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Feb 17 - Pine Butte Ranch Bull Sale - Kamloops, BC Sale time 1 PM
5 Two Year Old Bulls selling
Mar 24 - Copper Creek Ranch Spring Bull Sale - Kamloops, BC 1 PM
40 to 50 Bulls selling
Mar 31 - Peace River All Breeds Bull Sale, Dawson Creek
Apr 13 - Yellowhead Hereford Club AGM at Vanderhoof
Apr 14 - Vanderhoof Bull Sale, Vanderhoof Stockyards, Vanderhoof
Apr 19/20 - Williams Lake Show & Sale, Williams Lake Stockyards, Williams Lake
70th Annual Show & Sale
Show Apr 19 - Sale April 20
Show & Sale order Angus, Herefords, All Other Breeds, Simmental
Show starts 1 PM Thurs 19th Sale starts 11 AM Friday 20th
July 28 - Thompson Valley Hereford Breeders Field Day at Finlay Farm, 1952 Rashdale Road, Armstrong
Starting at 2 PM. Dinner at 5, bring salads and desserts
August 5 - Central Valley Exhibition MOE Show, Abbotsford
Aug 25 - Bulkley Valley Exhibition MOE Show, Smithers
Sept 2 - Interior Provincial Exhibition, Armstrong
Sept 7 - BC Hereford Association AGM, Salmon Arm 7 PM Location TBA
Sept 8 - Salmon Arm Fair MOE Show, Salmon Arm Show time 1 PM
Fall Sale Dates to be announced for Copper Creek Ranch Production Sale and Evergreen Sale.
The weather has been extreme in many areas and I hope that every one pulled through the storms with very little damage. 2007 is upon us, and many of you are now into calving. With a New Year comes hope and optimism for the coming months.
Hope and optimism will not convert into higher prices. Whether you sell your bulls privately or have them consigned to one of the many spring bull sales, the only way you will increase your bottom line is to get out and hustle. It has been proven over and over again that it pays breeders to call previous bull buyers and contact prospective buyers met over the last year or even a few years ago. Let them know what you have for sale this year. Gone are the days when you could consign an animal to a sale and not contact one prospective buyer and still sell for a decent price.
This year the BCHA will be trying a few different things, such as mailing out a commercial issue of our newsletter, which many of you will be called upon to advertise in. It will be in colour and will be mailed out to a large number of commercial producers. Along with the ads will be a lot of good articles and information. If it is a success we will see if it could be an annual publication. We ask for your support by buying advertising space. The Marketing and Promotion Committee is spearheading this project and the committee members are Ross Springford (250)468-7520, Ed Conroy (250)365-3270, Daryl Kirton (604)856-5755, Don Richardson, (250)557-4348 and Murray Gore (604)951-2306. You can contact any of the committee or Keith Miller for information.
If you have bulls for sale this spring be sure to start calling your customers NOW. If we are going to out sell the other breeds we have to out work them. Thank you for promoting Herefords.
Murray Gore
Your President Murray Gore has suggested that we produce a commercial newsletter to go out by early March, before the bull sale season. The Directors have made a motion to agree to this proposal and one of your Directors will be phoning shortly to see if you wish to place an ad in this promotion. It will be four colour and will include information on Herefords that will be in fashion all year long. There will be extra copies printed for distribution at the various fairs and field days planned for the year.
The outside back cover will be going up for tender and if you wish to bid on that space you will need to contact Keith Miller at keithmiller@telus.net by February 14 with your bid. All bids will be kept in strictest confidence and all bidders will be informed as to the outcome.
The cost of a one of a one page four colour ad will be $300 with any set up charges extra at seven percent. A half page ad will cost $165 plus 7 % setup charge and a quarter page will be $95 plus 7 % for setup. If you want to avoid the setup charge please submit the ad in a PDF file or on a hard copy ready to shoot. If any extra work needs to be done on your ad the setup charge will be added to your invoice.
If you do not hear from your Director regarding this promotion and want to be a part of the program, please contact Keith Miller no later than Feb 17.
This is one of the best strategies undertaken by the Canadian Hereford Association for twenty years. We need to get information to our commercial customers that Herefords can do the job for them and are efficient feeders.
In the mid to late eighties Keith Coates started out doing this but it was not called NMDP at the time, merely commercial fieldman. Keith had been President of the CHA and could see the need for someone to contact commercial customers on a full time basis and so Keith spent a lot of time calling on commercial breeders in Canada. He had the personality to sell himself as well as the Hereford breed. Keith's dream was to be able to merchandise Hereford Beef in a Supermarket and so he approached Safeway to do a couple of promotions in Western Alberta or Eastern BC. Two stores were selected for a trial run. Keith would source Hereford beef from small packing houses willing to work with him and who would age the beef by hanging. They would get it to the outlet the day of the promotion. He got local breeders to come in and hang around to help promote Herefords. A lot of work and organization was needed to put the whole event over. He had hoped that CHA would be able to have a branded beef program, but as we all know those programs cost a lot of money to get off the ground and to maintain. CHA was not large enough financially and even the American Hereford Association is finding it a drain to keep their program going, but are managing to do so.
Our NMDP Manager position has evolved from a one man show. It is practically impossible for one man to properly service all of Canada, especially if you have a small family as Lyle Roberts did. It is nice to see the kids play hockey or figure skate once in a while. After a couple of attempts at a one man show, the position has been made into two divisions. One man will do Sask and east and one for Alberta and BC. Possibly the future will see a person for Ontario and eastern Canada. This will be a little different setup than before, as it is on a contract basis and not salary. Our GM Gordon Stephenson has made some good changes since taking the helm of CHA and is constantly looking for ways to promote the breed. Our man for BC and Alberta will be Ross MacDonald from Lake Alma, SK where he has a commercial Hereford operation. Ross has a Masters degree in Animal Science and we look forward to him visiting with BC ranchers.
I made an error in the last newsletter on the tattoo letter. As you will now by now from you CHA this years tattoo letter is "T" for Thomas, Tango or Terrified. Take your pick but use the letter "T".
Arrangements have been made by CHA to have Sean McGrath, who does our EPD work, come to our BCHA Annual General Meeting in Salmon Arm to give us a run down of why we should be using EPD numbers. Whether we want to agree or not EPD data does work and more and more commercial buyers are asking for it. The ranchers I talk to are tired of having lazy, big Hereford calves that do not get up right away and they need to help it suck or something.. They usually have big EPD numbers. In a lot of cases the man has an off the farm job and the wife looks after calving and we all know when Momma is unhappy, we are all unhappy. LADIES, please do not phone or email, that was my attempt at sick humour.
If you have not yet checked out the new BC Hereford website please do so. It is www.bchereford.com . The young fellow who did it for us is looking to set up his own website company. We think he did a very professional job for us at a reasonable cost. To set it up with us supplying copy and pictures we were charged $646.83 including GST . To work on the site after it is up and running he will charge $27.50 per hour, a fee that in my opinion is reasonable. His name is Robert Flyman and he lives in Abbotsford. His email address is rflyman@shaw.ca . If you think you would like a website give him a call as he would be only too willing to help you out.
Bonanza will be coming our way in about three years so no it is time to start getting our young people involved and working. The Juniors have produced a video and CHA will be offering any 4-H member who showed a Hereford or Hereford influence project in 2006 a free Junior membership and activation fee for 2007. The BC Hereford Association will pay the activation fee for any present Junior member for 2007 to even things up. If you qualify and want to have your Junior activation fee paid for 2007 contact Katelin Wildeman at CHA office before the end of February. AND if you know of any 4-H member who qualifies for a free Junior membership we need to know. It has been announced that Katelin will be leaving the employ of CHA . We will miss her and good people are hard to find.
Capri Insurance have been long time supporters of the Hereford breed through sponsorships and advertising. They are also the official insurance brokers for the Canadian Hereford Association and Provincial Associations. If you need insurance why not give Capri a chance to quote on your business. Happy Herefords and good calving.
Keith Miller
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