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Aug 25 - MOE Show, Bulkley Valley Exhibition, Smithers.
Sept 7 - BCHA Annual General Meeting Podollan Inn,
Salmon Arm 7.00 PM See Notice of meeting for details
Sept 8 - MOE Hereford Show, Salmon Arm 1 PM
Sept 8 - Banquet and Fun Auction - Sunwave Centre,
Salmon Arm, - please bring item for Fun Auction
Sept 9 - Bull Calf Jackpot Show , Salmon Arm sponsored
by North Bluff Farm and AMW Polled Herefords.
Sept 29 - Evergreen Show & Sale, Central Valley Exhibition
Grounds, Abbotsford.
The last few months have been tougher than most for our family and we would like to thank all our Hereford friends for their support.
It is my hope that we have strong support from our members at our AGM at Salmon Arm on Sept 7. We will be discussing whether on not we can host the 2009 Junior Bonanza and a vote on this question will be taken at the AGM.
The dinner on Sept 8 after the show in Salmon Arm is one of our major fundraisers so please be sure to bring an item to be auctioned off. There will be plenty of interesting and useful items, so you can start on your Christmas shopping. The dinner last year was excellent and we have engaged the same people to do it again this year. You can not go out for dinner anywhere and get a dinner like that for $25.
This summer we had three field days around the province that were well attended and everyone had a lot of fun. Thank you to the Peter family from Peter Herefords, Trevor and Janice Tapp at Copper T Ranch, and Dena and Albert Finlay of Finlay Farm for your hospitality and all the extra work you did to host the events. When we first brought up the idea of hosting field days these breeders stepped up to the plate right away. So again I thank you.
As I write this I am leaving for Newfoundland on a business trip so the push is on to get caught up, but we hope to see you all in Salmon Arm at our very important Annual General Meeting on Sept 7.
Murray Gore
Maureen Ziemer, President of the TVHC,(standing) thanks Albert & Dena Finlay for their hospitality I reported on the Field Days at Peter Herefords and Copper T Ranch in the BC Bull E Tin in the last Herd Sire issue. On July 28 Finlay Farm hosted the Thompson Valley Hereford Breeders Field Day at their new farm near Armstrong. It was a fun event with weight guessing, that was won by Simon Shaw, judging contest for both men and women and other item guessing games.
Don Raffan of Valley Auction placed the females and bulls and gave good reasons for his placings. A lot of visiting was done and this is really, of course, the highlight of any Field Day. A good time to catch up on the things happening in everyone’s life. Joan O’Brien, the hard working Secretary of the club helped Dena Finlay organize things so it was well run. All the Club members pitched in to make the day work, but of course, the main workload is placed on those who host the event, getting the tarps in place to ward off the heat and general cleanup before and after the day.
MOE SHOWS
The Agrifair at Abbotsford has just been completed on Aug 6 with Keith Altwasser of Lumby making the placings. In the female classes Triple Court Farm, Aldergrove took the grand champion spot with their senior champion cow/calf pair LC1 157K Ribstone Girl 81N and her calf 9T. Reserve grand champion female went to the junior champion, Thunder 28M Sabrina ET 177S, shown by Thunder Ridge Farms, Abbotsford.
Reserve senior champion was a cow/calf pair shown by Kensington Prairie Farm of Aldergrove called KMD 113N Replica Lady 4R. The reserve junior champion came from the Krause Family of South Alder Farm, Aldergrove on Highmark Neila 25S.
In the heifer challenge calf class sponsored by Kensington Prairie Farm, first and second place went to South Alder Farm. In the yearling challenge class Thunder Ridge Farms took first and second. While in the two year old class two exhibitors brought their heifers back to claim prize money. In first place was Tom Charlton of Kensington Prairie with KMD 4R 113N Replica Lady and South Alder Farm with SAF Roxie 134R.
The bull classes saw Triple Court Farm show their yearling bull TCF Kahlua Bullet 6S to the grand champion circle. The reserve grand champion honours went to Platinum Genetics Group of Surrey with PGG 44P Maximus ET 3T.
Premier Exhibitor and Premier Breeder banners both went to the Krause Family of South Alder Farm at Aldergrove.
This years AGM in Salmon Arm is an important one to attend as the decision will be made as to the hosting of the CHA AGM and Bonanza in 2009. In 2006 it was decided to “marry” the CHA AGM and Bonanza into one so we could celebrate Hereford Week in Canada. That year Manitoba hosted and did a great job. 2007 saw the Maritimes take on the task and from all reports it was a good event. In 2008 Alberta will be the host province and in 2009 it is BC’s turn at putting on Hereford Week in Canada. Many across Canada still remember the excellent job done by David & Jaymie Atkinson when we had the CHA AGM in Princeton. Instead of the Directors voting yea or nay on this matter it was decided to leave it to a vote at the AGM on Sept 7. This is your Association, so your thoughts and your vote are needed on this important decision. We hope you will plan on attending.
Keith Miller
Hereford Week in Canada, hosted by the Maritime Provinces, was held in Truro, Nova Scotia from July 31 to August 5, 2007. The pedigree committee met the first evening while the junior members and their families set up the barn and put all the cattle into tie outs.
Wednesday, August 1st saw the full board meeting under way at 8 am and Bonanza 2007 was up and running. Rocky Lister of Alberta needs special recognition as the farthest member to bring cattle as he and his father brought a cow calf pair in their stock trailer clear across the continent to participate in the National Junior Hereford Show. The hospitality was tremendous, the food was great and the kids and cattle put on a great show.
For those of us involved in governance, there were plenty of meetings including national board meetings on three separate days, National Provincial Workshop, Committee meetings for Herd Breed Improvement committee, as well as the Marketing, Show and Pedigree committees. On Thursday evening the board hosted a Bear pit session where members could ask any director questions on any subject of concern. A lively discussion was held and this format will defiantly be added again next year as it was very well received. Friday evening we all attended either the CJHA AGM or the CHA AGM. The later was well attended with over fifty members present.
Saturday was the open Junior National cattle show followed by the awards ceremony and banquet. BC was represented by our lone CJHA delegate, Morgan Godfrey. Morgan was awarded top Intermediate Showmanship honours and her bred heifer placed well in the open show, first winning her class, then being named Reserve Junior Bred Heifer Champion. In the Championship round the Senior and Junior Bred Heifer Champions were named Grand and Reserve Grand of the female show.
Sunday over fifty Hereford enthusiasts boarded a bus to tour Peggy's Cove and the Halifax waterfront and finally ended the eventful week with a barbeque at the Farm of Victor Oulton, who is our new CHA President for 2007-08. Wally Pugh, of Ontario, was named the new Vice-President for the same term. Next year Hereford week in Canada will be in Medicine Hat, Alberta on the 13th - 16th of August.
In no particular order the following points were the high lights of the meetings;
Continued difficulty with the computer conversion to the new service provider, ABRI of Australia, is the biggest issue we face internally. All four Canadian breeds, undergoing the same conversion at the same time, brought the ABRI Chairman to Calgary in early July to stress the need for speedy resolution of this matter. The severity of the situation was impressed upon him and we are beginning to see some results as more programming has been done and we are now able to provide many more services to our members. However, I caution all members that it will be early 2008, at the soonest, before we see things returning anywhere near normal as far as services and turn around of work from the office. As an example, up until two weeks ago, the office was unable to process any registration which required a semen certificate. Some thousands of dollars of work has backed up waiting for program changes so the staff can begin to move forward. A full time programmer will be stationed in the CHA office as of September 15th for 3 months and they will work to clear up all the remaining problems being experienced by the Hereford, Angus, Charolais and Maine-Anjou offices.
The existing on line system offered by the new service provider represented a step backward for our CHA members and office staff alike. This new system only really allowed for internet transfer of data in a batch format but still relied on staff input to enter the data into the system, generate reports or certificates, and verify all data. We have the ABRI team currently writing a new and improved version of the actual online system we had with Beef Alliance at the time of our switch in service providers. Rather than learn a whole new system for only this falls data we have elected to have all THE breeders submit paper records until the new and improved THE program is up and running next year. All THE breeders who sent in calving data this spring will shortly be receiving their weaning data submission sheets. If you need calving data submission sheets or herd inventory acceptance sheets, please contact Val at the office at 1-888-836-7242
Expect a new Hereford MPI to be published from Lethbridge in the very near future. This will be loaded on the system and MPI and EPD Reports will be printed and sent to all HBI breeders toward the end of this month. ABRI is currently studying how they will be able to produce our MPI and a proposed TPI index in the near future as is required in our contract with them.
Due to the protracted computer conversion and the realization that we will not have a functional online system in place before next year the directors have taken the position that all members will be notified in writing that everyone will need to use paper reporting for this fall AND because many breeders have held off registering their under six month calves while waiting for the online system to come back there will be a one time only age break on registering calves in the under six month category. My motion to allow all breeders to register 2007 born calves at the 6 month price of $15.00 plus GST providing all required paper work is in the office before Sept 30th was supported unanimously. What this essentially means is that calves born in January, February or March of this year can still be registered up to Sept 30, 2007 at the under 6 month rate. This is to cover all breeders who have procrastinated over doing the paper forms, waiting patiently for the online system which we expected to come online "any day".
The show committee recommended that in lieu of the computer difficulties 2007 Hereford calves can be shown in any MOE show (except the three national Shows) providing that they are correctly tattooed and registration has been "applied for".
Updates were received on the Hereford Verified Project of Ross MacDonald which will follow 200 steers through the system using their CCIA RFID tag to retrieve and share data along the production chain. Ross is our new Alberta and BC National Market Development Manager who was in attendance at the Smithers BC Cattleman's meeting.
We finalized a small trial with Kee Jim using Hereford steers of known pedigree in a net Feed Efficiency trial using the grow-safe technology. Early data indicates the Herefords in general excel at this trait but that there are some individuals who are not great and we need to identify those which have the most efficient gains in order to improve the bottom line in our industry by reducing feeding costs by as much as 30%.
The Show committee has designated the 2007 Farmfair Western National Hereford MOE Show as the first Non-aerosol Hereford show. Cattle can be fitted with any products which are not in aerosol cans so pump bottles and foggers are in but paint and glue are out. As the Supreme round is not part of the MOE show any Herefords advancing to the Supreme round can be fitted with any product so that Herefords will be competing with the same options as all other breeds in that portion of the show. The same will apply to those Herefords entered in the all breed shows such as the "Legends of the Fall".
The National Provincial Workshop was a good exchange of ideas and information. The tone of the meeting was very conciliatory as we all realize the difficulty our association is experiencing with the computer conversion. The Purebred Risk Assessment project was reviewed as was a situation analysis of the CHA and our Marketing strategy. BC's interests at the table were represented by me as well as two BC directors, Dave Atkinson and Everett Godfrey. We listened to each provinces successes for 2007 and plans for 2008. BC was commended on our initiative with our news letter which we distributed to all bull buyers, not just Hereford friendly bull buyers. As a result of our request the CHA marketing and communications department will be putting together twelve pages of articles around which each province can build their own news letter next year. We can sell our ads, put in provincial specific items such as dates and places, presidents message etc and distribute it in our home province and that way a common message will be getting out across the country yet the ads and some editorial will be locally significant.
In September at Salmon Arm at the BC AGM we can expect a seminar on "Understanding EPDs" to be given by a Geneticist as part of the CHA mandate to help educate our breeders. This seminar has been given at the Alberta, Saskatchewan and National AGM meetings so far. There is a possibility that the new CHA President, Victor Oulton, may be in attendance as Gordon Stephenson, our General Manager is expected to be recovering from a medical procedure at that time.
Lastly, there is one motion which I made to the board which has been tabled for more input before putting it to a vote in October. The motion reads, That the CHA annual dues for members between 21 and 30 years of age will be $50 ($25 to CHA and $25 to province of member) and this shall entitle said members to all privileges of a regular CHA membership including registering, transferring , THE performance recording and voting. The motion is intended to help those graduates from our CJHA program remain in the Hereford fraternity while they are attending postgraduate education, beginning a new career and possible even starting a family. If we can help young people stay with our breed as they mature this may mean that they will still be Hereford breeders when they either move back to the family farm or start a new herd of their own. For those who have started a family it maybe allows them to direct their children back into the CJHA program. If we as group of breeders can keep this youth and enthusiasm in our barn it will add fun and excitement which is sadly missing from our aged membership. I look at it as not a $1000 subsidy of their membership over ten years but as a great investment in our breed's future. If we can re-sign
those young people who have been so active in the CJHA movement in the past and allow them to develop their own programs within the confines of the CHA
it will be a win win for everyone. Can you imagine an expanding membership with young breeders involved? As Amanda Hiltz so aptly put it when asked if
the reduced membership would have helped her keep her membership while at school when she replied, " $150 was out of the question but I'm sure I could
have got Dad to spring for the $50"! The concept seems to have good acceptance but the fee and the age may take some more discussion before we get it right. Please give me your ideas on this subject by email at docdon@qcislands.net or phone me at 250-557-4348 or better yet, come to the AGM in Salmon Arm and we can discuss it amongst all the members.
In 2009 BC will be asked to host Hereford Week in Canada. The actual commitment is to host Bonanza 2009 as the CHA staff from Calgary will look after all the requirements to put on the CHA AGM at the Bonanza venue chosen by the BC membership. BC has a very good history of putting on successful Bonanzas in the past at both Abbotsford (twice) and Salmon Arm. Key to our success will be identifying the few individuals who will co-ordinate this project on behalf of our members who will no doubt work with great enthusiasm to make the event happen during the actual week we host the rest of Canada. If you are interested in being on that organizing committee please be at the AGM in Salmon Arm this September 7th to give your support.
Don Richardson CHA Director
June 16th saw members and friends from Williams Lake to Smithers travel to Fraser Lake to Trevor and Janice Tapp’s Copper-T Ranch for a Field Day. The weather co-operated in the morning as the folks enjoyed a presentation by Graeme Johnstone (founding member of the Yellowhead Club) on the prevalence and prevention of invasive weeds in the northwest. Attendees were able to examine the weeds as Denise McLean from the Ministry of Agriculture in Prince George and summer student Amy brought and discussed the live display that is part of the Northwest Invasive Plant Council education program.
After a hearty lunch and between thunderstorms and rainshowers, we headed off on a hayride to view some of the Copper-T cattle on pasture before traveling by mini-bus to Fort Fraser to Roland and Rosemary Beier’s Lone Fir Ranch. The bus kept us dry as we viewed the Beier’s well-bred straight Hereford commercial herd, and then it was another hayride to search for the Lone Fir yearling heifers. We were all duly impressed by Roland’s ability to back a tractor and trailer in reverse –quickly—to reach the shelter of a shop when a squall came up and tried to unsuccessfully dampen the spirits of the group. When the rain stopped, Roland gave us a demonstration of his sod to seed method of planting. The day ended back at Copper-T where Elsie Brigden of Quesnel was named the “top hand” at guessing the weights of a pen of yearling bulls.
A barbeque and draws for prizes provided by our sponsors ended a day of socializing and fun for all who attended. As the attendees headed off on their long drives home, many folks talked about the need to do make this an annual event.
Janice Tapp
The West Coast Hereford Field Day held at the Peter Herefords Farm was a great success. The weather co-operated and although we did get some rain, had time for the judging and outside activities with out showers.
It was encouraging to have many visitors from other breeds and a great turn out for this field Day.
It was a great social and show, with 16 calves in the Heifer class and 15 Bull calves. Thanks to the judge who had a difficult time placing the top two in each division. Triple Court – champion heifer and Murphy Ridge – reserve. In the bull class Coppertone – champion and Peter Herefords reserve.
The West Coast Hereford club is excited about it’s 39th Evergreen Sale. We are looking forward to a great sale in September and need your support in order to make this change in date a success. We need your entry form returned by the deadline on the entry and encourage all breeders to give their entry serious thought. We are expecting this fall sale will give buyers a selection of high quality cattle from our breeders.
We are also adding a Prospect Steer entry to the 2007 sale to attract 4 H members to come to the sale for their project steers for 2008. Read the entry form carefully.
The entry forms for this sale can be returned by fax to Daryl Kirton at 604856-5749
Any questions Daryl can be reached on his cell phone at 604 855-2287.
Thank you,
Daryl Kirton
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