Calgary (Rural Roots Canada) – Lindsey Middleton and Katie Uhlmann brought their small-town comedy Cows Come Home to the 93rd 4-H Members Forum in Calgary, screening their series for the agricultural youth organization that inspired it.

Cows Come Home, which aired in June, follows protagonist Tabby as she stumbles through life in a small town while navigating the world of showing calves. For Middleton and Uhlmann, who created, wrote and produced the series, the trip west was a chance to share their show with the community they’d been working to represent.

“It’s a world that’s never been showcased before,” said Middleton, who grew up showing calves competitively in 4-H.

The comedy comes from the characters, not from making fun of farm life.

“We really didn’t want to make fun of small towns or farm life because we know how smart and hardworking and generous farmers are,” said Uhlmann, who directed the series.

The idea started three years ago at a birthday party, when Middleton mentioned her 4-H background to Uhlmann.

“Katie immediately lit up, and she was like, that’d be a great idea for a TV show,” Middleton said. “And then from there, we kind of just hit the ground running and never stopped.”

The production was personal for Middleton. They filmed at the dairy farm where she once showed calves.

“We would walk the calves in the training sequence in the exact same place where I did that as a child,” she said. “I don’t know many folks who can say they got to do something that’s so deeply connected to where they grew up and their dreams.”

At Members Forum, the producers screened all episodes and held presentations about making the show and how 4-H values apply to filmmaking. The conference brought together seven delegates from each province for workshops, tours and networking.

Uhlmann said connecting with 4-H members would be meaningful because the show contains things only they would understand.

“We have a lot of very niche jokes in the show that really, if you haven’t done 4-H, you’re not going to understand them,” said Uhlmann.

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The show centres on female friendships and women in agriculture. Middleton drew inspiration from friends who run farms.

“Every show you see with a farmer, it’s always a man,” she said.

Middleton said she wanted to showcase the women farmers she knows who are doing work that rarely gets screen time.

The production had its challenges, particularly working with animals that weren’t trained for set work. Real 4-H kids appeared in the cow showing scenes, and Middleton’s former 4-H leader helped train the animals.

“Our lead cow, we’d find that she would be good for about half an hour, and then she’d kind of get a little crazy,” Uhlmann said.

For delegates at Members Forum, the screening was unlike anything they’d seen before.

Kielly St. Croix is a 4-H member from the Zodiac 4-H club in Newfoundland who attended Members Forum and got to experience this.

“You see movies and TV shows about sports teams and music groups all the time. I’ve never seen anything like this before, especially with women in it,” St. Croix said.

The shared experience of watching with other 4-H members made it even better, she said.

“When a joke was made, you could actually look around and see everyone laughing, relating to it. That was pretty cool,” she said.

Both producers are from small towns and had no film industry connections before moving to Toronto. They hope their journey shows 4-H members what’s possible.

“You can truly achieve anything,” Uhlmann said.

The series currently airs on networks from Manitoba to Newfoundland and Labrador. The Calgary screening was its first time reaching western audiences.

The producers said they have news about the show’s future coming soon, but couldn’t share details yet.