JANUARY 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Holstein assessments will establish benchmarks
Stories by DAVID SCHMIDT
VANCOUVER – A $50,000 prize pool led to the BC Holstein Branch’s biggest spring show ever in 2016 and the 2017 show promises to be even bigger and better. Scheduled for March 23 in Abbotsford, the show will again be held in conjunction with the Westcoast Holstein Classic Sale and feature a $100,000 prize pool. It will also include a Tier 1 judging school and showmanship clinic. “It’s a pleasure to work with ag businesses that support our industry in ways other than just the on-farm sales,” show committee chair Matt Langelaan told the BC Holstein Branch annual meeting in Vancouver on November 30.
The show highlighted a busy year which also included another successful spring genetics marketing workshop and a summer picnic at Gracemar Farms.
The BC branch put more funds into supporting youth and youth activities in 2017. Although this was forecast to result in a deficit, improved returns from the spring show meant the branch ended the year with another small
surplus. The branch is budgeting for another deficit in 2017 but since it has a large accumulated surplus, it will not increase membership dues or fees in 2017. This is despite a $10 increase in the Holstein Canada (HC) membership fee. With the BC branch absorbing the national fee increase, BC breeders face no additional costs as HC president Robert Chabot told them HC is not increasing any of its service fees. This is despite hiring additional classifiers (now up to 25) and having begun conducting proAction animal care assessments in BC, Alberta and Manitoba. Classifiers are assessing knee, hock and neck injuries, body condition scoring and lameness.
HC Western field services manager Brian Nelson has already done 17 assessments on BC farms, noting “no one has passed or failed. Right now, we are just establishing national benchmarks. When we reassess in two years, farmers will have to show improvement from their first assessment.”
He stresses HC “didn’t create the assessment criteria.
Eto leaves BC Dairy
VANCOUVER – The BC Dairy Association is looking for a new executive director after Dave Eto resigned the position effective the end of the BCDA annual meeting in Vancouver, December 2.
Eto resigned to
become the chief executive officer of Naturally Splendid Enterprises, a Pitt Meadows- based edible hemp processing and distribution company.
“I have been consulting for NSE co-founders Craig Goodwin and Bryan Carson for several years and they not only offered me the position of CEO but an equity interest in the company. Having an equity interest in a food company has always been a dream of mine,” Eto said. Eto called his departure “bittersweet,” saying he appreciated dairy producers’
authenticity. “You know
where you stand and you speak your mind
candidly,” he told them.
DAVE ETO
BCDA chair Dave Taylor says they have started looking for a new ED but have not set a deadline to fill the position.
“Winter is usually slow and we have good staff in place so we’re not in a rush to replace (Eto). We’ll take our time to find the right person but we hope to have someone in place by spring.”
More changes
A new executive director is not the only change for the BCDA. Jared de Jong has replaced Ken Vandeburgt as one of Mainland Milk Producers’ representatives on the BCDA board of directors. He will also represent dairy on the BC Agriculture Council board.
27
BC 4-H fund development officer May-Britt Jensen, left, presents BC 4-H’s first-ever Planned Legacy Giving award to Karen and Gary Booy of BC Holstein News. DAVID SCHMIDT PHOTO
We are just service providers.” He believes they are the best people to conduct assessments.
“We are cow people. Our classifiers look at 20,000 cows per year. They can tell what’s a defect and what’s an injury.” Despite having to commute from Ontario, Nelson tries to visit each Western province at least every two months. In 2016, he visited 50 BC breeders, putting a priority on “member retention.”
Client retention is also important to Canwest DHI.
“Our 2016 goals were to grow our market share to 74% of producers,” Canwest DHI BC manager Val Holbech said. Although Canwest almost reached its goal across its territory, it is still far short of that mark in BC and still tests only 63% of this province’s producers.
“We tested 52,328 cows in 305 BC herds in 2016,” Holbech reported. DHI is collecting
Ketoscreen results on all milk samples and forwarding them to the Canadian Dairy Network (CDN). However,
MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE 2017
DAIRY EXPO ON JANUARY 25-26
Join us for our annual Dairy Expo Farm Tours and Dairy Expo Seminars
DATES: • Wednesday, Jan 25, 2017 – Annual Farm Tours
• Thursday, Jan 26, 2017 – Annual BC Dairy Expo Seminar at
THEME(S): •
•
• the afternoon
COST: • $20 (includes access to seminars, Annual Dairy Producer Luncheon & Hoof Health Workshop)
only farmers who pay for the service receive their results. DHI will also start collecting MUN (milk urea nitrogen) data on all samples in 2017, again to provide a database for CDN.
DHI already serves 39 robotic herds in BC and recently hired a robot specialist to expand their service in that growing sector. Although each robotic system currently requires its own sampling equipment, DHI is looking at a new sampler which will work with all five robotic systems used in BC.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
