The 2011 Year Was Okay –2012 Should Be Better

Neil Gillies, General Manager, Canadian Charolais Association

CANADIAN CHAROLAIS ASSOCIATION

2320 - 41st Avenue N.E.

Calgary, AB T2E 6W8

Phone: (403) 250-9242

Fax: (403) 291-9324

E-Mail: cca@charolais.com

Home Page: www.charolais.com

PROVINCIAL REPRESENTATIVES:

ALBERTA

President: Lyle Bignell, Stettler

Secretary: Lisa Paget, Carbon

SASKATCHEWAN

President: Orland Walker, Hudson Bay

Secretary: Dave Blechinger, Rosetown

MANITOBA

President: Harry Airey, Rivers

Secretary: Rae Trimble Portage la Prairie

ONTARIO

President: Brian Coughlin, Cobden

Secretary: Doris Aitken, Mount Forest

QUEBEC

President: Francois Couture, Notre-Damedu-Bon-Conseil

Secretary: Laurent Jourdain

MARITIMES

President: Ricky Milton, Cornwall, PE

Secretary: Jennifer MacDonald, St. Mary’s, Kent Co., NB

STAFF:

General Manager: NEIL GILLIES

Registry: JUDY CUMMER

French Liaison: CYNTHIA BECK

306-436-2007 CBeck@charolais.com

EXECUTIVE:

PRESIDENT: WADE BECK

Box 5, Lang, SK S0G 2W0

Ph (306) 436-4564 email: wcbeck@sasktel.net

1st VICE-PRESIDENT: BRENTSAUNDERS

RR 3, Markdale, ON N0C 1H0 (519) 986-4165 Fax (519) 986-4273 email: saunders@bmts.com

2nd VICE-PRES: CAMPBELL FORSYTH

Box 3, Eriksdale, MB R0C 0W0 (204) 739-2678 Fax (204) 739-5547 email: cmforsyt@mts.net

PAST PRESIDENT: LYLE BIGNELL

Box 1055, Stettler, AB T0C 2L0 (403) 742-6792 Fax (403) 742-8128 email: lylebignell@hotmail.com

DIRECTORS:

BERNARD BEGIN

1630 Rg St-Martin, Ste-Marie, PQ G6E 3A8 (418) 387-7514 Fax (418) 387-5623 email: louberfarm@hotmail.com

BRIAN COUGHLIN

RR3 1012 Snake River Line, Cobden, ON K0J

1K0 (613) 646-9741 (613) 312-0270 email: cornervu@nrtco.net

URSULA CORPATAUX

Box 397, Erskine, AB T0C 1G0 Ph/Fax (403) 742-3337 ucorpataux@xplornet.com

DORY GERRARD

RR 2, Innisfail, AB T4G 1T7 (403) 227-5632 Fax (403) 227-2583 email: info@gerrardcattlecompany.com

JOHN WILGENBUSCH

Box 4, Halbrite, SK S0C 1H0

(306) 458-2688 Fax (306) 458-2371 email: wilgenbusch@sasktel.net

RICKY MILTON

4558 Rt. 19 RR 2, Cornwall, PE C0A 1H0

(902) 393-8699 email: rmilton@upei.ca

Isn’t it ironic that the cattle industry, which has been in doldrums for literally 8 years, can bounce back in such a relatively short period of time? Starting in 2011 the purebred and commercial industry has been receiving a long-awaited increase in prices on all classes of livestock, which means that making a few bucks is now a possibility.

Expectations for the Charolais breed are indeed equally positive. The demand for Charolais sired commercial calves has been as strong as ever and orders for Charolais x Angus silver calves are not even close to being filled. Every indication is that the competition for Charolais bulls is going to be very robust this coming spring, as all signals are that demand may outstrip supply.

An added pre-Christmas gift for the breed was a contract for 310 2011 born Charolais purebred animals to Kazakhstan.

Quoting from WorldAtlas.Com;Kazakhstan is at the crossroads of Asia and Europe and is the 9th largest country in the World. It is bordered by the Russian Federation on the N.W. through to the N.E. China to the S.E. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to the South and the Caspian Sea to the S.W.

This contract was initiated when a request was made by an incoming Kazakh delegation to the Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP) prior to the Farm Progress show in Regina in 2011. The Kazakh’s group request was to tour Charolais farms during their visit, so STEP contacted Hawkeye Land & Livestock Ltd. who hail from Hodgeville, Saskatchewan, and they agreed to assist with their request. Garner Deobald toured them to the Howe and Rosso Charolais farms in the Moose Jaw region and the group was impressed with the cattle operations and this greatly influenced the purchase of Canadian animals. There were 33 contributors for this shipment ranging in numbers from 1 head to 60 head (10 bulls 50 heifers), from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Hawkeye Land & Livestock Ltd. are a family operated business with Garner Deobald working with the Kazakh group on obtain the agreements while Lori and Kylie Deobald attended to many of the logistical and administrative aspects of this venture. Hawkeye also collaborated closely with Rod and Kristi Guilford of Xports International Inc. from Clearwater, Manitoba. Garner commented; Rod and Kristi have been involved with the export of Canadian genetics to Eastern Europe and central Asia for a number of years and their experience was invaluable and much appreciated on this project.

The Kazakh Company that purchased the animals is called Agrofirm Dievskaya Ltd., which is owned by Oleg Vladimirovich Danilenko, and his son Oleg Olegovich Danilenko. They operate a 265,000 acre spread in central Kazakhstan which is basically the same environment that exists in the the prairie conditions of western Canada.

The journey started at the Winnipeg airport on December 11th, 2011, for Garner Deobald and me, as we were accompanying the animals. Five cattle liners delivered 310 animals to the airport from the quarantine stations at Oak Lake and Clearwater, Manitoba, and following processing they were divided between 34 crates and loaded aboard a Korean Airlines 747, which was bound for Astana, Kazakhstan via Brussels, Belgium. The total flight time including stoppages was 17.5 hours. The temperature in Winnipeg was minus 10, plus four in Brussels and minus 31 when we arrived in Astana. The temperature in the hold for the cattle was plus 16 degrees. It was literally quite a sight when the plus 16 air mass mingled with the minus 31 degree air mass when the hold doors were opened.

The turnaround time for the plane to leave was two hours so the ground crew did not waste any time unloading the livestock onto the apron. Loading all of the animals into the trucks for the journey to the ranch was not as fast as the transport were reconfigured grain trucks with pup trailers, which took some time to load. The good news was that all the animals had come through the first travel stage in good shape.

It took about 7 hours to get all of the animals loaded and on the road for a 750 kms trip to the ranch. At approximately noon of the next day the animals reached their destination, and to the delight of all of the parties involved, the animals scampered from the trucks to the pens showing no signs of undue ware and tear. It had been almost 60 hours since the animals had been loaded onto the trucks from the quarantine stations in Manitoba until their arrival in their new home in Kazakhstan, so the animals ecstatically engulfed the hay and water in front of them.

Over the course of the next few days we discussed all aspects of the importation including feed rations, health care, average daily gains, the taking of weights and measures, EPD evaluations, and future year animal registrations. Garner supplied them with a copy of the Canadian registration papers and also a translated version of the registration papers in Russian. We also exchanged a series of gifts and shared toasts of cognac to the future of Canadian Charolais in Kazakhstan.

This trip was in part an adventure as it is not an everyday event. The new owners were very courteous and made us feel welcome by extending us a large amount of farming hospitality, which was certainly appreciated.

We departed the country with the distinct feeling that they were impressed with the Charolais cattle, and we had the comforting feeling that the new arrivals were in good hands.