42 PRIZE possession nfrom page 41


gentle and they are a prey animal and they panic. Their defense mechanism is their strength, so they tend to throw their weight around, but if you keep them calm and you're calm around them and you don't aggravate them, you're not going to have any issues. You're going to have this sweet animal that's easy to handle, easy to train and manoeuvre.” In a sense, he managed to turn some of the darker times in his life into a strength when dealing with especially fearful animals. Pedro was Gabriel’s “prize” possession, even before she (yes, she!) came out on top at the PNE. It took countless hours of patience to get her to trust him. “Till today, she has been the most difficult hog I've ever had,” he says. “I would go into the pen and I'd ask her to turn and she'd just throw her whole body into me and knock me over and then run away screaming ... but eventually she’s learned that I'm not going to hurt her.”


Off to school A week after the PNE,


Gabriel is leaving for Big Bear Ranch, between 150 Mile House and Horsefly, but he didn’t have a vehicle to get there. A major snag like that had the potential to kill a dream he’d been working towards for his whole life. He spent the summer milking goats at 4 am to afford gas so he could drive his father’s truck to a pest management field course at University of


the Fraser Valley in Chilliwack during the day. He also finished a certificate in livestock production at UFV this year, bussing from Langley to get to the campus in Chilliwack. All the while, he was looking for some wheels to get him to the Interior so he could start the sustainable ranching program at Thompson Rivers University. “We've been looking all summer long and there were a couple [of] opportunities to acquire a truck, but as things have it, you're always the second person there,” explains Maurice. “This all happened on Friday after delivering the animals [to the PNE].” After he purchased the used truck privately on Friday, Maurice secretly moved it to his hobby farm in Langley while Gabriel stayed in residence at the PNE with 4-H. With his new truck, he will spend the fall and winter at Big Bear Ranch where he’ll work as a hand while attending classes in Williams Lake. After completing the two-year diploma in sustainable ranching, Gabriel hopes to be part of the next generation of environmentally conscious farmers with his own pasture- raised hog and lamb farm. “It's my passion to be able to farm sustainably for the future,” he says, noting that farmers’ average age is getting close to retirement. “I want to pick up some of the slack that's being left from the depleting farmers and continue in a sustainable fashion.”


Our Roots Run Deep


COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • SEPTEMBER 2019 4-H sale at the PNE is the


Above, Billy Paul from


Abbotsford Beef sold the champion market steer for $9.50/lb. Right, Gabriel Camparmo with his lamb


project. Next page, upper left, Blake Davis leads his steer out of the sale pen; below, Bob


Brandsma waits on a bidder; bottom, Kaeden Peters waits with his Hereford steer Big Mac for their turn in the sale. Photos by Sean Hitrec


81st Provincial Winter Fair


Champion Buckles, Jackets & Prize Money


4-H & Open Classes Beef


Horse Goat


Poultry Sheep


Photography Cloverbud


For more information or post entries @ www.provinicialwinterfair.com or


by email: pwfsecretary@gmail.com September 27-30, 2019 Circle Creek Ranch - Kamloops, BC


1-866-820-7603 | BAUMALIGHT.COM Dale Howe | 403-462-1975 | dale@baumalight.com


MFG A VARIETY OF ATTACHMENTS BRUSH MULCHERS | BOOM MOWERS


STUMP GRINDERS | TREE SAWS & SHEARS TREE SPADES | ROTARY BRUSH CUTTERS AUGER DRIVES | TRENCHERS DRAINAGE PLOWS | PTO GENERATORS


Kids Zone Pig Races Food Trucks


Ticketed Local Beef & Lamb Wine Pairing Event (19+) & Much More!


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