Upcoming Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| March 13th, 2010 | OLA Annual General Meeting Saturday March 13, 2010 Holiday Inn, Guelph 601 Scottsdale Dr., Guelph, Ont. Meeting 1pm, Banquet at 5pm $45 for meeting and Banquet RSVP by March 1st to: Jeff Irvine ( 519-837-2113) or Sheila Smart (519-538-4877) To reserve a room at the Holiday Inn please call 519-836-0231 |
OLA Happenings
2009 has come and gone and with that, the fall shows, sales and the 40th anniversary celebrations have ended as well. We are already looking forward to seeing what 2010 has to offer. It was an exciting year for the OLA. Our board of directors was extremely busy to ensure that the 40th year of Limousin in Canada was a successful year. The following is a recap of this year's events.
It was decided that the OLA would enter a display at the Outdoor Farm Show outside of Woodstock in September. This show is a 3 day event where every display at the show is agricultural related. We thought that this would be a great opportunity to promote the Limousin breed, and it was. We had a number of people request a catalogue for our upcoming 40th Anniversary Sale in October. A special thanks goes to Loyal Line Limousin for providing a yearling heifer to have on display for the event.
Also, in September was our Provincial Show held in Lindsay on September 26th. John Dolliver sorted through 70 head. He had his work cut out for him as the quality was excellent from top to bottom. Taking home Grand Champion Bull honours was Rail Line Farms with RLF 29T Trail Blazer. Reserve Champion Bull went to Hollee Limousin with TMF Total Package. Taking home Grand Champion Female honours was Koyle Farms with EF Tickle My Fancy and claiming Reserve Champion honours was McKenzie Limousin with Arley Unresistable. On the 27th, 14 junior members competed in the junior show. It was also nice to see that many of our junior members did well in the all-breed junior show as well.
We held our 40th Anniversary Sale and Celebration on October 17th at Carson's Auction Facility in Listowel. We invited past CLA presidents from Ontario, past OLA presidents, past OLA secretaries and many Ontario Limousin pioneers. These people were recognized for the dedication to the breed. It was great to have Anne Brunet-Burgess from the CLA in attendance as well. Gencor and Top Meadow Farms put up a display along side a display from the OLA, which showcased old Limousin and OLA literature that Gary and Sheila Smart have collected over the years. A beef on a bun lunch was served before the sale. This lunch was, generously sponsored by Boulder Land & Cattle, Elmgrove Farms, Hillside Farms, Jade Limousin, Preston Farms and 2M Stock Farms. As for the sale, considering that the market was not good at the time and it was one of the few nice days we had all fall so farmers took advantage of the weather to be in the field, the sale went well. The sale grossed $115,050 and averaged $1,743. Besides Ontario, cattle were sold to Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The top selling lot was WCC Cincinnati Red from Watson Cattle Co. and was bought by Ron McKenzie of McKenzie Limousin for $3,200. There were many comments made throughout the day that the cattle looked great from one end of the barn to the other.
In late October, we were saddened to hear that Ryan Enright was killed in a car accident. Ryan was a past OJLA member and is the son of long-time Limousin members, Jane and Barry Enright. Ryan will surely be missed and our thoughts and prayers are with Barry, Jane, Sean, Robert and Lauren in this time of sorrow.
The annual Limousin show at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair was held on November 6th. This year marked the 2nd year of a fullblood show held in conjunction with the open show. Lynn Combest sorted through 46 head in the open show and 11 head in the fullblood show. Taking home Grand Champion bull honours was Rail Line farms with RLF 29T Trail Blazer. The Reserve Champion bull was exhibited by Lakeridge Limousin with Lakeridge Wando. The Grand Champion purebred female was exhibited by Lisle Limousin with Hollees Truffles and the Reserve Champion was shown by McKenzie Limousin with Arley Unresistable. The Champion fullblood was exhibited by Loyal Line Limousin with Loyal Line Waltzing Matilda and the Reserve Champion fullblood went to Hillside Farms with Hillside Ashley. This year the OLA sponsored People's Choice awards for the top male and female. This year's People's Choices were awarded to RLF 29T Trail Blazer from Rail Line Farms and to Hollees Truffles from Lisle Limousin. Congratulations to you both.
This past year, the board decided to try something different in regards to the directory. We decided to put out a dayplanner instead of the traditional directory. Thank you to all that have included an ad in the main fundraising project for this year. OLA members should have received their dayplanner in the mail in early January. This venture was something new and different and so far, it has been very well received.
Now you are up-to-date on what took place in Ontario this past year. We are excited about 2010. Lastly, the OLA Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday, March 13th at the Holiday Inn in Guelph at 1pm. Please join us and stay for the banquet at 5pm following the meeting. Due to the rising costs of banquet facilities, the cost per person for the banquet has been set at $45.00. If you would like more information, please contact Jeff Irvine or Sheila Smart . If you intend to stay for the banquet, we would need to know by March 1st. Hope to see you there!
Jeff Irvine
OLA President