Honestly, when Martin Poirier slapped Margot Danna in the centre of the Colisée Desjardins ring, you could feel the room exhale. Ferme Margot’s veteran five-year-old was named grand champion and on a day when Quebec’s Ayrshire elite brought their absolute A-game to the season opener, that’s saying something.
Poirier — from ferme Bavaroise, and the man who handled the judging at the 2025 Royal — had the honour of evaluating the breed at Expo-Printemps 2026. He worked through 42 head (29 juniors, 13 seniors), translated ringside by veteran Yves Charpentier, with his wife Amélie Hardy Demers serving as ringmaster. The numbers were down a touch, but as Martin himself put it after the dust settled, “maybe the quantity wasn’t there, but the quality of animals in front of me today — wow.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Junior Show: Guimond Hunter Idile Steals the Morning
The morning belonged to a Hunter daughter most of the East had been waiting to see in the coloured shavings.
Guimond Hunter Idile (Logan Lemay, Ferme de la Plaine & Ferme La Croisée) walked into the winter yearling class and walked out with the ribbon, the banner, and a champion drive plan. Poirier called her an “easy winner” — a heifer who showed style on the move with the kind of dairy temperament you can’t fake. By the time the Junior Championship lineup came together, she was the obvious one. Martin gave her the nod over the reserve “mainly on the cleanness through her head and neck” — extreme balance, extreme dairyness, “a very complete effort.”
Slotting in for Reserve Junior Champion was Brixham M Pixy-Lou for Windarra Farms — the summer yearling class winner and Best Bred & Owned of her division. A powerful, balanced heifer who Andrew Shufelt’s Brigham operation has been building toward, she earned the nod for “more length, more power, more length of fore and rear rib” over the Honourable Mention Junior, stablemate Brixham B-King Scooby Snack — the fall heifer winner and another Brixham-bred standout.
The junior classes were stacked top to bottom. A few that caught the eye:
- Winter calf: Dale Vista Raven Krista for Dale Vista Farms — Poirier raved about her balance, her style, and a set of feet and legs that “moved her right to the top of the class.”
- Spring yearling: Bricker-Farms Reynolds CC for the CC Syndicate — a powerful heifer with exceptional width and rib openness who got the nod over the very clean Dale Vista Pride Nora (BBO).
- Fall yearling: Rosayre Autograph Cadence for Bonnie & David Bergeron — described by the judge as “very powerful and balanced, showing a lot of width, a lot of structure.”
- Junior Breeder’s Herd: Brixham took it, with the judge highlighting “more dairy character and better openness of rib” than the very nice Dale Vista group in second.
When the Junior Banners were tallied, Marbrae (Entreprises Marbrae Inc.) cleaned up — winning both Premier Junior Exhibitor and Premier Junior Breeder (via Brian MacFarlane) with 38 points apiece, ahead of Dale Vista (32) and Brixham/Windarra (29).
Intermediate Show: Goodness Mirabelle Calls Her Shot
The fall two-year-old class is where the afternoon really started cooking.
Goodness Mirabelle — owned by the Blondin Sires / Ferme Blondin / Fairbanks Cattle Company partnership out of Howick — won the class with Best Udder honours and never looked back. Poirier loved everything about her: the openness through the rib, the width of parts, the quality and venation through her mammary system. “An extremely well-balanced young cow, very, very complete,” he said in the championship reasons — and giving the advantage over a stablemate Margot cow is no small compliment in this barn.
That stablemate was Margot Mazeca (Ferme Margot, BBO of the class), who took Reserve Intermediate Champion. Poirier’s reasoning was textbook senior 2-yr stuff — Mirabelle had a slightly better-defined median suspensory, more desirable teat quality, and moved a touch more freely on her rear legs. But Mazeca was, in his words, a “remarkable” cow showing power, chest width and rib openness over the Honourable Mention Intermediate, Marbrae Amarula’s Proxica-ET for Marbrae — the senior three-year-old class winner with Best Udder and an unblemished BBO record.
Other intermediate notables:
- Spring 2-yr-old: Hatee Autograph Crispy (Ferme Hatée, Anaïs Chénard & Jonathan Lavoie) — a sole entry but a striking young cow Poirier called “very, very nice… very balanced with a great udder and tremendous set of feet and legs.”
- Junior 3-yr-old: Ramco Litchie for Ferme Believe took the class win and Best Udder over Ferme François Beaudry’s BBO Des Prairies Merlot.
Senior Show: Margot’s Day, Margot’s Decade
If the morning was about emerging talent, the senior show was a Ferme Margot showcase. Frédéric Grandjean’s Ste-Perpétue, QC outfit owned three of the four senior class wins — and they made it count where it matters most.
- 4-year-old: Margot Priceless-ET — sole entry, Best Udder, BBO. Poirier called her “a very nice dairy cow with a great, great, great rear udder, very high and very wide.”
- 5-year-old: Margot Danna — class winner, Best Udder, BBO. The eventual Grand Champion. More on her in a second.
- Mature cow: Marbrae Vision’s Peplum (Marbrae) — sole entry, Best Udder, BBO. An eight-and-a-half-year-old that Poirier called “still very solid for her age, with a tremendous mammary system and a great set of feet and legs.” Marbrae also walked off with Total Performance honours on Peplum (EX-94, 12,924 kg milk, 4.5% F, 3.0% P; combined BCA 923).
When the Grand Championship lineup walked in — Mirabelle (intermediate champion), Mazeca (reserve), Proxica (HM), Priceless, Danna, Dale Vista Lucky Laurie (5-yr second), and Peplum — Poirier didn’t dawdle.
Grand Champion: Margot Danna. A daughter who’s been put together with style on the move and a mammary system Martin called, simply, “wow.” Compared to the Reserve, “she just shows a little bit more height, a little bit more whip on the rear udder, and more length of fore and rear rib.” Translation: she ticks every senior cow box and then some.
Reserve Grand Champion went to Goodness Mirabelle — a young cow on a clear trajectory upward — and the Honourable Mention rosette went to Marbrae Vision’s Peplum, edged by Mirabelle on udder attachment and bone quality, but the kind of cow who, as Martin noted, “has passed the test of time.”
The Banner Race: Margot Plants a Flag
The full-show banner tally was a fitting cap on the day:
- Premier Exhibitor: Ferme Margot (74 pts), over Marbrae (73) and Dale Vista (50).
- Premier Breeder: Ferme Margot / Frédéric Grandjean (74 pts), over Marbrae (73) and Dale Vista (50).
- Premier Sire (Best 3 Bulls): Marilyn Autograph (53 pts), Marilyn Melios (50), Des Coteaux Magellan (48).
A one-point margin between Margot and Marbrae for both senior banners — that’s how tight this show was. And honestly? On a day when the calendar still says winter outside but the heifers walked in like it was August, that was about the right way to settle it.
Final Word
Poirier was generous in his closing remarks — thanking the Expo-Printemps committee, his translator Yves, and Amélie at the lead. “We do everything as a family,” he said, name-checking sons Émile and William and “our little tornado” Charlotte, before adding that he’s already counting the days until he pulls the black pants back on and gets back behind his own halters this summer.
For the breed and for Quebec, this was one of those mornings that reminds you why the Spring Show matters: a small but mighty entry, an emerging Hunter daughter for the ages, a Ferme Margot dynasty stamping its name on another championship, and a judge who placed his classes with conviction from the first calf to the last cow.
Roll on summer. The bar just got raised.
Show: Expo-Printemps du Québec 2026 — Ayrshire Show, Victoriaville, QC. Judge: Martin Poirier (Bavaroise Ayrshire), Sainte-Cécile-de-Lévrard, QC. Total entry: 42 head.
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