The Canadian Angus Association presented Heartland Livestock Services from Swift Current, Sask., with its Auction Market of the Year Award last month at the Livestock Markets Association of Canada annual conference in Lethbridge.
The Heartland Swift Current facility was built in 1991 and covers 130 acres. There are 60 holding pens with water and feed, and 90 receiving pens. The auction area seats 150. The facility also boasts a large kitchen area with seating for 40 and a large office space. In an average year manager Lee Crowley and Heartland’s team puts 109,000 head of cattle through the ring. In the last 25 years they’ve handled 2.7 million head. The Auction Market of the Year Award was introduced in 2006 to recognize and honour those auction markets that work hard to promote Angus cattle. Auction markets across Canada have been recognized for their support of the Canadian Angus feeder sales program.
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It’s with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to a true friend and mentor to the purebred industry. Elaine Hiller of Calmar, Alta., passed away April 27 at the age of 49. Elaine, along with her husband Doug and son Wyatt, ran Hiller Hay Farms and had started their 1st Annual “Colours of Fall” prospect steer and heifer sale last September. Of the many stories that have been told about her all have a recurring theme: her commitment to youth and junior shows, her laughter, love of good cattle and good friendships. If it was your first junior show and you had butterflies in your stomach, Elaine always had a way to make you laugh and calm the nerves. Many of these stories can be found on Facebook by searching for #bookofelaine.
The standing-room-only crowd that attended her funeral at the Cow Palace in Olds on May 4 was a testament to the love felt by all for her in a cattle facility that she loved. Thank you Elaine for touching our lives and making the world a better place! The show road won’t be the same without you.
Canadian Junior Limousin Association Impact Show and Canadian Limousin Association (CLA) annual general meeting is to be held July 27-30, 2017, in Portage la Prairie, Man. Any young Limousin enthusiast is welcome to participate for a one-time fee of $25 to become a CJLA member. A tentative schedule, registration form and accommodation information can be found on the CLA website. The CLA annual meeting is set for the evening of July 29.
The 50th Anniversary Canadian Limousin Association National Show and Sale will be hosted in 2019 by the Ontario Limousin Association at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. The selection of the local was made by the CLA membership who cast their votes for the Ontario bid to host the anniversary event. The Canadian Limousin Association is looking forward to working with the OLA to make this a memoral event but in the meantime it is encouraging all of its provincial affiliates to plan their own 50th anniversary event during 2019 to celebrate this milestone for the breed in Canada.
The Government of Canada through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP) has invested $1 million to increase the adoption of genomic technologies in Canada’s cattle sector. Money will be allocated by the Canadian Beef Breeds Council to offset the cost of genotyping for individual breeds to increase the use of this technology to improve the Canadian herd. Canadian Limousin producers have access to GGP-LD (low-density) and GGP-HD (high-density) tests at a 50 per cent discount as long as funding is available in 2017. All GGP-LD and GGP-HD tests include molecular breeding values (MBVs) which are required in order to generate genomically enhanced EPDs (gEPDs). Testing may be done from a new sample or a sample already on file at the lab. Testing must be requested through the Canadian Limousin Association.
August 4, 5, and 6 will be the Manitoba Youth Beef Roundup’s 10th annual event in Neepawa. This exciting three-day event will bring together junior members, 4-Hers, and enthusiasts from all across the province. The show is organized by representatives from various breeds that have been involved with national and provincial shows in the past. Their goal is to prepare young entrepreneurs in the livestock industry through a variety of competitions and events to match all interests and skill levels of the participants. Some of the events are team grooming, individual and team judging, showmanship, marketing, sales talk, impromptu speeches, art, photography, scrapbooking, as well as cattle classes.
New in 2017 for the 10th anniversary are workshops on low-stress cattle handling and beef industry advocacy, plus competitions in stockman’s knowledge, public speaking and the Roundup Ambassador competition. Invitations have been sent to all the clubs to enter their local 4-H Champion Females in this year’s show. Roundup is looking after the entry fees for these champions. All this plus an Ag Challenge competition, a cook-off, cattle shows and scholarships make this a must event for juniors this summer.
For details check out Manitoba Youth Beef Roundup Facebook page or contact chairperson Lois McRae at 204-728-3058
Anice Thomas is the new breed development officer of the Canadian Angus Association. She will work with Kajal Devani, the CAA’s director of breed development on the Canadian Angus Performance Program and the Commercial Angus Identification and Performance Program. Thomas is from Jamaica and completed her undergraduate degrees in general agriculture with a major in animal science at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education in Jamaica and the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago. She later completed a masters at the University of Guelph and has been working in the beef industry for the past five years with the production arm of Feedlot Health Management Services.
Prizes for the Canadian Angus Foundation’s 6th annual “Building the Legacy” fundraising auction on Saturday, June 10, 2017, in Brandon continued to roll in last month.
Phil Birnie of Wraz Red Angus donated a Pick-of-the-Herd 2017-born heifer calf. This four-generation operation crops 1,200 acres and calves 200 purebred Red Angus females on a land base of 2,560 acres, so the auction winner will be selecting from approximately 100 heifer calves born this year! Their selection has to be taken before September 1, when Birnie determines his “Pride of the Prairies” female production sale consignments.
Another prize is a semen package from the Canadian Western Agribition Grand Champion and RBC Supreme Champion Bull EF Titan 545 donated by the Enright family of Renfrew, Ont., and co-owner Cavanhill Farms. He was first named Supreme Champion Bull at Expo Boeuf in Victoriaville, Que., last Thanksgiving. He was also the Canadian Angus Association’s National Gold Show Program Junior Champion Bull for 2016.
Most recently, www.comresafaris.co.za and www.angusbreeder.net donated a South African Hunting Package to the foundation’s auction.
Don’t forget to register for the 10th Anniversary T Bar C Invitational Golf Tournament. The event is run June 19 and 20 at Dakota Dunes Golf Links in Saskatoon. Over the past nine years T Bar C has raised over $400,000 for youth programs but this is the last year for this event so come on out and be part of the final round. A big thank you to Bryan, Ted, Chris and everybody at T Bar C Cattle Co. for giving back to our agriculture youth. For more details give Bryan a call at 306-933-4200 or go to www.tbarinvitational.com to register.
Canada Beef is teaming up with Fairmont Hotels and Resorts across the country to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday through a series of unique culinary exchange events with talented chefs from across the globe to promote Canada’s food identity.
Not many kids under 21 want to head to school but ask Owen Grundy, 13, about Stock Show University and it’s a place he’d go every day — if he could. Stock Show “U,” with “professors” from all over North America, makes its debut in eastern Ontario August 5 and 6 this year at the Metcalfe Fairgrounds. Previously it was featured in Lindsay.
It’s a free educational clinic where stock show youth are taught “proper techniques for washing, blow-drying, clipping, grooming, brushing and just generally getting their animals ready for the show ring,” says Chris Grundy, eastern Ontario contact for R.K. Farm Supplies. Grundy and his son Owen are keen enthusiasts of the two-day event. Kids are up at 4 a.m. to prep their animals — that means washed, blown-dry, fed and watered — for the professors’ arrival at 8 a.m.
The event is for kids from 4-H clubs in Ontario and Western Quebec, or any who want to learn proper showmanship techniques. Each participant brings a halter-broke animal. This is Owen’s third year. He took on his first cow at five but decided two years ago to invest in a Shorthorn; this year he’s showing a Hereford. He’s been showing since he was six and his wish, or hope, is to go all over North America as a fitter. He’s shown across Ontario, been to multiple Hereford Bonanzas in New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta and was Champion Junior Showman in Fredericton in 2015. In 2014 he was Junior Champion Groomsman in Lindsay. And, after Stock Show U this year, he’ll head to Victoriaville, Que.
Chris points out that the university was scheduled before the fairs start in the fall so kids can take what they learn there to the shows.
Callyn Hahn is one of the “professors.” She’s dean of Stock Show University and hails from Woodbine, Iowa. She’s knowledgeable about Shorthorns and calf genetics, and participated in livestock judging while at college and university. They usually have one instructor for every 10 students. You must preregister by July 4.
For further information, contact Chris Grundy at 613-293-0742 or [email protected].
