President’s Report
Welcome to the 44th Annual Meeting of the Ontario Limousin Association. I would like to thank everyone for attending the Annual Meeting today as we discuss the business of the Association from the past year and give direction for the upcoming year and beyond.
What a year it has been. A year ago the Ontario Limousin Association was putting together a bid to be the host Province for the Canadian Limousin Association’s 50th Anniversary in 2019. It was our turn in the rotation and we had a lot of support from members here in Ontario. We have a planning committee in place and the regular Board meetings will involve a lot of planning for the event. We hope to have participation from across the Country.
2017 has been a challenging year in the beef business with market prices fairly strong in the early part of the year, topping out in June and steadily dropping as the year went on. Fed cattle prices strengthened slightly in December, and we are hoping for better prices coming into spring.
A big thank you to all of you who exhibited Limousin Cattle at fairs across Ontario in 2017. The quality and quantity of cattle at our Provincial Show in Markham and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto was extremely high. Our Board has discussed at several meetings that Ontario has the largest showing of Limousin Cattle at our Provincial Show and the RAWF Show of any show in Canada, and we also believe in North America. Congratulations to everyone for your hard work of putting Ontario on the map for Limousin cattle.
I want to also thank our membership for your generosity supporting the activities that the OLA helps to deliver. The Ontario Beef magazine, our Day Planner, and the Banners for our two Shows would not happen without your support.
This past year we also hired a secretary after getting a positive response at last year’s Annual meeting. Nancy Lawrence has been a great addition to our Board, making sure we get things done and keeping us up to date with minutes from our meetings and Conference calls.
A special thanks to our Treasurer Brent Black who has continued to be on top of our financial side with on line banking system, and getting our HST up to date.
Finally, I would like to thank the OLA Directors for their hard work. Everyone is very busy with our own businesses, but when push comes to shove, they pitched in to make the year successful.
As you can see, I was unable to attend this year’s Annual Meeting as my wife and I are on an Agricultural Tour put on by Brussels Agri-Services to Australia. This concludes my second 3 year term with the OLA. I enjoyed serving on the Board and as President for the last 2 years and wish the Board all the success in the future.
Respectively Submitted
Murray Shaw, OLA President, 2017
PROMOTIONS COMMITTEE
The OLA board is continually trying to promote our breed through various avenues. Our largest promotion continues to be the Day Planner which distributes through 1100 copies to past, present and potential Limousin buyers.
In 2017, there was a booth at the annual Beef Farmers of Ontario meeting.
In September, at the International Plowing Match, we had a Limousin heifer on display along with a booth. There was a contest to guess the weight on the heifer with a prize for each day and we had great response to this promo.
We continue to have an ad in the Ontario Beef Magazine for each of the 5 issues annually which breeders are allowed to advertise in as well.
Nancy is doing a fabulous job with Facebook as well as the website which offers breeders an advertising option as well. It carries all upcoming and past events.
Many plans are already in the works for the Canadian 50th anniversary so please let us know if you are interested in helping with any part of the this special event.
Submitted by Rob Weppler.
MEMBERSHIP REPORT
The OLA membership committee continued with the new member mail out package program. This is mailed out to anyone who purchases a registered limousin animal and is not already an OLA member. The package includes a welcome letter, a complimentary one year membership and a brochure outlining the benefits of being an OLA member. We feel this is a beneficial and informative way to reach out to new members. We would like to send many thanks to Bryce Allen for assisting us in the production of the brochure.
After the suggestions at the 2017 AGM, the OLA created a newsletter to keep the members informed of current industry and breed events. We are always looking for current and relevant industry news. Please forward any new information to Nancy Lawrence.
There was several membership driven events this year. The first was a very successful and well attended Field Day at Smart Limousin. This provided a tremendous setting for limousin enthusiasts to visit and view limousin cattle. It also provided a platform for some industry speakers. Please let the board know if you want another Field Day in 2018 and some possible locations.
The second event was a booth at the International Plowing Match in Walton which was organized by Brent Black and included a live animal display supplied by Loyal Line Limousin. The feedback was very positive and it was felt to be a very worthwhile event. Many thanks to the members that donated their time and the animals to attend this event on the OLA‘s behalf.
I would also like to remind all OLA members that we have an OLA Facebook page and website that are there for everyone’s benefit. Any member in good standing gets free advertising of their animals for sale on the website.
If there are any new suggestions relating to how we can improve the association, please forward your ideas to any director or our association secretary Nancy Lawrence. Also, if there are any members who would like to be involved with or help out at any OLA events, please reach out and let us know.
Regards,
Mike Geddes
OJLA REPORT 2017
The juniors had another good year.
We had a few conference calls to get things organized and I would like to thank Carolyn for organizing and chairing the calls.
OJLA sponsored three shows this year; those being Beef Expo, London, Youth Forum in Lindsay as well as the Barrie Limousin Junior Show.
They had a busy year showing as well starting off with Beef Expo and then Youth Forum. We had ten members go to the Canadian Junior Limousin Association Impact Show in Manitoba. We had great results and were represented by these members very well. Thanks to all the members that went out to Manitoba.
Our members represented the limousin breed at a lot of local fairs as well.
We had a good show as well at Markham with 30 juniors competing.
We had good show at the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair with 29 members showing, including 5 members from Nova Scotia. Thank You to these new members and to Joe Cooper for supporting the show.
We had another successful raffle and made around $1700.
The Juniors sent 114 awards out to 4Hers showing limousin influenced calves.
I would like to thank everyone for selling and buying tickets, and for donating auction items. Your support of the juniors is greatly appreciated, and is what keeps our juniors going strong.
Thank You to the executive and especially our chairman Shaun Grant for all their hard work. We wish him a speedy recovery. Our thoughts are with Shaun and his family.
Respectfully submitted by Wayne Lawrence for Shaun Grant
2017 Show Committee Report
2017 was a very successful year for the two shows hosted by the Ontario Limousin Association.
The first show of the year was the Provincial Show held in Markham where the judge for the day, Paul Stafford, had the job sorting 89 head of cattle with tremendous quality from top to bottom.
The second show of the year was The Limousin Show held at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. We had a tremendous turnout of 110 head from over 25 breeders. The judge for the day was Josh Taylor of Oklahoma. Following the show the OLA hosted a social providing pizza and fellowship for the exhibitors and breeders.
The 2017 show season saw a change to the Heifer Calf Division by adding an Intermediate Division, something we are also looking into doing for the Bull Calf Division in the future.
The 2017 Show Committee is excited for the coming years and making the OLA events as successful as possible. We would like to extend the invitations for comments and suggestions to the membership to help us in this goal.
I would like to thank the Exhibitors and Committee for helping out in my first year as Committee Chair, as well as a huge thank you to our volunteers that keep things running smooth, these events could not run without the Ring men, Marshalls and the Points and Record Keepers.
Summitted by Chad Homer
CANADIAN LIMOUSIN ASSOCIATION UPDATE
Ontario Limousin Association Annual General Meeting
State of the Breed
Current CLA data as of February 2018
– 366 Active & Lifetime Members (up from 348 at this time last year)
– 167 Junior Members (up from 121 at this time last year)
– 7,955 females on WHE (up from 7,773 at this time last year)
– 173 DigitalBeef users (up from 168 at this time last year)
Ontario Specific (2017 data)
– 7 new annual members
– 5 new junior members
– 1,081 purebred and fullblood animals registered
– 75 members registered at least one animal
– 67% of adult membership on WHE (86 out of 129) for a total of 1,736 head
– 8% of junior membership on WHE (4 out of 53) for a total of 22 head
Genetic Evaluation
– Genetic evaluation run by International Genetic Solutions (IGS) alongside 11 other Canadian and US breed associations (Canadian: Limousin, Angus, Simmental, Gelbvieh, Shorthorn / American: Limousin, Red Angus, Simmental, Gelbvieh, Shorthorn, Maine-Anjou, Chianina)
– Current evaluation run twice per year
– Soon new “BOLT” single step evaluation will update EPDs weekly
Genotyping Funding
– 50% discount on all low-density and high-density genotyping:
o $30 for GGP-uLD (low-density, 30,000 SNPs) + MBVs (molecular breeding values necessary to generate gEPDs)… highly accurate, best value test for any animal
o $35 for GGP-HD (high-density, 50,000 SNPs) + MBVs (molecular breeding values necessary to generate gEPDs)…. highly accurate test best used on highly prolific animals such as AI sires, donor cows, herd sires
o Both tests include parentage verification
Office Update
– CLA staff now providing registry/member services to Canadian Shorthorn Association members as well in addition to Canadian Limousin Association members as an additional source of income.
2018 CJLA Impact Show & CLA AGM
Plans are well underway for the 2018 CJLA Impact Show and CLA Annual General Meeting to be held August 1-4, 2018 in Great Village, Nova Scotia at Balamore Farms Ltd. We are eagerly anticipating this to be one of the largest Impact Shows in recent years and a fantastic opportunity for all CLA members and Limousin enthusiasts to socialize and enjoy the East Coast! A block of hotel rooms is booked at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Conference Centre in Truro, Nova Scotia 902-895-1651. Cattle will be available for out of province juniors to borrow. Anyone wishing to inquire about borrowing cattle or trucking arrangements for out of province cattle are encouraged to contact CJLA Coordinator Laura Ecklund. The CLA Annual General Meeting will be held on August 3. Director election details will be available on the CLA website and in monthly newsletters and ballots will be mailed to all members. Please make plans to join us for what is sure to be an exceptional Limousin gathering!
Canadian Limousin Association Contacts
Tessa Verbeek, General Manager
Cell: 403.636.1066
tverbeek@limousin.com
Shayla Chappell, Registry/Member Services
CLA Office: 403.253.7309 or toll-free 1.866.886.1605
limousin@limousin.com
Dallas Wise, Registry/Member Services
CLA Office: 403.253.7309 or toll-free 1.866.886.1605
limousin@limousin.com
Laura Ecklund, Registry/Member Services & CJLA Coordinator
CLA Office: 403.253.7309 or toll-free 1.866.886.1605
Cell: 403.559.9846
limousin@limousin.com (for registry related inquiries)
cjla@limousin.