Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Angus - Champion of the World 2013 Competition

The "Angus - Miss North America 2013" and "Angus - Miss World 2013" title was won by DMM Blackcap Essence 7Y. She was also the 2013 Canadian Western Agribition Grand Champion. This win gives Miller Wilson Angus of Bashaw, Alberta, Canada, back to back "Angus - Miss North America" and "Angus - Miss World" success.




The "Angus - Champion of North America 2013" and "Angus - Champion of the World 2013" title was also won by a Canadian entry. Red Wilbar Longitude 646Y, owned by Redrich Farms of Forestburg, Alberta, Canada. He was named 2013 Canadian Western Agribition Supreme Champion Bull as well as Canadian Naitional Champion Bull at Edmonton Farm Fair.


The "Angus - Champion of the World 2013" Competition took place between December 1-7, 2013 on www.angusbreeder.net and Facebook's "Angus Breeder" page.

Black and red Angus entries from 43 different countries were evaluated by judges from 30 different countries. 

This is a unique event showcasing genetics from literally every corner of the globe. The initiative creates awareness, builds goodwill and encourages international trade. 


The official judges were:
1. Hector Bonomi (Uruguay)
2. Harley van Rhyn (South Africa)
3. Henrik Andersen (Denmark)
4. Bill Biglieni (Canada)
5. The General Public (Representing 30 different countries)

Each of the five judges' rankings made up 20% of the final results.


For a complete list of classes and results, please visit www.angusbreeder.net

Congratulations to Miller Wilson Angus and Redrich Farms!



Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Monday, December 9, 2013

Fall Highlights from the Field Staff

As southern Alberta remains in the nasty grip of winter, we'd like to share some highlights from our field staff during the fall sale season:

Yorkton Harvest Showdown
courtesy of Laird Senft


   
    
Clockwise from left: Mel Solveson of Wynyard, SK winning the Reserve Champion Pen of Three; Cathy Pillar of Grenfell winning the Princess Classic with a commercial Red Angus influence heifer calf; Dave Farell of Yorkton, SK winning the Champion Pen of Five; Wayne Bircham of Piapot, SK winning the Champion Pen of Three.

The Grain Millers Harvest Showdown was held at Yorkton, SK October 31-November 2. This was the 25th Anniversary for this show. The show is treated as a commercial cattle show with all cattle being shown on the loose from pens. The “Angus Tag” class was for bred heifers only, the first of its kind in Canada and although small for the first year, it was very well received and there has already been talk about having it again next year. There was one pen of five bred heifers and six pens of three heifers. Twenty-three bred heifers averaged $1,672.40.


Report from Ontario
Courtesy of Matt Bates

On August 31 I attended the Autumn Angus Classic sale in Hanover, Ontario. This sale featured both red and black cattle. 77 live lots grossed $220,325 to average $2,861. There was keen buyer interest at this sale with some elite cows and bred heifers on offer. Blacks sold exceptionally well with a somewhat softer market for red Angus genetics. High seller was Soo Line Pride 0404 consigned by Gold-Bar Livestock, and purchased by Bushbeck Angus Ranch for $8.600.

On September 15 I attended the Brampton Preview Gold show in Brampton, Ont. The day started with the Ontario Junior Angus Show in the morning prior to the open show. With nearly 50 juniors pre-entered in the competition, it was a sight to be seen. There were also some incredible photos, scrapbooks, and marketing pieces on display. Congratulations to all Juniors for doing your association proud. The open show commenced in the afternoon, and it was judged by Dwight Koyle, who runs a 60 cow, purebred Limousin and Simmental operation at Iona Station, Ontario. $2,500 was awarded to both the top female and the top bull. This award was sponsored by Vos Vegas Farms in honour of the late Ross Bailey. Congratulations to Kemp Bros Farm for exhibiting Champion bull with Kemp Brothers All The Way 8A and Worth-Mor Cattle Company for exhibiting the champion female with WMC Shakura 4Y.

October 5 took me to the Eastern Extravaganza sale at Curraghdale Cattle Co. in Uxbridge, Ontario. Here 61 live lots grossed $185,600 to average $3,042. The sale featured Black Angus cows, heifer calves, and bred heifers, with no bulls on offer. High seller was a bred heifer: Kemp Bro’s Ms Zara 5Z consigned by Kemp Bros Farms and purchased by LLB Angus for $6,000. It is also worth noting that the maternal sister to the supreme champion female at Brampton sold in this sale: Worth-Mor Shakura 3A. She demanded $4700, selling to Evan Fox. It was a beautiful facility with tremendous hospitality.

On October 6 I travelled to Blackstock, Ontario for the Autumn Tradition Angus Sale at Maple Line Farms. 55 Black Angus Lots grossed $127,875 to average $2,459. This sale featured a large offering of herd bull prospects, several cow-calf pairs and some yearling heifers. High seller was Southview Favourite 12Y consigned by Southview Farms and purchased by LLB Angus for $4,300. This was a well-attended sale on a very wet day!

It has been an honour to travel on behalf of the association this fall. I look forward to continuing to see our membership at major shows, sales, and events.  


BC Update
Courtesy of Jack Brown

The month of October started with a request from a commercial breeder in the Fraser Valley for 20 Red Angus heifer calves. I gave him the number of some breeders that I had contacted, in the end he bought some red heifers at the Williams Lake Sale.

On October 22, I was in Kamloops for the calf sale, 2400 head of cattle were on offer that day. The prices were steady, 6 weight calves ranged from $1.50-1.60. The jacket draw was won by Inter Valley Angus of Chilliwack. The sale was well attended with at least 6 buyers bidding on the cattle.

Williams Lake
The sale in Williams Lake is always a feature sale as it is always lead off by the Gang Ranch calves. They are very uniform calves; the weight on 3 drafts only varied 8 pounds. The sale yard was bulging at the seams as they sold 4,000 head of cattle over 2 days. The jacket was won by Gordon and Sandra Fouty from west Quesnel. The crowd was small, but it was forever changing which gave me the opportunity to visit with several ranchers.

Vanderhoof
On to Vanderhoof for the sale on October 25. This sale was a presort sale of 3100 of calves only. The sale started with the first lot of 262 head of steer calves that weighed 488 pounds and sold for $1.71. Once again the yard was full and this created a few penning problems. Once again the price was strong and holding. The jacket winner was Jim & Louise Feragan of Prince George.

The sale at OK Falls on October 28 saw 1140 head of cattle with some outstanding calves. Once again it was a beautiful day, which made it very pleasant for the penners. The jacket winner there was Fossen Air Ltd. Doug Fossen being the recipient.


Quebec Report
Courtesy of Cynthia Jackson

On October 23 I went to the auction mart in La Guadeloupe loaded with CAA coffee cups for the early birds. I received a warm welcome and proceeded to introduce myself to the staff and buyers. La Guadeloupe is the smaller auction house of the three and youngest in the Angus feeder sales, but it has an enthusiastic outlook of being able to market Angus/Angus influence calves. There were a few pens of F1’s and black hided cattle but the green tags were not abundant this day. The onlookers and cattle producers present also welcomed my attendance and I gave out a few business cards which did result in later phone inquiries on green tags and Angus membership. I found it to be a very educational and interesting day.

October 24 I headed for Sawyerville. Arriving before the bidding I set up the rollup, introduced myself and made a tour of the facilities. Approximately 1,800 head went through the auction that day and I noticed a significant number of Angus/Angus influence calves mostly showing their green tags. I was accompanied by Hugh Ross for a portion of the sale and we were advised of 2 other Angus cow and heifer sales coming up in the near future at this auction mart.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Last Day in New Zealand



Our last scheduled day in New Zealand was certainly a highlight! We saw two of the leading Angus breeders' cow herds, lush pastures and even a century-old home that was an absolute masterpiece. After great views and hospitality we ended the day with some competitive go-kart races that were anything but gentle. We found out who will and won't be allowed to drive home from the airport as some should not!  
 

Posted by Chad Lorenz
Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Free Falls and Farm Tours


The morning greeted an extremely tired team who hopped onto a bus. We went from Rotorua towards rocks n' ropes. This was about an hour drive. Once there we climbed a series of large hydro poles and walked across them high up in the air. For the finale we all jumped off a huge swing. Everyone had some interesting reactions when they first started to free fall. It took a few hours for everyone to go through and then we hopped on the bus again.

It was a 4.5-hour drive to our next destination (Wanganui). There we toured the Ranui Angus stud. They run around 3,000 sheep and 200 cows. We got to see a couple pens of yearling heifers, and we also got to see their sheep dogs herd about 40 sheep. Then we got to each drive in these dune buggies they had that cost over 100,000$ each. The owners drove them straight across the side of steep hills, and they managed to keep their balance. They were incredible machines, and its hard to believe the size of hills that they could climb.

 
After our tour there, we moved up the road to his father's place and saw a couple pens of yearling heifers there as well. We also saw his sale facility where they have two purebred sales a year. It was an incredible facility, and they had an even more incredible handling system out back. From there it was just a short drive to the hotel. We ate dinner right at the hotel, and then it was early to bed for a very tired team.




Posted by Matt Bates
Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

World Champions



Yesterday we began the day listening to speakers on nutrition and what they felt was the proper way to live our lives, with more red meat and naturally grown foods being the answer. We then had the quick fire competition where we all competed at once. The categories ranged from WAF Donation Heifers to general knowledge like what day Christmas is this year. Teams were told at the beginning that there were 30 points between 1st place and last place, with a potential 200 points up for grabs. Correct answers got you 4 points. The wrong answers were -2. All three Canadian teams did very well in the categories. 

Once the competition was over we had a quick break for afternoon tea while they tallied the points. With the excitement mounting they began to announce the individual winners. Ruby Wright from the United Kingdom team was third, Nick Herries from the New Zealand Whites was second and our very own Matt Bates was named the Champion Overall. Mr. Richard Rowe, the NZ Junior Angus Youth Program chairman, commented on how good of a job he did on stock judging. After the individual awards were done they began the team awards.


The third place teams were New Zealand Whites and New Zealand Blacks teams. Our own B Squared team was second, and the Canucks were announced as the World Champions! 


Once we were finished at the Energy Centre we left for the YHA where we got ready for that night's events. Before leaving, the 40 competitors gathered to show thanks to the organizers for all their hard work and we presented them with a small gift. The PGG Whrightsons World Angus Forum 2013 came to a close with a delicious steak dinner and the world Angus song sung by Willie McLaren. Mexico and Scotland gave presentations for the upcoming Secretariat (2015) and World Angus Forum (2017). The Johnny's rounded out the night for entertainment as a tribute to Johnny Cash.
 


Posted by Sean Enright
Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

150 Year Celebration



Tuesday was our last day at the Agrodome show grounds just outside Rotorua. It was a sad day as we cleaned out the barn and said goodbye to our heifers. Some of them were going back to their stud and some were moving on to new homes after being sold the night before. Thanks to Atahua, Turiroa and Kakahu for providing heifers for the Canadian teams.

We then had a break before giving a short presentation to a panel of judges on a topic of our choice. The Canadian teams did every well with all three teams placing in the top four and the Eh team coming out on top.

We then had to get freshened up for the 150th Anniversary dinner of Angus in New Zealand. It was an amazing display of entertainment and culinary prowess. We were treated to a traditional Maori Hakka while a Scottish pipe band played. This symbolized the harmonization of the Aberdeen Angus cattle in the New Zealand environment. There were then several impressive speakers who summarized the history of Angus in New Zealand. The night was capped off by our fellow competitor Max Tweedie with an uplifting speech about the future of Angus.


The competition wraps up tomorrow with a rapid fire question round. Wish us luck!



Posted by Patrick Holland
Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The Agri Nightmare



Well it was an eventful day today. We started off the day by working on the heifers and making sure the stalls were presentable. At 9:00 am we began what they called the agrimodules. There were five challenges including things such as calibrating a drill, cooking a New Zealand snack, sorting sheep, and driving an array of machinery. We managed to get through most of these challenges with smiles on our faces. Especially when team members ripped their pants or poured the oral drench down the back, because, well, it should just be like Ivomec, right? 


Next we paraded the heifers in front of all the delegates, and prepared the heifers for the sale. 


Before the sale though we all got to experience the Agri nightmare, and to some of us it was just that... a nightmare. We had to chop some wood, hang a gate, run electric fence, de-bone a carcass, and run water pipes to a water trough and sprinkler. While most of this seems pretty straightforward, this was all a timed event which added the nightmare part. 

Once this was finished it was sale time. All the heifers sold well and we are guessing the sale averaged around $5,000 New Zealand dollars. The supper after the sale was the best meal yet serving Prime Rib and an assortment of other meats and vegetables. 

Overall it was a great day and the Canadian teams are confident we are in the running for the 1st place prize!



Posted by Kaitlynn Bolduc
Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca