Schellenberg Award are also involved.
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Elliot said there are thorough interviews with judges as part of the evaluation process. The award was presented at the CCA annual general meeting, held this year in Québec City at the beginning of September.
She said receiving the award was overwhelming, because it was presented onstage, and she was not aware that this would happen beforehand.
“It was incredibly humbling, and I was super grateful to be recognized in memory of someone who gave so much to the industry. I think Reg was an incredible person,” she said.
Reg Schellenberg, who ranched at Beechy, Sask., was president of the Canadian Cattle Association when he passed away suddenly in December 2022. Lynn Grant, a cow/calf and grasser from Val Marie, Sask., is affiliated with the Canadian Cattle Foundation, and sits on the board of directors of CCA. He said Reg was always supportive of the CYL program, which started in 2010.
“The impressive thing is there’s a fair bit of a selection process for the CYL program. They apply and I guess there are at least two rounds of selections to come down to the 16 that receive the bursaries and get matched with a mentor for a year,” said Grant.
“In Reg’s term as both a board member and as president, he brought a lot of the young leaders to Parliament Hill to give them a taste of lobbying activities the CCA does there. Reg saw the potential of young people and was adamant that we had to do everything we could to get them into industry politics. So that’s partly how the award got started when Reg unexpectedly passed away,” said Grant.
After Reg’s passing, the Schellenberg family asked that donations be made to the Canadian Cattle Foundation to support the CYL program. The Saskatchewan Cattle Association also donated $10,000 toward the fund.
Grant said criteria for award winners focuses on people who have a positive attitude in agriculture, the ability to network and bring people together for a common cause
“There are some people that just have that ability to create a unified group and gather people in a quiet, positive way,” he said. “There are people who have that magnetic influence that they can confidently speak up on an issue and create a bit of a following,” said Grant.
Elliot was a participant in this year’s CYL program, and was matched with Melissa Downing, a rancher from Metiskow, Alta. Downing is the director of regulatory and sustainability with the Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association. Downing also has significant experience with research through her time serving on the board of directors of Results Driven Agricultural Research (RDAR).
Elliot said Downing was an amazing mentor.
“She was super supportive and offered a lot of guidance throughout the year with different instructions,” she said.
Elliot said she had created a road map as a plan for her mentorship, and she and Downing worked through it.
“A lot of my work was around sustainability. She offered me some guidance on the research side, with her background with RDAR. She also gave me a lot of information around policy standpoints,” she said.
The two also worked on communications and marketing.
“I do a lot of communications, because I’ve been trying to help with that area with some of the organizations that I’ve involved with. So that was great. And then, with networking, she was amazing at introducing me to a wide range of people that I think will be lifelong connections,” she said.
The Reg Schellenberg Next Generation Award contenders are nominated by their peers in the CYL program.
The peer nomination was extremely humbling, said Elliot.
“The CYL nominated who they thought was kind of the best out of the year to fit that outline, and then they judged us afterward,” she said. Usually, three CYL participants are nominated for the award, but this year, there was a tie, and five people were nominated.
“It was an incredible honour, given how hard the CYL program is to get into in the first place. It felt pretty amazing to be nominated by people that I’ve made some pretty close connections with and that I’ll be able to keep in touch with throughout my life,” said Elliot.
“This kind of recognition motivates me to keep contributing to the industry, an industry that is so focused on not only innovation, but tradition. I’m just super grateful for the Canadian Cattle Association, and the Canadian Cattle Foundation and the Schellenberg family and the legacy through all of this.
“It’s a chance to represent other young producers and encourage the next generation. I think that’s a big thing for me. I’m pretty involved in mentoring, not only students, but other young people in the industry,” she said.
The award recognizes young people who are committed to carrying forward the future of the industry, said Elliot.
In mid-September, Elliot had the opportunity to have lunch with Reg’s wife Shannon and daughter Stacey.
Elliot also appreciated the way the program was able to accommodate her children.
“They come to a lot of events with me, come out to the field to do research with me, so they’ve been pretty involved in the whole journey,” she said.
“That’s another piece I’d like to focus on, is about how amazingly supportive the whole cattle industry is about having family, and that involvement. It’s challenging at times with juggling the kids and all this stuff. But … everybody in the industry has been so great and welcoming in that sense,” she said.
As part of the award, Elliot will receive a travel bursary to the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference in January 2026, and a custom-made belt buckle provided by the Schellenberg family.
