Would you like to have your farm advertised in the Beef Farmers of Ontario magazine, 5 times per year?    You could be part of the advertisement just like the one below.    Contact Emily Gibson-MacTavish to have your name added.   

Email – emilygibson0707@gmail.com  

It is with great shock and sadness we share the news of the passing of Brian Lee.  Our deepest sympathy to Holli and all Brian’s family and friends from his OLA family.

1952 ~ 2021 (age 68)

Obituary

Passed away suddenly on Saturday, May 15, 2021 in his 69th year. Brian leaves behind his loving wife of 15 years Holli and his children Kari (Sebastian), Kory (Amanda) and Travis (Heather). He will also be missed by his grandchildren, nieces, nephews, extended family and friends. Brian is survived by his mother Doreen and sister Wendy. He is predeceased by his father Kenneth.

As per Brian’s wishes, cremation has taken place and a celebration will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Brian may be made to the Beef Farmers of Durham Region. Please contact Low and Low Funeral Home on how to make donations. Arrangements entrusted to Low and Low Funeral Home, 1763 Reach Street, Port Perry (905-985-7331).

The Madgett Award – Presented to the person or family that takes that extra step to promote the limousin breed in Ontario for the benefit of all.

Congratulations to this year’s winner – Lakeside Farms, The Lawrence Family

Lakeside Farm is a 4th generation Purebred Limousin operation located outside Durham, ON. The home farm was established in 1909. Wayne and Nancy purchased the farm from Wayne’s parents, David and Arlene, in 1982. They started a commercial herd of cattle mainly running Limousin bulls. As their children, David, Jonathan and Mary Lynn started their 4-H years the farm transitioned from a commercial to a purebred herd in the 90s. Focused on breeding top quality breeding stock, the Lawrence’s have continued to grow their cow families and expanding their genetic lines to offer heifers and bulls for sale each year. They have successfully competed at local fairs as well as at OLA provincial shows over the years with noted animals, 2014 Reserve Champion Junior Yearling – Lakeside Adella, 2015 Reserve Champion Junior Yearling – Lakeside Bright Lights and 2018 Champion Junior Yearling – Lakeside Emotion.

Wayne and Nancy are both activity involved in the OLA where Wayne sits as a director and Nancy is the secretary/Treasurer. They attend Limousin events across the province and were actively involved in the 50th anniversary celebration of the breed. They are huge supporters of youth, chairing the CJLA Impact show held in Ontario in 2015 as well as being youth advisors to the OJLA board, along with Mary Lynn. Lakeside is also a proud supporter of 4-H, David his wife Melissa and Mary Lynn are all leaders of the Durham 4-H Beef Club and Durham 4-H Beef Fitting Club. The Lakeside team opens their barns up to several youth each summer, to provide them with a show project and promote the industry. Several of these 4-H members and their heifers have had the opportunity to compete at the Masterfeeds National Junior Beef Heifer Show at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. The next generation, Bailey, Emily and Addison are actively involved on the farm. Many of you will recognize their faces from the Lakeside Facebook page. Bailey and Emily are OJLA members and participated in their 1st CJLA Impact show successfully in 2020 where Bailey exhibited the Reserve Champion Heifer calf Lakeside Hells Angel. Wayne’s parents continue to be a watchful eye over the day to day operations. Jonathan, his wife Stacey and their son Hunter currently reside in Alberta. They stay up to date and make yearly trips home to help with projects happening at the farm including the most recent farm sign construction.

It has been said in the past that if you sign up one of the Lawrence’s for a committee you get the whole Lakeside team. They are a family first operation, which takes pride in raising and promoting the Limousin breed.

Mervin and Judy Hunt purchased the original farm property on Waba Road, Pakenham in 1969. Judy was a school teacher, and Mervin was a mechanic during the day, and they enjoyed farming cattle and working together on their farm in their free time. They started a family in 1971, where they welcomed their eldest son Cory into their lives. Then in 1975, their second son Chad was born, making their family complete. In 1983, they started breeding and registering purebred Limousin cattle. The family loved showing their cattle over the years in local fairs and traveling to the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. Both Cory and Chad had many years of enjoyment participating within the local 4H beef club. Today, the herd has expanded to an impressive 500+ head, and they calve approximately 150 cows each year! Cory, his wife Glenna, and their son Corlen, as well as Chad, his wife Sarah, and their children Jake, Caleb, Wesley, Tyler, and Holly all play large roles in supporting the family farm.  The Hunt’s primarily grow corn, soybeans, and hay.  Between pasture land, and crops, the family farms 1000+ acres! They are finishing the majority of the calves born on their farm to supply beef to Farmersville Community Abattoir.  Farmersville Community Abattoir Ltd. (FCA), located in Athens, ON, is a privately owned corporation that was purchased in February 2020 by Sarah and Chad Hunt of Pakenham, ON.  The purpose of FCA is to provide a long-term, secure and reliable service to farmers so they may continue to offer their locally-grown meats to the community.  FCA provides weekly slaughter, custom meat cutting, and packaging services. There are 6 full time and 4 part time staff members.  Onsite in Athens they have the Farmersville Market which sells Corad Farms Limousin beef, as well as Pork, chicken and products from local producers basically an indoor year round farmers market  The Hunt family has always seen the potential that the limousin breed has to offer and now more than ever they are able to follow their own genetics from conception to consumption! 

OLA AGM will be held April 26, 2021

Contact us at limousinontario@gmail.com if you would like to participate. If you would like to nominate someone for a director’s position, all nominations must be made prior to the meeting. There will be no nominations taken at the meeting. You must me a member in good standing to participate in the voting for new directors.

Ontario Limousin Association Membership, 

Based on the restrictions of travel and gatherings, due to COVID-19, the OLA Board has decided to host its 2021 Annual General Meeting virtually via Zoom. The Board feels that hosting a meeting to connect with its members,  in any way possible is better then postponing until a later date.

In Ontario, the breed is in a very positive spot and we are always looking for new and exciting ideas to move the breed forward, whether that be in the show ring, supporting our strong base of Junior Members, marketing seedstock to producers or pushing the value of the breed’s carcass traits by promoting feeder calf sales. 

The meeting is meant to be an information session on what the Board has planned for this year and provide some additional information of our goals. Unfortunately,  we will not be having any educational guest speakers like we have had in past years in an effort to keep the evening to a shorter time line, but CLA General Manager Laura Ecklund will be joining the event to provide some insight and news from a National Board level. 

As in any AGM there will be numerous reports from the President, Treasurer and other subcommittees, as well as a call for nominations for new directors, and the presentations of the Margret Madgett and Angus Campbell Awards. 

The main change this year will be Polling via Zoom for the four vacant director positions.  Nathan Allen and Emily Gibson will be completing their first three-year term and can be re-elected. We ask that if you are thinking of nominating a possible candidate for the election to do so via email or reach out to any of the current directors ahead of time. This will allow us to prepare the polling ahead of time.  We are all new to this virtual world, so we would like to plan ahead and make the meeting go as smooth as possible. 

As we make room for new members, we would like to thank Brent Black and Dan Darling for being key members of the board, as they have both served two three-year terms and their time with us has come to an end.

The OLA Board is looking forward to having as many members as possible join us on the evening on Monday April 26 at 7pm.

Thanks in advance,

Chad Homer

Job Requirements

Languages

English

Education

Ontario Secondary School Diploma

Experience

1-5 years’ experience in related field.

Job Description

One vacancy, Two  year contract and pays $2,000 annually. Successful candidate would be required to attend in person and/or online meetings.

Administrative Duties

• Scheduling and reminding Directors of meetings, as well as creating and distributing the agenda and minutes for meetings
• Coordinating and printing of annual meeting documents
• Maintaining communication with Directors, Committees and Members and Community Partners, and assisting them with various tasks (administrative, advertising, promotions, events, etc.)
• Creating and distributing the Newsletter
• Maintaining our Website and Facebook page
• Planning of the annual meeting
• Maintaining records to track Board of Director Terms

Financial Duties

• Prepare and presenting of the Treasurer Report during meetings
• Collecting, tracking and paying company bills (banners, membership, AGM, Day Planner, BFO ad, etc.)
• Working with Accountant to file Tax Return
• Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss for AGM
• Upload banking information into Quickbooks online
• Bank deposits when required

Personal Suitability

• Attention to detail
• Flexibility
• Accurate
• Team player
• Excellent oral communication
• Excellent written communication
• Reliability
• Organized
• Ability to multitask

Resumes will be accepted until January 28, 2020

Please email Resume and cover letter to:
nathana@alleninsurance.ca

or mail to:
Nathan Allen
PO Box 189
Warkworth, ON
K0K3K0

In a year of uncertainty, the OLA would like to congratulate the juniors who submitted a video to the OLA 50 Years Forward Scholarship. We would like to thank our panel of judges for their time in judging the entries, and the juniors themselves for the time and thought into these entries to showcase our breed. Our future is bright with our juniors promoting our Limousin breed in the future. Congratulations to this year’s winners! 

Watch for participant videos on Facebook over the next few days.

Intermediate-Senior Division

1^st Place – Samantha Kennedy

2^nd Place – Madi Lewis

3^rd Place – Jocelyn Kennedy

PEEWEE DIVISION

Bailey Lawrence

Emily Lawrence