Cows “moo-ing” filled the frigid air last Saturday morning as eight area youths stood with eight heifers at the Cody and Libby Sherman ranch just south of Pablo.

Those students were recipients of the 2019 Western Montana Stockmen’s Association Scholarship, receiving the animals.

Paul Guenzler, WMSA board member, explained that the heifers are “in care” of WMSA for the next year while students care for the animals.

To obtain ownership, students had to attend the ranch on Saturday to pick up their heifers.

Over the next 12 months, they must keep various records and present a display of their data at the WMSA annual banquet next January, Guenzler said.

This is the second year of the program, Guenzler said.

Last year, the association “brainstormed” ways to donate a heifer to a 4-H or FFA student between the ages of 10 and 16 years old.

WMSA purchased a heifer and donated it to one student.

Interested students must fill out an application and choose a mentor that is not a family member or close friend, preferably a rancher.

A letter from the mentor about the student — as well as another letter of recommendation — must be submitted, and the student must submit an essay explaining why they want the heifer.

The entire process “ends up being three, four, five pages long,” Guenzler noted.

A committee of association members sort through the applications. This year, there were seven people who read every application, with a tally of the top entries.

Last year, one student was chosen from among eight applicants.

This year, animals were awarded to eight of the 23 applicants.

Guenzler said that fundraising at the January 2018 banquet raised enough money to purchase four heifers, and four ranchers “stepped up” to donate four additional animals.

In 2018, applications were accepted in December, but as the program is anticipated to grow, Guenzler said that this year WMSA will likely being accepting applications in August or September.

WMSA serves Lake, Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula, Flathead and Sanders counties.