Youth breed National Hereford Show Triple Crown winner

Siblings Emilee and Ben Holt of Caldwell, Idaho, exhibited a Hereford heifer they raised, HOLT 138X Sadie 226Z, to a triple-crown championship at the Western Nugget National Hereford Show held in early December in Reno, Nev.

Emilee, 16, and Ben, 13, are the children of Scott and Kim (Kanzler) Holt of Caldwell and the grandchildren of Gilbert and Alice Kanzler of Ritzville. They both have raised and shown Hereford cattle since the age of seven.

“Sadie” was named champion of both the junior show’s bred-and-owned and owned divisions, and then went on to win the champion polled Hereford heifer title in the open show.

Youth, ages 7 to 22, exhibit Herefords in the junior show, while both youth and adults compete in the open show.

Two different nationally known beef cattle judges evaluated the junior and open shows. The Holt kids’ heifer is one of only a few to win the Triple Crown at this national show, one of six recognized by the American Hereford Association.

The Western Nugget annually draws competitors from the western states, and from as far as Texas and the Midwest.

They are active members of the Idaho Junior Hereford Association and the National Junior Hereford Association. Last summer, Emilee was recognized as a top-10 intermediate showman and Ben as the top sixth grader at the National Junior Hereford Expo in Kansas City, Mo.