Canadian Charolais events and notices.

The Russian Federation – State of the Market

Russia has become one of the world’s most dynamic markets for a range of consumer goods and services. Its impressive growth in recent years has important implications for Canadian agri-food exporters. The Russian Government approved a US$41 billion program for the development of agriculture to increase Russia’s self-sufficiency in food, sustain rural development, increase rural employment, and improve rural living standards. Russian officials expect agricultural production to increase by 20% between 2008 and 2012 as a result of the program. As one of the targeted areas, meat production has created multiple opportunities for Canadian exporters of live animals and animal genetics.
Read the full report as prepared by the Government of Canada.

CBBC Annual General Meeting

Canadian Beef Breeds Council Elects Executive Committee: …Moving Forward with Strategic Activities

The Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Beef Breeds Council (CBBC, Council) was held February 26, 2010, in Calgary.
Elected to his first one-year term as President of the Council is Allan Marshall of Innisfail, Alberta. Allan and his wife, Leona, operate Future Farms where they raise purebred Charolais and commercial cattle. Marshall is a past President of the Canadian Charolais Association. Elected to his first term as 1st Vice President is Byron Templeton who, with his wife Carolyn and three daughters, raises horned Herefords at Coaldale, Alberta. Templeton is a past President of the Canadian Hereford Association. Elected to his first term as 2nd Vice President is Randy Mader, Salers Association of Canada, who raises Salers cattle at Carstairs, Alberta. Sitting as Past President is Don Mackenzie, who raises Red Angus cattle near Mountain View, together with his wife Linda and daughter Jade.
Activities in 2009 included enhancing international market access and exploiting enhanced access in several areas including Colombia, Mexico, Russia, U.S., and EU27.
Council priorities in 2010 include a Long Term International Strategy (LTIS) and the Purebred Risk Assessment (PBRA) Project. On behalf of its membership, CBBC Long Term International Strategy (LTIS) is implemented annually. It builds upon the historical, positive reputation of Canada and the genetics industry in the international community. The goals are to build awareness, achieve growth, capture value, leverage benefits (attributes) and achieve resilience through maintaining access and protecting capacity. With CBBC’s guidance and input, breed associations, exporters and sector service-providers develop strategic marketing plans based on the suitability of breeds in international markets. Activities include global-market intelligence gathering, setting of market access priorities, sponsorship of outbound activities, hosting of inbound study groups, development of collateral promotional items including a video and training programs.
The Producer Resources Project (formerly the Purebred Risk Assessment (PBRA) project) is an initiative of the CBBC designed to develop tools for purebred producers associated with the production and marketing of purebred beef genetics. The PBRA project was primarily funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada under the Growing Forward initiative’s Private Sector Risk Management Partnerships (PSRMP). CBBC has also begun the development of an information portal to enhance the capture, utilization, and sharing of purebred beef cattle genetic, production, and sales information. The portal is being developed and implemented through partnerships with industry and government initiatives in order to link to, and collaborate with, other data sources within the beef value chain including the Canadian Beef Advantage (CBA) project that is being designed to collect packer and feedlot data, and is known as Beef Information Exchange System (BIXS). This aspect is funded through the Canadian Cattlemen Market Development Council (CCMDC).
The Canadian Beef Breeds Council (CBBC) represents the Canadian purebred cattle industry. Its members include national breed associations that in turn represent 10,000 producers of breeding stock. Associate CBBC members include exporters and service providers. The mandate of the CBBC includes: Animal health policy; Trade access and market development; Genetic improvement; Research and development; Education and extension.

New Resources for Purebred Beef Cattle Producers from CBBC

The CBBC Purebred Risk Assessment (PBRA) project has developed new tools to benefit and guide purebred beef cattle producers. You will find at the link below numerous free downloads and tools to help mitigate risks in the production and marketing of purebred genetics.  Also available are workbooks, one of which is the Cost of Production workbook. It is tailored specifically for purebred beef cattle producers to help manage production costs and to make the most of available farm resources. Make informed decisions and plan for the future, check out the CBBC’s resource centre.
Link to CBBC Resources for Purebred Beef Cattle Producers

Interesting Article: Packing industry trends.

This article, which was forwarded to me by Garner Deobald emphasizes the packer shift to traits consistent with the use of Charolais bulls as a terminal sire. Obviously other factors are at play with this shift, however it further illustrates the financial benefits that are added by the utilization of crossbreeding in the commercial sector.

The Choice/Select Collapse
Anyone selling on a grid certainly has noticed that the Choice/Select spread isn’t what it used to be. In fact, at the time I was writing this, the Choice/Select spread was standing at 50¢/cwt.

Certainly, there’s a whole host of reasons for the Choice/Select spread narrowing. The easy reason is that cattle are grading better. There are several factors contributing to this – better genetics, an increase in yearling cattle, the implementation of instrument grading, the shifting of breed makeup in the Southeast, and maybe even learning how to feed and utilize the distiller byproducts that were initially thought to reduce quality grade.

There are demand issues as well. Consumers are trading down, the hotel, restaurant and institutional (HRI) trade has fallen significantly; the number of $100/person steak night outings has been declining precipitously.

The issue isn’t so much the confluence of these factors to form the perfect storm, but rather whether it represents an anomaly or a long-term trend. I think it’s the latter.

Here are a few points: The genetic component is unlikely to go away. Selection pressure for improved carcass merit is now well ingrained in virtually all major breeds. We’ve already seen that normal seasonal weather patterns are back. In the post-ethanol-subsidized world, we’re going to have a smaller beef industry, and that means plenty of demand, more yearling placements and longer feeding periods as feeders struggle to utilize capacity.

Instrument grading is likely to continue and will forever change the moving line that kept grading percentages relatively constant. While the economy is showing signs of improvement, runaway spending and government interference in the marketplace virtually guarantees that growth won’t be as robust as it has been in the past.

Considering these factors, it looks like the economic incentive has and will continue to move away from quality grade, with more emphasis being placed on averaged daily gain, dressing percentage, and feed conversion/efficiency. Compositional endpoints will remain critical to profitability, but the emphasis will continue to shift away from quality grade and more to compositional endpoints, efficiency and weight.
– Troy Marshall

Re activation Fees

Update from the Registry Department

At the start of 2010 two important changes were put into operation pertaining to the Canadian Charolais Association (CCA) registration system. The first change was a substantial upgrade to the CCA registry program which was initiated to improve operation to on-line users as well as easing data entry work for the office staff. Many on-line users would have experienced changes to the Whole Herd Enrolment (WHE) entry procedures this year. Secondly as a result of some by-law changes established at the AGM in Russell, MB on June 30^th 2009. The by-law changes included a series of substantial changes to the entry deadline requirements and fee structure of the WHE program, which have caused queries from many breeders concerning the term re-activation fee. The term is a new description for late fee and deals with females who are returning to WHE after having missed prior year(s). This is actually not a new charge and we have included a historical review of the by-laws as it relates to the regulations of the WHE late fee provision of the program.  

1998 AGM Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan

There will be a $60 activation fee to enrol females who were not entered on the first inventory submission due by March 15, 1998. For example, if a member chooses not to enter a female with the first inventory but the following year the member wishes to register her calf, the member is required to pay $60 to enrol the cow prior to registration of the calf. The calf can be subsequently registered and transferred.

2001 AGM Calgary, Alberta

Article XXIII section 5 (iii) ending paragraph states

There will be a $64.20 activation fee to enrol females who were not entered on the first inventory submission due by March 15, 1998. For example, if a member chooses not to enter a female with the first inventory but the following year the member wishes to register her calf, the member is required to pay $64.20 to enrol the cow prior to registration of the calf. The calf lcan be subsequently registered and transferred. 

>Whereas, the activation of $64.20 was deemed excessive, and;

>Whereas, and reactivation fee or late enrolment fee of $64.20 was deemed excessive, and;

>Whereas, the association continues to ensure a fair and reasonable fee structure for the     benefit of association members to enrol their females.

Be it resolved that:

Article XXIII section 5 (iii) paragraph 1 b rewritten to read,

(iii)WHE will apply to all females who calve on or after January 1, 1998 as identified by the breeders’ annual inventory listings. In regards to bred heifers the annual assessment fee will only apply in their first calving year provided they do not exceed three (3) years of age. This is a single fee system wherein each female Charolais is assessed an initial activation fee of $20.00 plus GST and an additional annual assessment fee of $20.00 plus GST for each year thereafter.

And further:

Article XXIII section 5 (iii) ending paragraph be rewritten to read, “There will be a late enrolment fee of $10.00 applicable to females which were not entered on the initial inventory submission due by March 15 for spring calvers and August 15 for fall calvers in each year. The late enrolment fee will be in addition to the regular assessment fee of $20.00. If the member chooses to enrol the female in a year subsequent to a previous enrolment, the member must pay the current annual assessment fee of $20.00, in addition to the regular assessment fee of $20.00 for each missed year, the late enrolment fee $10.00 for each year in which the female was not enrolled for a total of $30.00 for each missed year. All services offered in the years in which the female was not enrolled would be offered to the female once it has become enrolled. GST will be applied to all fees charged.

Example:  If the female was not enrolled for the year 2001, however, was enrolled in 2002 by March 15^th, the accumulated fees would be $21.40 (2001) plus $10.70 (2001) plus $21.40 (2002) for a total of $53.50. This example includes the GST.

 2004 Annual General Meeting Quebec City, Quebec

Amendment # 3 proposed by the board of directors

Article XXIII part 5 (page 24)

If the female was never enrolled by the current owner, regardless of her age, the enrolment fee is $20 if enrolled by the deadline of March 15^th for spring calving females and August 15^th for fall calving females of the current year. If the enrolment is to include previous year’s services, then the late fee of $20 plus the enrolment fee of $20 will apply for each year previous to the current year.

Amended to include the following sentence:

The maximum penalty that will be assessed for late or missed years will be $40.

2009 AGM Russell, Manitoba

8. There will be a late enrolment fee of $20.00 applicable to females enrolled after the submission deadline which is March 15^th for spring calving cows and August 15^th for fall calving cows in each year.

The late enrolment fee will also be applicable to animals that were previously enrolled and dropped from enrolment.  The late enrolment fee will be in addition to the regular assessment fee of $25.00.

To be replaced with –

There will be a late enrolment fee of $25.00 + GST applicable to females enrolled after the submission deadline.

The late enrolment fee will also be applicable to females that wish to re-enter enrolment for prior year(s). 

8. The maximum penalty that will be assessed for late or missed years will be $40.00 + GST will be applied to all fees charged.

To be replaced with -

8. The maximum penalty that will be assessed for late or missed years will be $50.00 +

   GST.

2010 World Charolais Congress: Oklahoma/Texas USA May 13-21, 2010
Le congrès mondial du charolais le 13 à 21 mai 2010

Following the great success of the World Charolais Congress here in Canada, the American International Charolais Association is scheduled to host the 2010 Congress.
The program looks exciting as usual with stops in Oklahoma, Texas and a pre-conference tour which starts 6 days before the congress in Montana.
This event is always a huge hit with all attendees and is an excellent way to meet and engage other Charolais Breeders from around the world. Be sure to take a look at the itinerary and get in touch with the AICA through the links below to book your spot.
Link to Congress Flyer (PDF)
Link to American International Charolais Association Congress Website (HTML)

Online Members: Enrolment Info

If you are an “online” member you Enroll your females, enter your breeding, performance data at calving, weaning, and yearling and you register your own animals.

For information and instructions for your online program click on the Frequently Asked Questions section when you first sign into your online account, click on Index. Here you will find answers to most questions you would need answers to.

Facebook Forums: Member Resources

We are happy to unveil the Associations Facebook Forum/Events and Photo pages.
If you are not already a fan of the Canadian Charolais Association on Facebook be sure to add us by clicking that link and hitting the become a fan button. (twitter too for that matter!).

As a fan feel free to contribute to the forums/events calendar and photo pages.

Spring 2010 Total Genetic Evaluation Released

Following hot on the heels of last months release of the spring 2010 Canadian Charolais Growth Evaluation, the breed improvement committee is happy to announce the release of the Spring 2010 Genetic Evaluation results for Carcass traits. For the first time ultrasound data is included in the calculation of carcass EPDs. This methodology allows collection of carcass quality data on animals that are to be retained as breeding stock allowing breeders to make more informed selection decisions for animals with improved carcass quality.

Take a minute to review the new summary statistics over at performance.charolais.com or search for new numbers on a specific animal at search.charolais.com.

For an in depth description of the methodologies, genetic parameters used and history of this evaluation see the attached PDF document here.

Tips on DNA and Karyo Type testing

All natural herd sires must have a DNA test on file. DNA test is a hair sample, please pull approximately 25 strands from the tail switch, a good idea is to pull extra and store it in case it is needed in the future. The DNA is located in the root bulb at the end of the hair strand. Always store hair samples in paper envelopes not plastic. Plastic destroys the DNA in the root bulb.

All AI bulls must have a DNA test on file that shows that the parents are verified (both parents of the AI bull must also have DNA on file). AI bulls also have to be karyo type tested for Translocation I/29. The karyo type test is a blood test so a blood sample must be collected in a green top vial. This sample must be drawn and couriered immediately to GenServe Lab to reach the lab within 48 hours of being drawn. This sample should be couriered at the beginning of the week not the end so that it reaches the lab in the specified time. This sample cannot be refrigerated.

All paperwork that must accompany the hair sample or blood sample must be requested from the Canadian Charolais Association prior to the sample being sent to the lab.