FEBRUARY 5, 2020
News Advertiser PAGE 13
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Spruce View Charolais wins Breeder of the Year Award
Pictured from left to right: Lyle Lakusta(son),Larissa MacIsaac (daughter) Effie and Lorne Lakusta, Bob Burla (Alta Charolais Asssoc director), Stephen Cholak (Alberta Charolais Association president).
Alberta Charolais Association December 12, 2019 was a very special and memorable night for the Lakustas’ of Spruce View Charolais from Andrew. They were presented with the prestigious purebred Charolais Breeder of the Year award voted on by the Alberta Charolais Association (ACA) membership. The awards night was held in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the ACA held in Red Deer. Spruce View Charolais was established by Lorne’s father Syl in 1984, and the family operation took off from there. Spruce View Charolais are located south of Andrew and is operated by Lorne and Effie Lakusta, with their son Lyle, and daughter Larissa MacIsaac and husband Matt. You will probably remember the Lakusta name as they were long time members of the North Central Alta Charolais Breeders group, consigning bulls and females to the
annual sales at Nilsson Bros Clyde. In order to share their genetic program, the Lakustas’ have tried to consign top females into various fall female sales as well as selling packages off farm. Spruce View Charolais have marketed their genetics across Canada, into the USA, Mexico as well as China. This has allowed them to meet so many great cattle people in the Charolais industry. Since the Lakustas’ start calving in April, they only market two-year-old bulls, making them one of the largest two-year-old bull marketers offering 50-55 bulls annually. They feel that their customers prefer the extra aged bulls since they can cover more cows and stand up much better. As well as solely marketing two-year-old bulls, the Lakustas’ raise the largest offering of Red Factor Charolais bulls in Northern Alberta from three different sire groups.
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Coronavirus - CONTINUED from PAGE 4 some frightening results. It is posited that this disease could kill 65 million people within 18 months if the conditions were right. Looking back at the Spanish flu, there were actually two waves. The first wave in the spring was not very impactful. The second came back with a vengeance and made history. It is important to NOT believe everything you read on the Internet. The Agence France-Presse (AFP) has fact checked and debunked a number of reports that are spreading. First, the claim that China had built a hospital to address the needs in 16 hours. When reverse image searches were done on some of the photos it was found that they were stock photographs from a manufacturer of modular buildings. Some of the other reports follow. Health experts in Sri Lanka refute claims of herbal cure for novel coronavirus. Australian health officials dismiss hoax report about new novel coronavirus case outside Sydney. There was a photo of people laying in the street “who died” from the new coronavirus in China, but the photo was actually from a 2014 art project in Germany. There were also
reports that Chinese ‘spies’ stole the virus from Canada. Also false. In short, don’t get your news from your social media feed or your friends on wing night. Despite the virus already being spread to 25 countries, Canadian officials as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) are downplaying situation stating that the risks to public health are low. Canada in particular has been slow to act on repatriating Canadians from China. In interviews they have stated they are “assessing the individual needs” of those who want to come home. Their individual need is that THEY WANT TO COME HOME! On Saturday, officials stated that Ottawa was going through a “deliberate process” to evacuate Canadians. In the meantime British, French, US and citizens from other countries have already arrived home and are being evaluated. Time will ultimately tell us the real truth. Is coronavirus 2019-nCoV a low risk or is the cat out of the bag? Tell me what you think. Email me at abletters@newsadvertiser.com
