The first of this kind in Canada, the 100K Jackpot is judged both on expected progeny difference (EPDs) before entering the ring, and phenotype in the show ring. All entries had to have a DNA test (30K or 100K) completed through the association prior to the show. Fifty per cent of the final score was based on EPDs, and the remaining 50 per cent on phenotype, judged in the show ring. 

This is a very exciting new addition to the Impact Show and the association is looking forward to continuing the momentum shown in future Impact Shows. 

As a side note I’ve seen EPDs or estimated breeding values incorporated into shows in Scotland and Australia. It will be interesting to see where this goes in Canada. 

Congratulations as well to the 2023 Impact Show Aggregate awards winners. The Grand Champion Junior Aggregate was Owen Zwambag of Glencoe, Ont., and the reserve was Lexi Zwambag of Glencoe, Ont. The Grand Champion Intermediate Aggregate was Margaret Darling of Castleton, Ont., and the reserve was Avery Annett of Mildmay, Ont. Jocelyn Kennedy of Omemee, Ont., was Grand Champion Senior Aggregate and Kira Axley of Czar, Alta., took the reserve. Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to Jill Renton Photography for the images. 

Madgett Award winner and more Limousin news

The Madgett Award is presented to the person or family who takes that extra step to promote the Limousin breed in Ontario for the benefit of all. 

This award honours Roy and Margaret Madgett, who farmed near Rockwood, Ont., and started with the Limousin breed in the late 1970s. They were two of the earliest breeders in Ontario and travelled the province and country attending and promoting the Limousin breed at many events. They were noted breeders of full-blood and purebred Limousin through the ’80s and ’90s. A couple of noted animals from their herd include Roymar Ruben, the 1984 RAWF Grand Champion Bull and Manitoba Renee, the 1988 RAWF Grand Champion Female. The Madgetts were named “Limousin Leader of the Year” in 1994. 

This year’s recipients of the Madgett award are Ben and Jennie Ruth Belanger of Boulder Land and Cattle Co. They are a true farming family, with the whole gang involved from feeding to calving to showing.

Ben Belanger got his start in the Limousin business working with his grandpa Bernie Clancy of Clan Farm in the early 1980s thru the ’90s where they ran 50 purebred and full-blooded cows, along with a number of feeder cattle. Belanger then branched out on his own in the early 2000s bringing the foundation cows with him to start Boulder Land and Cattle Co. The family has been actively involved in the breed with 100 purebred cows and an additional 100 commercial Limousin-influenced cows. They have been involved in multiple sales including Pride of the Pasture Limousin Bull and Female Sales and OLA Eastern Showcase Sale, where they have been top sellers on many occasions. Congratulations to the Belanger family!

The Canadian Junior Limousin Association announced the Herd Building Program for its junior members and recent alumni. The Herd Building Program aims to bring more juniors into the Limousin breed and help existing junior breeders grow their own herds. The program is open to any junior, aged nine to 21 as of January 1, who is an active member. Recent alumni of the program are also eligible if they’re between the ages of 22 and 25, were active members and are current Canadian Limousin Association members. 

A live animal sale voucher is offered, along with a frozen genetics sale voucher, for each age division. The live animal sale voucher has a value of $2,000 and is to be used by the recipient to assist in purchasing a registered, purebred Limousin female from any recognized Canadian Limousin sale or privately from a Canadian breeder. With a value of $500, the frozen genetics sale voucher is to be used by the recipient to help purchase frozen Limousin semen or embryos from any recognized Canadian Limousin sale or privately from a Canadian breeder. 

To apply, applicants must submit a recorded video based on the time length and topic for their respective age divisions. A judging panel will evaluate the applications and determine the voucher recipients. The recipients will have one year to use their vouchers. If the voucher is not used within the allotted year, the funds must be returned to the association. Applications are open until October 31, 2023. Voucher recipients will be announced mid-December. 

For more info visit limousin.com/juniors. 

The Canadian Limousin Association also announced that Dave Lawrence of Lakeside Farm, Durham, Ont., was elected to the board. Farming has been a passion of Lawrence’s for as long as he can remember. He always looks forward to chatting with fellow members and meeting new friends at sales, meetings and other Limousin events. His three daughters have a keen interest in the farm, and show their Limousin heifers at 4-H, provincial Limousin and Canadian Junior Limousin events. 

The Ontario Limousin Association held its AGM on August 6 in Spencerville, Ont., with the election of new and returning directors. Returning for a second three-year term was Carolyn Darling with new directors Bev Annett, Joe Young and Jeff Byers. 

Finally, for anybody looking for a Limousin yard sign, get a hold of the Ontario Limousin Association and they can give you more details on the farm gate signs they have available. Contact info available at ontariolimousin.com/contact.

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Helge and Candace By of Regina, Sask., are known for their work in the Charolais breed and the Canadian livestock industry. In 1999, they became majority shareholders of the Charolais Banner, moved the office to Regina, and became the magazine’s publishers. For years they co-managed the Regina Bull Sale, with D Bar L Livestock, and later started their own management company, By Livestock, to manage sales across the country. Both are very involved with Canadian Western Agribition. Candace is part of the International Committee and Helge has served on the Supreme Committee since its inception. They’re also supporters of youth and 4-H programs, have travelled internationally promoting Canadian livestock and each year facilitate international delegations.

Keith and Linda Kaufmann keep busy with the work in the Angus industry and their community of Ceylon, Sask. Keith served as a Saskatchewan Angus Association director from 1998 to 2009, along with six years as a director on the Canadian Angus Association board. He also represented the Angus association for several years on the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association board. Since 1980, Keith has been a councillor and a reeve for the RM of the Gap, and has been active on several local boards. Keith was also one of the founders and the president of Border Line Feeders. Linda has always played an active role on their operation, South View Ranch. She also ran their children, Stacey and Shane, to various activities when they were young, and today helps run the grandchildren around. She’s an active member of the parish council for St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Ceylon.

Lyle and Linda Stewart began farming and raising cattle in the Pense area in the 1970s. They have also been active community members, helping fundraise to build and operate a new rink in Pense. Linda coached minor and senior hockey for several years and Lyle served on the school board for over a decade. Both have been involved with provincial politics since the 1970s. In 1999, Lyle was elected to the Saskatchewan legislature, and was re-elected four more times. During that time he served in many leadership positions, most notably as minister of agriculture from 2012 to 2018. As agriculture minister, he passionately represented many ag communities, was a vocal advocate for Saskatchewan and Canadian beef, and fought for rail access for Saskatchewan producers. In 2012 and 2013, he also served as president of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, a non-profit that promotes trade and collaboration between Western Canada, the Yukon and North West Territories, Alaska, and several western states in the U.S.

Bill and Lauren Campbell of Campbell Limousin (photo at top) have been awarded the 2019 Manitoba Limousin Association Ambassador Award. The Campbells raise purebred Limousins and grow crops near Minto, Man.

Bill has focused on improving the Limousin breed, marketing genetics to eight Canadian provinces, the U.S. and Mexico. He’s served on several boards, notably 42 years on the Manitoba Limousin Association. Lauren has a background in accounting, photograph and design, and so she manages the finances and advertising for Campbell Limousin. She also bookkeeps for several non-profits.

Bill and Lauren spent many summers showing cattle with their daughters, Courtney and Kaitlin, at local fairs, field days and Junior shows. Courtney has earned a master’s degree in library science and works in Manitoba. Kaitlin and her husband Cameron Nykoliation have their own livestock operation, NYK Cattle Company.

The Canadian Limousin Association has recognized Ian and Bonnie Hamilton of Amaglen Limousin from Darlingford, Man., with the 2018 Canadian Limousin Association Award of Distinction. The Hamiliton family has been involved in purebred cattle since 1935, and Limousins since 1982. They had bulls at the Manitoba Bull Test Station for several years, with great success. One highlight was raising the highest-indexing bull of all breeds, over 550 bulls, in 2003. They have sold bulls throughout Canada, as well as the U.S. and Mexico. Bonnie and Ian are moving towards retirement, but are still involved in Amaglen, as Amanda and Clint Seward take on larger roles. We applaud Ian and Bonnie for their contributions to the betterment of the Limousin breed across Canada.

The Alberta Angus Association is co-hosting the Canadian Angus National Convention this year in Drumheller, Alta., from June 6 to 9. This will be a great opportunity to get together with Angus breeders from across the country and help position the breed for the future. Stay tuned for more details.

The Canadian Simmental Association National Convention and AGM will be held in St-Hyacinthe, Que., August 8 to 11. The event will also include tours, Young Canadian Simmental Association (YCSA) activities and cattle show, a banquet and an auction to support Simmental youth. For more information contact the Simmental office at 403-250-7979 or email cansim@simmental.com.

The Canadian Angus Association has come out with a new evaluation called AngusONE in which all Canadian Angus animals — both red and black — will be evaluated with their Black American Angus counterparts at Angus Genetics Inc (AGI).

For more than 20 years, the Canadian Angus Association ran the genetic evaluations with the American Angus Association (AAA) and the Red Angus Association of America (RAAA). This gave Canadian Angus producers’ Expected Progeny Differences (EPD) for Canadian cattle that were comparable to those in the U.S. But it also meant that Canadian Black Angus EPDs were not comparable to Canadian Red Angus EPDs. Last fall, the genetic evaluation system used by both the RAAA and CAA for the Red Angus cattle was retired. This means that Canadian Red Angus EPDs have changed and are on a new base.

Because of this change the EPDs from the AngusONE evaluation are not comparable to the “old red” evaluation EPD numbers. Although the EPD numbers have changed, percentile rankings of most animals within the breed have not.

To help with this change the Canadian Angus Association has come out with a percentile ranking graph to help producers evaluate their animals. Canadian Red Angus animals have their own breed average and will be ranked against other Canadian Red Angus animals.

Check with the Canadian Angus Association if you need more information or have questions. They can be reached at 403-571-3580 or at cdnangus@cdnangus.ca.

Tessa Verbeek, general manager of the Canadian Limousin Association, and her husband Colin welcomed their daughter Rylin Bree to the world earlier this year. Born Sunday, January 20, Rylin weighed in at seven lbs. 11 oz. All are doing fine. Congratulations from all of us at Canadian Cattlemen and remember it’s never too early to get her started in the Canadian Junior Limousin Association.

The Canadian Angus Association’s branded tags are now offered by the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA). Their newly launched ComfortEar Angus tags (manufactured by ZTag/Temple) have been available in the CCIA webstore since February, and will be followed by the Allflex suite of products very soon.

Limousin, Simmental and Hereford also added a Temple-manufactured product as a second option to complement their original Allflex-branded breed tag. Limousin and Simmental selected ComfortEar while the Hereford Association went for the Temple Z-Tags.

The Canadian Shorthorn Association has also launched their identification program with a breed-branded ComfortEar® tag via the CCIA webstore.

To order approved RFID tags from CCIA, simply visit their webstore at tags.canadaid.ca or contact them by phone at 1-877-909-2333.

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Images of mustering wild Brahman cattle by helicopter over vast drought-stricken red soil seem to be the common image people have when I tell them we worked on a cattle ranch in Australia. This was, however, not quite the case in the area we worked in. The cattle were excellent breeding stock, not dissimilar to our Canadian cattle. We rounded them up with quads, which are known as bikes in Australia, and a few good working dogs of kelpie, heeler, or border collie breeding.

The country is suffering a severe drought in areas, but the centre pivot kept the field the sale bulls were in reasonably lush. Manali would be considered a very intensive cattle operation by Australian standards. Heifers were kept nearby and checked daily during calving, which was just beginning while we were there. Bulls were fed grain each morning and clipped, pictured, videoed and washed for the sale. These practices were familiar to us Canadian cattle producers, and we readily leaned on our expertise in these areas.

The remainder of their production practices were quite dissimilar, primarily due to the differences in climate. While we fret about water systems freezing in the winter in Canada, our Australian counterparts don’t fear freezing but rather their natural water sources such as creeks drying up altogether. Regardless of the differences in production there is one thing that is the same for cattlemen across the globe; cattle need to be rounded up, sorted, and processed through a chute. In Australia it would be mustering, drafting, and processing through the crush. Whatever words you use to describe it the process is the same. The handling systems you have in place can, either make the experience quick with minimal stress on both cattle and handler, or a tedious process that causes stress for both stock and people.

If there is one concept we saw in Australia that we most certainly would like to implement on our own farm, it is the cattle-handling systems.

Manali consists of hundreds of acres of property spread many kilometres apart; therefore they had numerous cattle-handling facilities on their various pieces of land. The facility that we thought the most unique had a polygon-shaped centre with surrounding holding pens (see diagram below). We found it to be relatively simple and seemingly minimal cost to set up yet extremely effective especially when handling livestock on your own with no help.

The numerous pens on the outside of the centre polygon allowed cattle to be drafted (sorted) into numerous groups from the centre pen. The curved shape of the centre pen worked to the handler’s advantage as it is natural instinct for livestock to follow a curve and you could easily move them into the pen of your choice. Cattle could be moved out of an outer pen and into the centre polygon of which one side connected to the run that led to the crush (chute).

The run was also curved, again to work with the animal’s natural instinct to follow a curve. The crush itself worked entirely off levers not hinges like most North American chutes. We found that worked well except you couldn’t leave the head catch partially open and have cattle catch themselves by walking into it. This lever-style head catch also popped open fairly often when the big two-year-old bulls, with their crested necks, started thrashing. It worked much better on smaller-necked cows and heifers.

The best feature of the crush was a small bar called a head bail that you could raise up under the neck of the animal which was very convenient for clipping out heads, necks and briskets without having the animal putting its nose into the ground the entire time. It also worked well at restraining the head when you were giving a needle, treating an eye, or tagging.

The crush we used at Manali was called The Hunter Pacifier with a Headmaster Head Bail, and was manufactured by National Stockyards Systems Pty Ltd. of New South Wales, Australia. Manali had just purchased this new crush for the property where the sale bulls were kept.

When the cattle exited the crush we could send them in three directions. Two metal gates were hinged on either side in front of the crush, creating a draft box where you could swing the gates to send the cattle out to pens on the left or right or close both gates to send them straight forward to the loading ramp.

While we were at Manali representatives from National Stockyards came out one day while we were scanning the bulls with ultrasound for the sale. The representatives from National Stockyards wanted to see Manali’s newly purchased crush in action and get feedback on how they could improve their crushes. After processing 56 two-year-old bulls through the yards and crush multiple times for semen testing, clipping, scanning, and washing, Colin and I certainly agreed that this design was less stressful for both people and livestock.

Overall, we found this cattle-handling system is likely one of the easiest systems to utilize when working with little help. Since returning to Canada last fall, Colin and I have been working on building new infrastructure on our own farm including a barn, corrals and cattle-handling system. We will certainly be drawing on our experiences in Australia as we look into designing a similar pie-shaped handling system on our own farm here in Canada.

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He was named Grand Champion Limousin bull at the Olds Fall Classic this year and for 2014 and 2013 at Lloydminster Stockade Roundup, Farmfair International and Canadian Western Agribition Regina, Sask.

The Canadian Charolais Association would like to commend the youth that applied for the 2014 CCA Scholarships; the applications are getting tougher to narrow down each year as the calibre of submissions keeps getting stronger! Congratulations to Shae-Lynn Evans of Kenaston, Sask. as the 2014 recipient of the $1,500 Dale Norheim Memorial Scholarship, and to both Chloe Gresel of Erin, Ont. and Jade Marshall of Red Deer County, Alta. as the successful applicants receiving the two $1,000 Canadian Charolais Association Scholarships.

Our condolences go out to David Bolduc, and family, on the unexpected passing of their wife and mother, Margaret Bolduc, in mid-November. Margaret was a familiar hostess at the annual Cudlobe Angus Sale, and one of the key components of the sale was the pies baked by Margaret and Dyce’s wife. David is past president of the Canadian Angus Association and is the current president of Canadian Beef Breeds Council.

Canadian Western Agribition, hosted a roundtable meeting Nov. 25 focused on improving dialogue between Canadian and American beef producers. Producers from Colorado, Minnesota, Montana and Nebraska met with their Canadian counterparts through this program organized by the Canadian Consulates in Minneapolis and Denver and the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA).

Discussion topics focused on the integration of meat and livestock industries, sustainability and innovation, intergenerational succession planning and key trade issues such as U.S. mandatory country-of-origin labelling (COOL) and regulatory cooperation. “The North American cattle industry operates as an integrated market and by working together on shared issues and eliminating trade barriers such as COOL both our countries can benefit greatly,” said SSGA president Doug Gillespie.

On Nov. 4, Canadian Beef Breeds Council hosted a delegation from Turkey. It was looking for information regarding the beef production system in Canada, as well as on specific breeds of beef cattle. It is anticipated that live cattle access to Turkey will occur in the near future.

Canadian Beef Breeds Council also sponsored a luncheon in co-operation with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development at Farmfair International. This included a seminar to inform international attendees about Canadian livestock production. Specific topics were genomics, traceability, and reproduction techniques.

Canadian Western Agribition CEO Marty Seymour said their 2014 show “shot the lights out on beef sales,” which were at least 50 per cent higher than last year. (This doesn’t include results from Saturday’s commercial and prospects sales.)

Angus Sale

• Total sales — $283,325; 46 lots for an average of $6,159.
  Highlights — $31,000 for choice of 2014 bull calf and $24,000 for pick of any 2014 calf; buyers from across Canada with one heifer calf going to Oklahoma.

Speckle Park Sale

• Total sales — $132,900; 20 lots for an average of $6,645.
  Highlights — $13,250 heifer calf; $12,900 bull calf; package of three embryos to Dorchester, England.

Gelbvieh Sale

• Total sales — $71,550; 14 lots for an average of $5,111.
  Highlights — high-selling heifer calf for $11,000.

Shorthorn Sale

• Total sales — $117,625; 26 lots for an average of $4,524.
  Highlights — high-selling heifer calf sold to an Ontario buyer for $18,750.

Charolais Sale

• Total sales — $157,450; 17 lots (all females) for an average of $9,262.
  Highlights — Pick of herd — cow $32,500; bred heifer $18,000; heifer calf $13,000.

Hereford Sale

• Total sales — $136,750; 23.5 lots for an average of $5,819.
  Highlights — high-selling heifer calf for $10,300; half interest in a bull calf for $7,500; embryo package to Texas.

Simmental Sale

• Total sales — $126,800; 17 lots for an average of $7,459.
  Highlights — high-selling heifer calf to Alberta for $15,000.

Limousin Sale

• Total sales — $173,450; 21 lots for an average of $8,260.
  Highlights — half interest in a bred cow for $16,000; half interest in a bull calf for $12,500; bull calf for $15,000 with several head going to buyers in Ontario and Nova Scotia.

Angus Power and Perfection Sale

• Total sales — $361,350; 33 lots for an average of $10,950.
  Highlights — mature bull sold for $62,000; bred heifer for $20,000; heifer calf for $26,000.

As noted earlier, CBBC nominee and legendary livestock photographer, Walt Browarny was inducted into the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame. The ceremony took place on November 9 in Toronto, Ontario in conjunction with the Royal Winter Fair.

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair wrapped up its 92nd season of agricultural fun and competitions including its famous Queen’s Guineas Show and Sale. This year, Ryan Scott of Brant County took home the top prize in the Queen’s Guineas competition and earned the first spot in the sales ring for the 2014 Queen’s Guineas auction later that night. His steer, High Hopes, was purchased by Cargill for $11,440. Cargill was one of the biggest supporters of the youth participants in the competition as top buyer in the 2014 Queen’s Guineas sale, followed by MacNeil Farms and Premier Farm Equipment.

The Queen’s Guineas is now in its 68th year of operation, making it the longest-running youth competition at The Royal. The competition first took shape when money was released from a grant given to the Province of Ontario in 1946 by the Prince of Wales. From this money, a new competition and prize called the King’s Guineas was created at The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. In 1952, when Elizabeth II came to the throne, the competition was renamed as the Queen’s Guineas.

“The Queen’s Guineas is one of The Royal’s most storied competitions, with many past competitors who still carry fond memories of their own days as a competitor,” said Peter Hohenadel, director of agriculture and food at The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

Canadian Beef Breeds Council, Canadian Angus Association, National Cattle Feeders and the Canadian Cattlemen Association presented briefs to the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. The committee was gathering information regarding international market development for various aspects of Canadian agriculture.

In efforts to increase positive messaging around beef in human health and wellness, Canada Beef works with the International Meat Secretariat’s (IMS) Human Nutrition Committee. With an exciting nutrition story to share, Canada Beef’s participation with IMS is a highly valuable addition to advocacy and education work done by Canada Beef to promote beef’s role in a healthy diet. Backed by science and a global platform of experts, co-ordinating efforts with the IMS Human Nutrition Committee makes an important contribution towards ensuring attitudes and policies regarding beef consumption reflect scientific fact.

“Nutrition is a core piece of our brand story. Canadian beef is packed with essential nutrients and is an anchor to healthy eating, and we need to leverage opportunities like collaboration with the IMS Human Nutrition Committee to advocate for positive beef messaging,” said Rob Meijer, president, Canada Beef.

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Canadian Beef Breeds Council sponsored an on-farm tour at Belvin Angus for members of the Industry Government Advisory Committee (IGAC) who are responsible for implementation of multi-species animal traceability in Canada. The evening consisted of a great meal along with a hands-on demonstration of logistics associated with purebred beef cattle traceability. Mabel Hamilton and her family hosted the event.

Alberta Farm Animal Care (AFAC) faced a firestorm of controversy last month when allegations of animal abuse at the Western Hog Exchange facility in Red Deer hit the media. As with any such allegations, due process is important when determining wrongdoing to take appropriate action.

I live in the vicinity of the Western Hog Exchange and saw this reported on the Alberta TV stations, repeatedly. The video showed the bats that hogs were “bludgeoned” with at the facility. I have to say that the bats definitely appear to be of the large plastic toy variety or similar to those. I would imagine that they are used to appear intimidating to the animals both in size and noise created. A person, who works with hogs that have been raised in confinement, can understand how difficult it is to work with, and move these animals. It is unfortunate the videos were taken and used out of context, as well as being sensationalized, but as livestock producers this is something that we will continue to see happen.

As an industry we need to know who we hire, who we let into our operations, and ask ourselves do the employees understand why we do what we do. Twenty seconds of video can discredit a whole industry, so we need to take this seriously and be proactive. Perhaps the answer is legislation that makes it illegal for a person to gain employment on a livestock operation, of any kind, for the purpose of creating video that misrepresents the industry or operation; as well as improving our handling practices.

Last winter the Alberta Shorthorn Association decided to donate a $500 and a $250 certificate to a 4-H member in Alberta who showed a Shorthorn or Shorthorn influenced animal over the past 4-H season. All of those members had their name placed in a draw, with the first name drawn receiving the $500 certificate and the second name receiving the $250 certificate, to be used towards the purchase of a Shorthorn or Shorthorn-influenced animal from a member of the Alberta Shorthorn Association.

This year’s winner was Kayla Van De Voorde. She is an eight-year-old Cleaver Kid from the Bashaw 4-H Beef Club who chose to show a Shorthorn “because my Grandpa and Grandma Peterson, and my mom and dad show Shorthorns. I think it’s in the family to show Shorthorns. They’re so quiet. They are easy to train to lead and they don’t like to kick very hard or very much.” Kayla plans to use her $500 certificate to buy a roan steer — or possibly a white one — for her 4-H project. Roan is her favourite colour.

Benjamin Masson was the winner of the $250 certificate, so he will be looking for a Shorthorn animal of his own.

December will mark the beginning of Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan (FFCSK) which grew out of the Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan (FACS), an organization with a 22-year history advancing animal care in the province. The new Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan will have an expanded mandate to help connect consumers with food and farming in Saskatchewan. It follows a similar pattern followed when the Ontario Farm Animal Care Council evolved into Farm Food Care in 2012.

FFCSK will represent livestock, poultry, crop and horticulture producers, and work with agriculture partners, chefs and associated businesses — all those who are passionate about food and farming in Saskatchewan. Today, there’s greater interest than ever in understanding how food is grown, especially since less than two per cent of Canadians now have a direct link to the farm. The mandate of FFCSK is to help consumers make the connections between the food they eat, and where it comes from and how it ends up on their plates.

Programming will focus on reaching consumers to build public trust in the entire food industry while educating members about best practices, communicating with the public and responding to concerns about animal care and environmental sustainability.

A website and provincial Ag Ambassador’s Speakers Bureau are currently in the works and plans are being made to enhance networking with the culinary industry, on farm tours, and a social media strategy.

The official launch will occur at an inaugural industry conference Dec. 10 and 11 at the Sheraton Cavalier Hotel in Saskatoon. For more information and to register for the conference visit farmfoodcaresk.org.

The new CBBC website has officially launched! It can be found at www.canadianbeefbreeds.com. They welcome your comments to help them improve the site and ensure the most useful information is available.

The official CBBC Twitter handle has been updated to @CanBeefBreeds so make sure to follow CBBC. The staff will maintain personal pages as well, so follow Doris (@DorisRempel), John (@Gentec_John) and Michael (@LatimerMichael) on those accounts for up-to-date industry information.

The Beef Cattle Value Chain Round Table (BCVRT) was held in Calgary Oct. 1-2. There was general consensus that currently the No. 1 issue for the Canadian beef industry is the difficulty in finding skilled and entry-level labour for farms, feedlots and packing plants.

Tina Zakowski was scheduled to begin maternity leave as communications director with the Canadian Angus Association on October 24. Karla Ness (email) will be taking over Tina’s duties while she is on leave. This will be Tina’s second child and we wish her best of luck.

Cattlemen’s Young Leaders Profiles

Colin Verbeek was raised on his family’s mixed grain and purebred Limousin farm in Sturgeon County, near Morinville, Alta. Hillview Farms calves out 150 purebred Limousin females each year and sells high-quality Limousin bulls by private treaty, and in the Prime Limousin Club Bull Sale in Westlock, Alta. the third weekend of March. Colin graduated from the Olds College agricultural management program with a major in marketing and worked for Richardson Pioneer. This spring he will be returning to the family farm and starting up his own cattle operation with his fiancée, Tessa Nybo, another CYL mentee.

Colin has a passion for improving genetics through the use of artificial insemination, genomics, expected progeny differences, and other progressive means of selecting and breeding efficient, productive and sound structured cattle. Colin is a director of the Alberta Limousin Association and is looking forward to becoming more involved in cattle industry groups, as he progresses as a producer and industry leader himself.

Colin is eager to learn from his mentor, Dyce Bolduc Cudlough Farms at Stavely, Alta., as he begins building his own operation.

Laura Ecklund grew up on a cow-calf operation in southwestern Ontario, raising purebred Limousin cattle. In her youth, she was an active 4-H member in the local beef club and also showed cattle with the Ontario Limousin Association. Laura’s passion for beef cattle led her to pursue a career in the beef industry. She moved to Alberta to attend Olds College graduating with a diploma in agricultural business and a bachelor of applied science and agribusiness degree. She and her husband, Cody, now live in Olds. In the near future they hope to start their own commercial beef operation.

Through the Cattleman’s Young Leaders program and her time with mentor Deb Verbonac a senior account manager with the PR firm AdFarm, and a former staff member of the Canadian Limousin Association, Laura would like to become involved in educating consumers about beef production.

Kristine Blair grew up in Woodside, Man. on a cow-calf and backgrounding operation. The goals of her family’s operation have been to strive for excellence in grazing management and environmental stewardship. She is in the process of building her own cow-calf herd and she is very excited to be establishing an operation near Langruth, Man.

Kristine received her bachelor of science, from the faculty of agriculture and food science at the University of Manitoba majoring in agroecology. She has spent some time working for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) on projects including riparian area health, as well as the impacts of bale grazing on forage quantity, quality and species composition.

Kristine is currently enrolled in the master’s of animal science program at the University of Manitoba. Her research is part of a larger study to develop beneficial management practices (BMPs) that improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the Canadian cattle industry. This is particularly important as cattle producers in Western Canada have begun to change the way in which they overwinter cattle, moving from traditional confined pen systems to extensive in-field systems including swath grazing and bale grazing. Kristine’s project will compare energy lost as methane, a greenhouses gas, in background cattle. More specifically, she will compare intake, gain and energy use efficiency in steers fed during winter, four forage-based diets that differ in protein content. The diets have been formulated to reflect the range of diets fed to backgrounding cattle in Western Canada.

Her mentor is Jeffrey Fitzpatrick-Stilwell, senior manager sustainability with McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada.

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