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

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

WAF Youth Programme: Showmanship and Judging Competitions

This morning started off with our team being divided. Chad and Stacey went to the World Angus Secretariat meeting to present on our Canadian Junior programs while Breanna and Sean went to the barns to start prepping the heifers for showmanship. We had the opportunity to meet the owners of our stud Kakahu Farms. Gerald and Sue Hargreaves met us at the barns this morning to meet us and watch us work on their heifers. After working with the heifers we attended a demonstration on how to build fence. There are some differences between how we fence and how they do, but we think we should be prepared for tomorrow's events.

In the afternoon, we started showmanship. Here, classes lasted up to 50 minutes with a very different routine in the ring. First off, we weren’t allowed to bring combs into the ring, and then we had to do two laps around the ring then individually bring heifers diagonally and set them up for the judge to look at individually. For all the differences the Canadians did very well with Erika, Sean, and Patrick advancing into the champion class (Sean and Patrick made it to top 5) and Matt receiving 3^rd in class and Michael getting 4^th in class. We then heard the results of the judging competition. Matt Bates was second overall and the Canadian B SquarED team was first team! Overall it was a great day for the Canadians. We finished by meeting up with the rest of the Forum delegates at the Energy Center for supper. It has been a great day and we are looking forward to the Agrimodules tomorrow! 

Posted by Stacey Domolewski
Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

October 12 at the WAF - Youth Prospective

Well another big day for the youth competitors. Spending the morning working with the heifers and prepping them for the judging competitions. Three classes of heifers were judged and everyone presented oral reasons. Each team from the different countries shared their way of clipping the heifers. We learned a lot from the British team and Sean and Chad told how we slick shear the heifers and how to grow hair. Another trick that not many knew about was dying cattle hair.

A quick trip to the second-hand store got us ready for our "shit kit" supper. This involved all the teams to dress as wild as possible and share a county themed song. The Canadian team fared well as we won the competition. A highlight for us was the Kiwi teams' haka, a native dance for New Zealand. The organizers also put on a great demonstration of how to prepare bulls for a show. Animal handling (showmanship) takes place tomorrow.

Posted by Melissa McRae 

Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Day 2 at the WAF: Cows, Dishes and Rain

Well day two at the World Angus Forum was the day we got to meet our girls. Looks can be deceiving under all the dirt and grime and when we finally got them washed the hair didn't seem too bad for the beginning of summer here! The other teams were razzing us about how long and slanted our stall was as theirs were high and short. There was lots of excitement around the barns today as there was a vet called due to a minor clipping incident.

Today in the team challenge we may not have held our own, putting in posts the old-fashioned way. We may not have won the challenge but we sure did our best and we will get the next round.

The weather has been kinda gloomy as it rained off and on all day.  The food has been plentiful and delicious. The only downside to supper was we had to do dishes... which was painful. Forty plates doesn't seem that many until they are piled up by the sink.  The upside to supper was that our team didn't get fined. We have been well entertained by the Aussies and the Kiwis making the trip very enjoyable and well worth it. We look forward to the days to come!

  
Posted by Erika Easton
Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Our Youth Teams Are New Zealand-Bound

The Western Canadian youth team competitors

Well, the team's all here! Or at least those of us from Western Canada are. I can't speak for those that are flying out of Toronto, but we will all meet up in LA and then make the 13-hour flight to New Zealand together. As you can see, we are all decked out in our Angus finest.

A few weeks ago (as if we needed another reason to be excited about this trip), we got packages in the mail from the CAA with our new Team Canada jackets and golf shirts for the agrisports competition. The shirts were ordered in case the weather was too hot to wear the jackets, but judging by the emails we have been getting from CEO Rob who is already over there, maybe we should have ordered matching mittens! Apparently it is snowing! 

Youth team apparel

Although it sounds like many of us were too excited to sleep much last night, everyone is looking wide awake and excited to get on the plane. Although no one seems that excited for the many hours we will spend on a plane in the next 48 hours, everyone is ready to get on with the  getting there. We are quite excited about everything from seeing their cattle and scenery to networking with Angus breeders from across the world and bungee jumping! Everyone is packed and ready to go and we are all prepared to represent Canada well once we get there. And just to let everyone know (because I know there were some of you who were concerned) I managed to pack for the two weeks in one suitcase that weighed in at 49.6 pounds!


Posted by Stacey Domolewski
Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca