31,000 kilometers

As Erin and I sit here in the office writing our final blog entry it is hard to believe that our four month term as interns has come to a close. It has been a busy summer but we wouldn’t have it any other way. We believe that throughout the summer we have really helped to make an impact in the areas of Angus promotion and beef education. Together we have attended 28 shows and 18 schools, traveling  more than 31,000 kilometers and reaching over 115,000 people. To say this summer has been eventful would be an understatement but we have very much enjoyed promoting the Angus breed and have learned so much from the intern position.

“For me it was so great to see kids get excited about our junior programs. A lot of kids that I talked to were unaware of many of the great things that we offer through the CJAA. Things like our exchange trips, summer job program and Showdown were a huge hit with the youth that I talked too. As someone who has personally benefited from these junior programs it is great to see the next generation of juniors excited and hopefully beginning to get involved.” Stacey

When I asked Erin about what she found to be most enjoyable from the summer she replied, “I loved everything about the summer intern program. There was such a wide variety of experiences that I gained from this it is hard to narrow it down to one thing. For me though it would have to be the school visits which I enjoyed the most! Getting to see kids who are not already involved in the Angus industry and 4-H becoming excited about it was awesome.I have been a part of so many junior organizations and know firsthand the benefits that you can gain from it. Seeing kids wanting to take part in it is just great. Overall, it was an amazing summer and everything that I did and every event I attended I learned something new. I am so happy that I got this experience from the Canadian Angus Association and encourage all juniors to apply for it!”

The last few days we have been in the office working on our final project as Angus interns. We have used footage and pictures from this summer and past Canadian junior Angus functions to create a video promoting our junior association. Be sure to check it out and feel free to use it for promotional purposes and to share it with your friends and fellow Angus enthusiasts. 

 

This summer has been amazing.  It has been great to work with the Canadian Angus Association staff, they really are second to none and fantastic people to work with. We have had so many great opportunities to travel and promote the value of Angus to fellow juniors. We hope to see an increase in juniors showing Angus and also being involved with the junior Angus programs.

Watch for the CAA summer internship application to be coming out late this fall for the summer of 2013. Contact CAA direct of Communications Cassie Dorran for more information.  

Posted by Stacey Domolewski Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Stampede, Summer Synergy and Showdown: 15 Days in the Life of an Intern

It is hard to believe that the summer is almost over! It has been a busy one, but I think Erin would agree, a fantastic one for us interns. I couldn’t possibly think of a better way to spend my summer than promoting our Angus breed. Since Erin’s last blog post the two of us have been extremely busy. We spent almost all 10 days of Calgary stampede at the grounds in the Cattle Trail talking to both producers and providing beef education to people who were unfamiliar with the beef industry. It was a very rewarding experience for me to be able to share my love of both the beef industry and the Angus industry. I was surprised to talk to a lot of international visitors who were very interested in Angus cattle in Canada and even importing Canadian genetics.

I took two days off of Stampede which I got to spend at the Alberta 4-H provincial heifer show and at Summer Synergy. I helped to marshal the Angus class at Synergy and got a chance to talk to lot of young Angus enthusiasts. It is always great to see so many young cattle people excited about their industry.  Angus cattle were well represented with the most cattle there of any breed. Congratulations to all the participants who qualified to exhibit cattle at Calgary Stampede and to those who received Calgary Stampede scholarships.

After Stampede, I spent two days in the office helping to send out spring calving season packages and then Rob and I flew out to Lindsay, Ontario, for Showdown. The Canadian Junior Angus Association board did a fantastic job on this show. It was the biggest ever with the most cattle and most juniors. Despite the large numbers, things ran very smooth. It was nice to see so many new faces and hopefully these juniors will continue to come out to our junior events. 

As you can see, my July has been very busy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was great to see so many of my fellow Angus breeders and to talk to others who were interested in the Angus breed. Great seeing everyone in Bashaw at the Alberta Junior Angus Show!

Posted by Stacey  Domolewski, feedback at cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Herd names and use of registered herd name in each animal name becomes effective Jan. 1, 2013

I know some of you are questioning how the new rule about ‘mandatory Herd Names and animal naming’ affects you.  Please read on for this explanation.

Please let me share with you this motion made by the CAA Board of Directors during their October, 2011 Board Meeting:

RESOLUTION 2011-92

To accept the Registrar’s Recommendations 3 (Make the registration of a herd name mandatory), 4 (Make it mandatory to use the registered herd name in each animal name) and 5 (Make the placement of the registered herd name standardized to be the prefix of the calf name (after the word RED if the calf has red coat colour), so that the herd of origin is always identifiable).

And so what this means to you as CAA members is this:

1.    Effective January 1^st, 2013, each member of the CAA must register, as a Board mandated mandatory requirement, a herd names.

2.    Further, and also as of January 1^st, 2013, it will be mandatory to use the registered herd name in each animal name. The placement of the registered herd name will also be standardized to be the prefix of the calf name, so that the herd of origin is always identifiable.

Now, to avoid confusion, let’s consider Hamilton Farms of Cochrane, Alberta, as an example.  Rob and Gail’s operation is called “Hamilton Farms”; this is the actual CAA Member(ship) Name.  Their herd name, and this is what adorns each and every animal they register (unless owned in partnership because those animals, then, have a differing Herd Name), is HF.  Finally, their registered tattoo letters (also referred to as Herd Letters) are HAMI, although each of their sons has their own tattoo letters (Wyatt has WYAT, Wacey has WACE, and Joel has JHF) and they, too, use the Herd Name “HF” as the prefix for every animal they register since their membership are affiliated with the ‘master’ membership which is “Hamilton Farms”.  The practice of junior members, or affiliate ‘herds’ using the same Herd Name will remain through the enactment of this new policy because they do include a registered, and, if this case, shared, Herd Name.

Starting January 1^st, 2013, every member of the Canadian Angus Association will have to have a registered Herd Name which will be used as the first component of every single animal you register, unless the animal is red in colour; for those animals, the word “Red” will continue to appear as the first part of your registered animal’s name, followed by your Herd Name.  So the Herd Name will appear before the bull or cow family name on all registration certificates printed from January 1^st, 2013 onward.

Let’s look at another example.  Lee and Dawn Wilson (Miller Wilson Angus) have the registered Herd Name DMM which they have also registered as their Herd Letters, or tattoo letters.  So any Miller Wilson animal you see has both the registered prefix, as well as the tattoo letters, DMM.  Now they also have three children whose CAA member names are Ty Wilson (Miller Wilson Angus), Dakota Wilson (Miller Wilson Angus) and Jaelayne Wilson (Miller Wilson Angus) using, in order, the following Herd Letters (or tattoo letters) DMMT, DMMD and DMMJ.  Like the Hamilton family mentioned above, each of Lee and Dawn’s children register their animals with the Herd Name “DMM” and use their specific Herd Letters for each animal’s specific, individualized tattoo.

In reality, this decision impacts less than 10% of the total number of animals registered in a year with the Canadian Angus Association; about 100 members currently do not have a registered Herd Name, however approximately 60% of these memberships are Junior accounts who currently use their parent’s Herd Name but have never had it officially registered, which we require that they do.  For those who don’t have a registered Herd Name, the Board has decided you must have one to assist with branding and designating your animals as YOURS and to assure that those registering cattle must adhere to the breed association standard.  This will preclude people from naming an animal “Super”, for example, because there is already someone whose registered Herd Name is “Super”.  One of the outcomes of this decision is that, so long as you use your Herd Name then anything can be used as the name of the animal after it and this confusion will be avoided.  Ensuring placement of your Herd Name at the beginning of the registered animal’s name will be the herd of origin identifier and anything after that will be considered the animal’s name.  For example  after January 1^st, 2013, based on the real life examples above, we could register an animal from Lee and Dawn Wilson (Miller Wilson Angus)’s herd as DMM HF 12Z.

We believe the mandatory Herd Name and mandatory use of such will lead to greater efficiency and speedier turnaround time in achieving your registration.  During an 18-month period in 2010 and 2011, the Registry Department sent out 9,187 Requests for Information (RFIs) regarding use of herd names and calf names; we estimate these will almost entirely be alleviated by the implementation of this Board decision.

If you have any questions about the January 1^st, 2013 implementation of the required Herd Name, please contact any of the friendly and helpful CAA employees in our Registry Department: Stacy Price, Shirley Anderson or Ciara Buchanan; Technical Services Director Cheryl Hazenberg; Breed Development Director Kajal Devani; Office Administrator Joanelle Fuellbrandt; or Michael or myself.  We are all committed to answering your questions, helping you to understand the process and getting you fixed up with a Herd Name right away if you are one of the CAA members in need of one!

Posted by Rob Smith Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Staff visit to American breed associations, CAB and Beef Profit Alliance

I (Cheryl Hazenberg, CAA Director of Technical Services) have just arrived home in Calgary after a tour which included visits with three American breed Associations, the largest branded beef program in the world and a few days at the Beef Profit Alliance, and I can honestly say I haven't gotten much sleep over the past week. But, I've seen a lot of things and met some wonderful people who work for and with our counterparts to the south. 

The Red Angus Association of America and the American Simmental Association hosted the Beef Profit Alliance in Manhattan, Kansas, this past week.  "The little apple" as Manhattan is known as is also the home to Kansas State University who were the hosts for the conference and put on a fantastic, thought provoking couple of days.  Not only did we get to visit with RAAA and ASA staff but we also participated in seminars, farm tours and discussions with purebred and commercial producers representing both Associations.  

 

Rob, Brian and I headed from there to the American Angus Association's head office in St Joseph, Missouri.  A place that is steeped in history and pride for the Angus breed, the opportunity to meet some of the staff there and visit with them was inspiring and the collection of Angus art on display in their office alone is worth the trip to the beautiful city of St Jo.  If you can make it, there is no reason not to head about 35 minutes south to visit the American Angus Hall of Fame which is exactly what we did. What a collection of Angus history under one roof!

Our trip wasn't over yet, and after a short flight from Kansas City to Cleveland, the next stop was Wooster, Ohio, home of the Executive Office of Certified Angus Beef.  We had the opportunity to meet with the staff of both CAB offices (their other office is in Manhattan, Kansas) and tour their facility. 

The photo below is of us and Emily Agle, Executive Account Manager for Eastern Canada outside CAB's new Education and Culinary Centre.  From Cleveland we came back to Calgary with new insight, ideas and a great appreciation for the moisture we have had at home this year.

Posted by Cheryl Hazenberg Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Half Way There: An Interns First Two Months

I cannot believe that the summer is already over half way done! Only a couple more months and us interns will be back in University hitting the books.

                 After Paradise Valley I continued my travels up to Spiritwood for two days attending their regional show. I ringed the show alongside judge Tyler Libke. Also, I helped to judge the club displays which was a challenge in itself as they all had great displays set up. The two day event wrapped up with a successful sale that was said to be above average for any of their other years.

Ambassador Competitors and Micheal Latimer

                 Next on my list was Convention and we all know how fun that was! I got to compete in the Ambassador competition with four lovely ladies. HUGE congratulations to my fellow intern Stacey Domolewski on receiving this honor. This was the first time that I ever competed in the Ambassador competition and needless to say it was an amazing experience!

                Towards the end of June is when I started getting very busy! I attended the Moose Jaw Regional show the second last weekend in June! It was an amazing weekend with some quality cattle being shown and a lot of Angus or Angus influence cattle. Once again I judged the stall display competition, I think that I am getting to be a pro at this! There were five clubs there and they all had very attractive displays so my work was definitely cut out for me. Overall, it was a weekend filled with fun and good times for all the 4-H members there.

                 The next three days saw me in the office working with Belinda and Ruth putting together the finishing touches for our Saskatchewan Gold and Junior show. All I have to say about that few days is WOW! There is a ton of work that goes into those shows last minute. We all need to give Belinda a pat on the back for what she does for the Saskatchewan Angus and Junior Angus Associations!!

                That weekend I attended Frontier Days in Swift Current. This weekend is always very fun and there were a lot of good cattle being shown there by 4-H’ers. It was unbelievably hot there during this show, as it always seems to be. Needless to say after Sunday afternoon and not wearing sunscreen all weekend I got burnt! All of my loving friends who were in attendance of this show nick named Rudolph. The weekend all in all was enjoyed by all and the reserve champion steer brought a whopping $8.00/lb!

                I had a couple days at home in Regina then packed up and headed to Yorkton for our Saskatchewan Gold and Junior show. Everyone was a little nervous going into it without having Belinda in attendance. Her son was playing ball in the States so that obviously trumped the Gold Show. The junior component of the show saw a lot of juniors in attendance who had never came to our Saskatchewan Junior show before which was great to see. We all had fun and I am sure that we gained a few more regular Saskatchewan Junior Angus members. The Gold show also went well with no mistakes or mix ups! The two days went very smoothly and we successfully pulled it off without having Belinda there to depend on.

Rancher Endorsed Day at Convention

                Currently Stacey and I are calling the Port O’Call Best Western in Calgary home as we attend the Calgary Stampede. We are working the cattle trail and it has been quite the experience so far. I have worked one day and it was interesting to see the extreme difference between what the people know about cattle.  I am excited to be a part of the 100^th Stampede and am looking forward to the next few days here!

Posted by Erin Toner Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Schools, 4-H, Convention and more: summer intern progress

 

 As our Canadian Angus National Convention has wound down in Lethbridge, it is once again my turn to report on  my activity as an intern. Since I last blogged, I have been extremely busy with 4-H shows and sales along with school visits. Once again the school visits have been very well received. I have been to five other schools, and one of them I even sent two days talking to all of the grade 4 and 5 classes. The kids are very excited to learn about how beef cattle are raised and what it takes to take care of them. The kids are also very excited to learn about our junior programs. It continues to amaze me that even at such a young age they are all so interested in the summer job and exchange programs. I have even had a lot of interest from kids who didn’t live on farms but were still wondering if they could attend our programs.

June is show and sale month in Alberta, and I have spent a large amount of my time on the road attending seven shows in eight days at the beginning of June. The enthusiasm of 4-Hers has been high at all of the shows that I have attended with lots of interest in the heifer project. I am finding that a lot of the younger 4-H members really like the idea of the heifer project. They like that they can keep her and continue to show her. At 4-H shows, I also talk to kids about our programs offered by the CJAA and have handed out many registration forms. Most of the kids are unaware of the large number of programs that we offer and were very interested in continuing to develop the cattle knowledge that they have gained through 4-H in the CJAA. The last show that I attended was the southern Alberta regional l 4-H breeding show, for this show I had received some of our new promotional material, red and black Angus bracelets which were a huge hit with the 4-Hers and other people in attendance.

From there many of the office staff, the Alberta Angus Association and Southern Alberta Angus Club members were thrown into a flurry of planning events for convention, and I spent the week leading up to convention helping with set up, promoting the event and contacting media. Once convention started Erin and I took a break from our duties as summer interns and attended the CAA convention as Robert C. McHaffie Junior Ambassador competitors along side Breanna Anderson, Megan Rodger, and Laurie Noiseux. The Convention was a great opportunity for me to talk with my fellow Angus breeders and hear some suggestions that they had for us with the internship. It was also very encouraging to hear how many of you have been reading the blogs that Erin and I have been posting.

So far this internship has been amazing experience; I have met so many great people and have heard a lot of positive thoughts about juniors participating in our programs. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store, and if any of you will be attending the Calgary Stampede, remember to stop by and visit us interns at the Cattle Trail.

Posted by Stacey Domolewski Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Miles of Memories: Summer Intern's first Month!

I cannot believe that it has already been a month since Stacey and I were in Calgary at our week of training!! Needless to say the time and effort that we put into that week have been very helpful in the last few weeks. I have been keeping myself busy by delivering five school presentations and attending four 4-H events across Saskatchewan the past weeks!

Students dressed up as people involved in the beef industry

                My school visits kicked off in Landis talking to students in grades 2-5. All of the kids LOVED the workshop that we prepared for them. The most enjoyable part hands down has been the dressing up part of the workshop where we dress the students in costumes representing the many people that are involved in getting beef from the pasture to the plate. Then later that week I was off to my home town of Plenty and on Thursday gave presentations on beef education to the grades 4/5 and then the grades 3. Once again they all had a great time and showed a keen interest in the beef industry and particularly what the cattle eat and how their digestive system works. Not only have I given presentations to elementary students I also had the opportunity to be the key note speaker at a Life Long Learning Event. All I can say is WOW there is nothing that can prepare you for that! It was an amazing, and nerve racking experience, but I am so happy that I had this opportunity. To my surprise I was asked if I would consider ever being a key note speaker for other schools because they thought that the opportunities I have had through CJAA and SJAA have been so great and inspired the students to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them and if they have a passion to do their best and they will be rewarded. 

 After the week of school presentation I headed down south to Ceylon Saturday and gave presentations at the Borderline Feedlot Field Day. I had a rough start to the morning  with a flat tire but I still managed to get there on time. The 4-H youth were split up into age groups of 6-10. 11-14, and 15-21. They circulated to three different stations and at mine I discussed with them the benefits of a heifer project and described to them what the CJAA and SJAA were and what they had to offer. 

Last Sunday saw me going back north to home and attending the Handel Multiple 4-H Achievement Day. This is my old club so it was awesome getting to go and talk to kids that I used to be in 4-H with! Not only did I do a talk to the kids about the benefits of the heifer project I also helped them throughout the day with team judging, juding cards ,etc. 

Young 4-H member putting in his best effort 

To wrap up that  busy weekend I travelled to the St. Walburg Regional Show in northern Saskatchewan. There was strong Angus representation at this show which was great to see. There were also a lot of heifer projects as well as cow/calf projects.  I spent the day mingling with 4-H member and parents talking about the heifer project as well at the CJAA and SJAA. There were a lot of members who were interested in the junior associations so hopefully we will see some of them out at the junior events within the next year! After the show I gave a presentation to the members at the banquet about the heifer project. The parents told me that they liked to see Angus representation at their show since there are so many breeders up in that area.

This past Monday and Tuesday I was in Lloydminster attending the 4-H Expo. It is such a great show and there are so many 4-H members in attendance which I love to see! There are thirteen clubs that attend that show making it one of the biggest regional shows in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Today I stopped in at Paradise Valley on the way home and talked to an amazing group of grade three and four students! All of them were knowledgeable about the beef industry and very interested in what 4-H has to offer. 

The future of the Angus breed

4-H shows are getting into full swing and the rest of my summer is filled up with numerous 4-H events and junior events! My next stop is Spirit Wood for their Regional and then back home to my old Regional show in Kerrobert. So far this experience has been so amazing and rewarding and I am very thankful to have this amazing job with the Canadian Angus Association!

Posted by Erin Toner Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

This is Just The Beginning: Summer Internship so Far

Wow, it has been a busy two weeks since starting at the Canadian Angus Association. Our training began on the first of May in Calgary.  It was soon dubbed ‘Cassie’s boot camp’ because of the many hours we were engaged in developing workshops and promotional material to give out at 4-H shows and in schools. While in Calgary we also met with Cameron Horner from Alberta 4-H to discuss working with 4-H to promote the heifer project, and learned about the many different positions within the association.

in our school presentation kids get to
dress up and see the stages of beef production

After this whirlwind week Erin and I parted ways and returned home to start promoting. Since then I have attended 5 schools (one I attended four grade 4 class rooms in two days). The kids were very interested in seeing what beef animals were fed and how we take care of them. When the 4-H program and junior Angus programs were mentioned kids were very enthusiastic, they liked the programs we had to offer and thought that raising  their own cow would be ‘fun’ and ‘neat’. I left all the kids with registration forms for our junior associations and hopefully we see an increase in membership!

talking to some young 4-Hers about showing heifers

 I am currently working on a presentation that I will be giving to an entire elementary school on Tuesday with lots of pictures of junior Angus events. As 4-H show and sale season is just beginning to kick off I have had the opportunity to attend two of them recently. First was Rimbey, it was a beautiful day with lots of young and enthusiastic members. I talked to a lot of kids about the heifer project. These clubs all must have done a very good job at recruiting because I had a lot of first year 4-Hers tell me that they were only taking in a steer to start with but next year they wanted to have a heifer too. From there I headed over to Wetaskiwin  to attend their show and sale. This district had more older members who were interested in the CJAA . In both clubs I talked with both the enthusiastic  juniors and also their parents who were for the most part were very supportive of the heifer program. I also answered a few questions about our green tag program and the Canadian Angus Association. Overall it has been a very eventful two and a half weeks.

 As school starts to slow down and 4-H shows begin it is scheduled to be a very eventful month, I can’t wait to continue promoting Angus, and will see all of you from the Brooks area at their show and sale May 28th.

this quote got the attention of a lot of 4-Hers

Posted by Stacey Domolewski Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca