Canadian Angus Association Staff
Rob Smith
Chief Executive Officer
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Michael Latimer
Assistant General Manager
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Alan Yuen
Office Manager
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Joanelle Fuellbrandt
Office Administrator
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Kajal Devani
Breed Development
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Cheryl Hazenberg
Canadian Angus Rancher Endorsed Tag Program
Co-ordinator
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Sharmayne Byrgesen
Registrar
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Shirley Anderson
Assistant Registrar
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Ciara Buchanan
Assistant Registrar
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Tina Zakowsky
Member Communications
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Brian Good
Commercial Fieldman
(403) 391-4037
Wayne Gallup
Eastern Fieldman
(Quebec & Maritimes)
(819) 826-3026
Announcements
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The member survey and 2012 membership renewals have been sent to all member households. If you do not receive your package by November 25, please contact the office.
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Fill out the member survey for your chance to win an iPad or Blackberry Playbook! Click here to take the survey online. You will need your membership number to complete the survey. The deadline to respond is December 15.
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both the bull and female champions and drove away in not one, but two 2011 Dodge RAM trucks!
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The Canadian Angus Association office will be closed on Tuesday, November 29 for a business planning day.
Information about the Member Survey
The member survey was constructed through the direction of your elected Board of Directors. To assist with their future planning and direction, in addition to assuring the best experience from your membership and service fees, please take the time to respond by December 15, 2011. The survey will take approximately 45 minutes of your time to complete.
As an incentive for completing the survey, the Board of Directors will be drawing one membership number from all returned surveys and awarding the member their choice of an iPad or a Blackberry Playbook!
Your membership number will be recorded if you fill out the survey online. If you return your survey by mail, please mark your membership number on the outside of your envelope to be included in the draw. Please note that your survey responses will be kept confidential and will not be tied to your membership number.
News from the October Board Meeting
The Board met October 23–25 in Calgary. Meeting highlights can be viewed online. Some of the key decisions made at the meeting include:
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The electronic registration incentive discount is now a permanent feature of the fee schedule. This means that spring calving herds may register their calves born in the current calendar year on or before July 15 and fall calving herds may register their calves born in the current calendar year on or before December 15 for $15 regardless of the age of the calf at the time of registration provided the registration is submitted electronically.
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Effective immediately, pedigree extract requests with registration numbers sent electronically will be subject to a fee of $2.50 each, an increase from the current rate of $2 each. This fee increase is in line with the Association’s goal of cost recovery for all services offered.
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All Canadian Angus Association members who sell under the standard terms and conditions of the Canadian Angus Association, including the Breeder’s Guarantee Guidelines, must disclose genetic defect status, red carrier status and Elite Cow status. Non-compliance will be subject to one warning with a $500 fine on subsequent violations. All Canadian Angus Association activities and services would be suspended until the fine is paid.
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Effective January 1, 2012, the Canadian Angus Association will begin transitioning to SNP parentage verification. Microsatellite testing via DNA will continue to take place for a
period of time. The fee and additional information will be communicated to members as
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The Board has chosen to make registration of herd names mandatory as of January 1, 2013. It will also be mandatory to use the registered herd name in each animal name. The placement of the registered herd name will be standardized to be the prefix of the calf name, so that the herd of origin is always identifiable.
Canadian Angus Rancher Endorsed Information Session December 1
Canadian Angus Association staff will be hosting an information session about the Canadian Angus Rancher Endorsed program at 5:00 p.m. MST on Thursday, December 1. You will need a computer with a satellite or high-speed Internet connection and a phone line to participate. All interested parties are welcome—you do not need to be a member of the Canadian Angus Association or an Angus tag user to participate.
RSVP to Cheryl and she will provide you with the details.
You are invited to attend the Commercial Cattlemen's Beef on a Bun on Friday, November 25 immediately following the Commercial Cattle Show in the Stadium West at approximately 6:00 p.m. This event is sponsored in part by Canadian Angus Rancher Endorsed.
CEO Rob Smith, Assistant General Manager Michael Latimer, Commercial Fieldman Brian Good and Angus Tag Program Coordinator Cheryl Hazenberg will all be at Agribition. Cheryl will have a booth set up to take your Angus tag orders and will have a limited quantity of tags on hand.
Performance Data Processed for National Cattle Evaluation
The Spring 2012 NCE is now underway as we merge Canadian Angus performance data submitted before November 1 with American Red Angus and Black Angus performance data. The resulting EPDs will be available in early January 2012.
Thank you to all Performance Program members who submitted their weights into the office before November 1. Please look at the weaning weight reports that were returned to you to verify that all the information that was recorded is accurate. A large volume of the weights that we received this year were submitted electronically and we would like to thank our members for using our online system. It is easy to use, accurate and fast. If you do not use our online system and would like to, please contact Kajal for a demonstration of how to enter weights online.
For those members who were unable to submit their weights by November 1, please submit your weights as soon as you can. We will process your weights for you, provide you with adjusted weights, ratios and index rankings for in-herd comparison of your animals. We will also provide you with Interim EPDs to use for across herd comparisons of your animals. The weights will be evaluated in the next NCE. Please remember that weaning weights for all calves must be submitted in order to remain compliant on the Performance Program.
If you have any questions about the Canadian Angus Performance Program please contact Kajal at 1-888-571-3580 extension 227.
If you are working on your sale catalogue in the next few weeks, consider using the percentile ranking graphs as a way to showcase your animals.
Percentile ranking graphs are available for animals that qualify for EPDs under Animal Inquiry on our website. These are a great tool available to Canadian Angus members who participate on the Canadian Angus Performance Program. For more information about Percentile Rankings, contact Kajal at 1-888-571-3580 extension 227.
The Canadian Angus Foundation is providing financial support in the amount of $500 for a member of the Canadian Junior Angus Association to attend the GOAL (Guiding Outstanding Angus Leaders) Conference in Regina, Saskatchewan, February 18–20, 2012. To apply, email Michael Latimer indicating your desire to attend and why you think you should be chosen to receive the funding.
A price adjustment to some of our tag products will take effect on January 1, 2012. The following items will be affected and the new prices are listed. The cost of the RFID tag is not changing and that will remain the only tag required to take advantage of the Canadian Angus Rancher Endorsed program.
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RFID with matching maxi dangle tag (bag of 25): $103
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Custom RFID with matching maxi dangle tag (bag of 25 with basic numbering): $108
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Custom RFID with matching large dangle tag (bag of 25 with basic numbering): $108
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Maxi dangle tags (bag of 25): $30
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Custom maxi dangle tags (bag of 25 with basic numbering): $35
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Spare tagger pins: $4.40
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Pen: $6.50
Please contact Cheryl if you have any questions about the Canadian Angus Rancher Endorsed Tag program.
Free Online EPD Workshop December 6
An interactive online workshop where you can ask all the questions that you’ve ever had about EPDs, free to you courtesy of the Canadian Angus Association, is held every month. The next online EPD workshop, where you can learn about all the reports that you receive from the program and how to answer bull buyers' questions, is scheduled for December 6 at 9:00 a.m. MST. Please contact Kajal to register.
All the forms that you require from becoming a member of the Association to ordering tags to registering a lease can be downloaded from our website.
Instructions for completing the following forms are available online:
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Herd Inventory and Application for Registration CAAFORM11 (pages Registry 7–9)
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Embryo Transplant Application for Registration CAAFORM26 (pages Registry 13–14)
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205-Day Weight Worksheet (pages Breed Development 10–11)
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365-Day Weight Worksheet (pages Breed Development 13–14)
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Ultrasound Scanning – Barn Worksheet CAAFORM24 (page Breed Development 17)
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Heifer Exposure Worksheet (page Breed Development 19)
Group Benefit Program for Canadian Angus Association Members
The Canadian Angus Association is pleased to support a group insurance program for members and their families and dependents. For more information, visit the RanchPlan website.