World Hereford Conference 2012
By Miranda Lysell, Secretary of the Swedish Hereford Association
Pre-Tour Vancouver – Calgary via coach 9th-12th of July
My husband and I, together with a few other people from Sweden arrived in Vancouver on the 7th of July. We left from London on the afternoon of the 7th and despite the 9½ hours flight, we arrived on the evening of the 7th. Yes, strangely enough you can “go back in time”! It didn’t feel like we were in the right country when we went outside the airport as it was 35+ degrees and there were palm trees as well as the fact that we were greeted by taxi drivers of Asian origin. It felt more like Thailand! Vancouver lies in British Columbia on the west coast and the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean.
8th of July
A few of us from Scandinavia met up and decided to go on a sightseeing bus that took us around Vancouver and on to Stanley Park, a national historic park of 400 hectares. We stopped at the Rose Garden from where we saw Bald Eagles flying high above us. Not being fond of Cities, on the city tour, I actually thought that Vancouver was beautiful.
9th of July The first day of the pre-tour.
The coach took us from Vancouver on Highway 1 to Murphy Ridge Farms in Abbortsford. Our cheaufor told us that the richest soil in British Columbia is around Vancouver. They grow a lot of berries and fruit here. The landscape was flat, really good cultivation land and the roads long and straight.
At Murphy Ridge we saw cattle from their own herd, as well as from several others. There was an exceptional bull called Remitall Reality 25U by Remitall Keynote 20X.
After seeing some great cattle we pushed on along Highway 1 to the village of Hope where we stopped to stretch our legs. The landscape changed from flat to high mountains! The roads were no longer straight. Along this road our coach stopped as there was a Black Bear at grazing peacefully at the side on the grass verge!
As we got closer to our next stop, Copper Creek Ranch in Princeton, it became clear to us why the Ranch has the name it does. There is a lot of copper in the soil and a copper mine was close by.
A very welknown AI sire comes from this ranch, CCR Stamina.
The ranch is owned by Ron & Sharon Stevenson but they live in Vancouver and the place is run by Phil & Catherine Brown. Ron has a construction firm with 7000 employees and the couple are sponsors to the Hereford Youth.
The ranch consists of 25 000 hectares and has around 400 mother cows which are partly pure Herefords and part Angus cross (Baldies). The pedigrees of the cattle were very familiar to us from Sweden. There were Remitall Online, HF Beyond, CS Boomer and several other bulls in the pedigrees that we recognised. The cows were the same type as ours and what we ourselves aim for in our herd, but also in many other Swedish herds.
All the winter forage is produced on the ranches land, but so far away that it is stored off the ranch and and lorries transport it to the ranch as it is needed.
A calving shed had been recently built and very sympathetically from wood with the environment taken into consideration. Apart from calving, the cattle are kept and fed outdoors all winter and this is the way all cattle were kept in western Canada. The reason why it is possible to keep cattle like this in winter is due to the dry climate. The average rainfall per year in Princeton is 356mm.
Read more about CCR på www.coppercreekranch.com
The photos below are from Copper Creek Ranch. Click on them to enlarge
10th of July Visits to Quilchena and Douglas Lake Ranch
We stayed overnight in Merrit approx. One hour north of Princeton. Once again the landscape changed and was now a rolling Prairie, similar to what you see in Western films.
The first stop of the day was at Quilchena Cattle Company in the Nicola Valley, a ranch that was established 1870 with many “strings to it’s guitar”. On the ranch there is 4000 head of commercial Hereford cattle of which 1500 are mother cows. Approx. 1000 yearlings are sold for finnishing per year. There are about 80 American Quarter Horses and the ranch stands on 250.000 hectares of land plus 500 hectars that winter forage is grown on (mainly Lucern). The other “strings” are a historic hotel, (with bullet holes in the bar in the saloon!) restaurant, shop, golf course, camping and fishing. Read more about Quilchena here www.quilchena.com
From Quilchena we took a gravel road over a cattle grid and away from civilisation. We were on our way to Douglas Lake Ranch. We drove half an hour on this track over the Quilchena land and within this time we saw a handful of steers. After that we passed over another cattle grid and on to Douglas Lake land, we saw a few Quarter Horses grazing and after that a corral out on over the dry prairie landscape. Just like in a Western. One of my questions that I had been wondering about for years was answered. How is it possible for cowboys on horseback to follow cattle for days on end? Here in Sweden it would never be possible as we have a lot of marshes and many rivers have deep sand in the bottom.
The land is dry with stone underneath and rivers have stony beds! Not at all like in my country!
Douglas Lake is Canadas largest privately owned ranch and consist of approx. 257 000 hectares of which 82 500 hectares are their own and 175 000 hectares are leased from the government. The cost of the lease is based on the average price of beef which allows the ranches to survive even when the price is low. 2 500 hectares of the land is used to grow winter forage. Watering systems are used to increase the growth of the grass which is harvested.
There are 20 000 head of cattle on the ranch of which 4 500 are Hereford mother cows, 2 500 are Baldie mother cows (Hereford x Angus), 350 Quarter Horses and approx. 60 employees of which 20 are cowboys.
On this ranch we saw enormous silage clamps! During an average winter the cattle are fed only under 45 days and are then divided up into paddocks. There were row after row of paddocks!
The cattle are kept in the mountains as long as possible and only get brought down to the lowlands as winter worsens. The reason that cattle can live in these paddocks is for the same reason as at CCR, the dry climate.
The cows calve towards the spring and the only housing for cattle is for calving time. Often, a cow with a new born calf will be put into the calving barn for one day for several different reasons. After that they get driven out to the pasture. The only other housing for animals were the horse barns.
The homestead was laid out like a small village. A very picturesque one. There was a church (not actually owned by the ranch) and 20 houses where the staff and their families live all year round, office, cook house, shop and school for the staffs children.
The ranch has had several owners over the years, but one in particular interested me a little extra, Chucky Woodstock who owned the ranch between 1959 and 1998. He had a passion for Quarter Horses. In the office there was a framed photo in memory of the legendary Quarter stallion, Peppy San! The saddle that he had won in the World Championship in Cutting, 1967 was on display. (Cutting is a competition where you “cut out” a calf from the herd and keep it from returning for as long as possible – these horses are like sheep dogs!). The current owner is Stan Kroenke who is an American business entrepreneur and owns among other things, Arsenal football club in England. The other sports clubs and other businesses that he owns are too many to list here.
We drank refreshing Ice Tea in the cook house and then visited the show before leaving. It was a shame that we didn’t get to see more cattle than a few steers as well as some very beautiful horses. I personally would have liked to have seen some real life cowboys and more cattle, but at this time of the year all the cattle were up in the mountains. We were 160 people in three coaches! Not an easy task! Read more about Douglas Lake at www.douglaslake.com
11th of July. Long drive to Banff
We stayed overnight in Kamloops, after which a long road trip of 5 ½ hours awaited us on the Trans Canada Highway. The landscape began to change once again, from ranch land to high mountains – we were on our way to the Rockie Mountains and the town of Banff! We stopped for lunch at 3 Valley Lake Gap and Chateau – a roadside stop off and resort with it’s own ghost town and railway museum. Lying in between the Monashee mountains and with its own crystal clear lake. The buildings of the Ghost town are real buildings from the end of the 19th century that have been carefully moved there. For anyone interested in Railways, the 3 Valley has the largest working round house in all of North America. There were many antique trains on display. What really impressed me though was the lake and the sheer mountains that dropped straight into it and right next to the road – straight up! Myself and a couple of my Danish friends went and dipped our feet in the lake and despite it being a very hot day, the water was icy! Maybe the water came from the glacier nearby to which you could take a ride in a helicopter from 3 Valley.
Read more at www.3valley.com
12 juli. Free time in Banff
We stayed overnight in Banff at the Caribou Lodge hotel. We enjoyed a nice evening in Banff town which was so very beautiful! The coach was to leave for Calgary at 14.00 the following day so we had free time. Quite a lot of people chose to take a cable car up into the mountains, but myself and some friends booked an hours horseback riding. The horses were brought down to a corral just outside of town. I was pleasantly surprised by how well behaved the horses were. You can put a western saddle on a horse but that won’t make it behave like one. I was pleasantly surprised! We were told to let them go nose-to-tail with each other – exactly the opposite to what you are taught in Europe. They all got on together and very well behaved! I liked my horse “Harold” so much that I wanted to take him home with me. We rode through the clear waters of the Bow River in brilliant sunshine, just a short distance away from the famous Banff Springs Hotel.
The photos above are taken inbetween 3 Valley Gap and Banff.
The photos below are taken close to Banff and in Banff. Click to enlarge.
13th of July WHC meeting
We left Banff and were quite soon in Calgary. Yet again the landscape changed. The land was flat with long straight roads and the Rocky Mountains could be seen on the horizon to the west.
The meeting was led by Chairman for the day, Mr Jay Cross from Canada together with Secretary General, Jan Wills from New Zeeland.
Jan Wills has served the WHC for eight years which is the maximum period as Secretary General. There were three candidates for the post of Secretary General. PJ Budler from Bon Haven Herefords in South Africa who has created the herefordbreeder.net website. The second candidate was Gordon Stephenson who has been the General Manager of the Canadian Hereford Association since 2004.
The Third candidate upon who the majority of the votes fell on, and therefore was elected to the new Secretary General, is, José “Pepè” Bonica, from Uruguay. Pepé is the chairman of the Farmers Federation, Chairman of the Hereford Association between 2005 - 2007 and Chairman of the Performance Test Station.
There are 18 countries that are members of the WHC; USA, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Nya Zeeland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, UK, Uruguay. This year two new countries became members, Switzerland and Kazakhstan. Several other countries have shown interest in becoming members but have not yet sent in their application in full.
Global Evaluation.
(Courtesy of the UK Hereford Cattle Society)
“Following the previous World Conference held in 2008 in Copenhagen when it was reported that the above Evaluation had been abandoned due to cost, it has been agreed at this Conference that AGBU, who were assigned to carry out the Evaluation, be asked to provide a final report on their findings.
This subject then to be taken up by the new Secretary-General with a view to possibly seeking an alternative organisation who may be able to carry on where AGBU left off. The North American & South American Hereford Associations had been successful in securing a Pan American Evaluation
which, according to those present from those countries, had been a great success.”
The problem with not having a global evaluation system is that the EPDs get zeroed on entrance to another country, even if that bull is in the top 10% in his country of origin. It takes time for the bulls offspring to be born and help raise the EPDs and the accuracy of them. It can be quite frustrating as a breeder.
WHC 2016
Only one application to host the next WHC in 2016 had come in, and that was from Uruguay, which was fully supported by all!
The meeting was followed by lunch, thereafter Country Reports (see link on previous page) In the evening we enjoyed a mingle party with Riverdance show.
14 July. Technical Conference Presentations and Official Opening Ceremony.
The day was held in the Palomino Room at the Calgary Stampede.
Mrs Loreen Harper, wife of the Prime Minister of Canada held the official opening speech. She has a background in ranching and her parents had Herefords in Turner Valley just 1 hour from Calgary. She has worked for the Canadian Hereford Digest and has ridden a lot – even competed in Barrel Race (a timed event in which you ride a pattern around three barrels as fast as you can).
Youth representatives from the member countries came in holding their country flag and the Chairperson for each country was presented with a white cowboy hat in the “White Hat Ceremony” that is the Canadian way to show important visitors their appreciation.
The day continued with lectures on many interesting subjects like improving tenderness in beef, the docility of the breed and its importance, feed conversion and Hereford advantage in cross breeding.
The lectures can be seen on the link on the first page.
After sitting and listening interestedly for many hours, my husband and I went for a look around the Stampeed Park. Apart from the conference rooms of horse colours, the paintings of cowboys, horses and cattle, the next thing that made me step back in awe was a huge bronze statue of a cowboy on horseback following after a calf. It was stunning. There were several other similar statues around the park.
We found our way to the cattle barns and from there to the show ring, where a class of Hereford cross steers was being judged. I found it hard to understand why you would show a steer as there is no breeding value in them, and crosses as well… the answer? Well if there was $10.000 as a prize I would show a steer to! That was the prize money for Grand Champion.
The other events at the Stampeed included; Bull Riding, Roping (catch a calf with a lasso, stop, jump of the horse and tie the calfs back legs in the fastest time) as well as Wild Pony Race and Chuck Wagon Race. In Sweden Trotting is a big thing (compared to Racing in the UK) Who was crazy enough to come up with an idea like putting four Thoroughbreds in front of a chuck wagon and gallop off at full speed first a pattern around barrels, then around the course??? It was CRAZY! The origin of the race comes from when cowboys had to pack the chuck wagon and leave the camp as fast as they could when the Indians came.
15 July. Visit to Bar-Pipe
We had tickets for the Stampede the day after, but our friend, Michael Rutherford from Australia asked us if we would like to join himself and couple of others to Bar-Pipe Ranch in Okotoks. Bar-Pipe is owned by Mr Jay Cross, the Chairman for the conference, but is run by Doug & Judy Finseth.
The herd is mainly horned, but there are a few polled females and a polled bull. They were good, sound functional, cattle in working condition. A very nice herd and great people. A visit I am happy not to have missed out on. Read more about them at www.barpipe.com
The photos below are taken at Bar-Pipe.
16th – 18th of July. Show in Olds
Olds lies 45 minutes north of Calgary. The first day it was the Youth Show and horned and polled competed in the same classes and Juniors from around the globe got to loan cattle for the show. There were 150 cattle in the youth show.
The second day was the Open Show with separate classes for horned and polled. The third day it was the Pen Show and Ranchers Day.
My husband and I were asked if we would advise and support the Norwegian junior competitor, Susanne Fuglestad, who had never showed cattle before, which meant that we left for the show at 06.30. A very early day, but it allowed us a sneak preview of the show ground before the other delegates arrived.
We saw rows of fantastic cattle from herds that we knew and others that we had heard of and got to know a little better. There were three bulls from all of these amazing cattle that I’d like to mention as they really blew us away and they are Harvie High Roller ET 66X by Harvie Traveller, FCC Twenty X and Remitall-West Constructor 21X by Online.
The main results from the Junior Show below. For full list of results go to www.hereford.ca
17th of July. Open Show
Many of the cattle shown yesterday were also shown today. About 300 head were shown in total. After watching the show for a while, we were invited by our Chairmans daughter, Lowa Göransdotter to go and visit a Western store. Lowa had been in Canada all summer working for XTC Herefords and it was her boss who offered to take us. I left my husband, Einar who had was glued at the ringside. I didn’t want to miss the show, nor the chance to see such a store.
***Unfortunately I do not have photos of all the Champions and Reserve Champions. If you have photos of them, please send them to miranda.lysell@hereford.nu and I will add them. (Same e-mail address 2016!)
Polled Show Results:
Polled Grand Champion Famale: WLB 36N Beth ET 452S (same as yesterday)
Polled Reserve Grand Champion Famale: WLB 69T Just Lovely 84X. Born 2010. By Harvie Traveler 69T. Owend by WLB Livestock, Douglas.
Polled Grand Champion Bull: Remitall West Game Day ET (Same as yesterday)
Polled Reserve Grand Champion Bull: CB 57U Can Doo 102Y. Born 2011. By RVP Star 533P Can-Am ET 57U. Owned by Cayley Cattle Company, Princeton.
Horned Show Results
Horned Grand Champion Female: Big-Gully 611 Hunny 553U. Born 2008. By KSU Bounty Hunter 611. Owned by Big Gully Farm, Maidstone.
Horned Reserve Grand Champion Female: Triple A 9121 Rebecca 5Y. Born 2011. By CL1 Domino 9121W 1ET. Owned by Triple A Herefords, Moose Jaw.
Horned Grand Champion Bull: UPS Uptown ET. Born 2010. By CRR About Time 743. Owned by Hirsche Herefords, High River.
Horned Reserve Grand Champion Bull: CL 1 Domino 144Y 1ET. Born 2011. By CL 1 Domino 994W 1 ET. Owned by Hoffman Ranch, Holden Herefords and Churchill Cattle co.
Some random photos below from the show. If you can identify the people and cattle it would be appreciated if you could send the names to: miranda.lysell@hereford.nu
Click on the photos to enlarge!
18th of July. Pen Show day
The last day of the World Conference and last day in Olds. Yet another boiling hot day. Today was it was the Pen Show. A different way of showing and judging cattle. In the morning it was the cow and calf classes to be judged by three ladies on horseback and group of three bulls in the afternoon judged by three gentlemen also on horseback. They were assisted in the ring by two cowboys. There were 40 cow –calf pairs divided into classes by age and 29 groups of bulls, also divided into classes by age, but all were born in 2011 between February and April.
19th of July. Post tour of our own.
The WHC ended here for us. 72 people went on the post tour to Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. They did some interesting sightseeing, farm visits, a visit to a research centre and shows.
Remitall-West
We were seven people from Sweden who rented two cars and visited Harvie Ranching, Remitall and FCC (Flewelling Cattle Company).
We started the day bay visiting Remitall-West. Brian and Anette Latimer welcomed us and we jumped up onto the back of a pickup truck and sat on bales of hay and were driven out to see some cows and calves. The cattle were exactly as we hoped they would be. They told us that Hereford embryos are put into Angus recipients, after which the cow is let out into a pasture with an Angus bull. That way they have no doubt as to the pedigree of the calf. We had donuts in the sale barn which was fun to see and we also got to see all the prizes they had won in Olds.
A visit at Harvie Ranching was next up, only about 7km away from Remitall. Two famous herds so close to each other. Marlene Harvie is Brian Latimers sister. I had met Marlene and Ian before on the UK conference in 2010 and also in Denmark at the National Show. I had also med Scott there to. We were greeted by Ian & Marlene, Scott and Cole & Jill.
The Harvies had brought home their 30 best cows to show us. They were in a paddock in front of Ian & Marlenes house. Ian said that he could show us cattle all day, but it’s only the best we are interested in? So true. I would like to take all the cows we saw home with us. We ate “lunch” here. It sounds simple, but it was a large buffet!
Flewelling Cattle Company
After two wonderful visits, we headed for FCC. Craig Flewelling told me at the show that half the cattle were there, but it was only a short drive from Harvies. This is the herd that I recognised the name of, but not sure from where. We were invited in for a cold drink and after seeing a photo of HF 4L Beyond, the penny dropped! Craig and his wife Doreen had bred FCC Maddux and FCC April who there is offspring of in Sweden as well as Beyond of course. You couldn’t fault the cattle here either.
20th of July
Our chairman, Göran and his wife set of for home. Former chairman, Lennart Andersson went of on his own to visit friends. Our treasure Jan was ill and stayed in his hotel room. (A few people had been ill the last days of the conference) So my husband and I went shopping. We visited a rather unusual hunting shop! Unusual in that the decor made you feel like you were out doors in nature. There were many different wild animals that had been stuffed and were on display; Wolves, Moose, Bears and a whole herd of Reindeer. Cliffs and running water had been made in the shop. It’s difficult to explain how wonderful it looked!
21st of July. Visit to Bar-RZ
Today should have been our last day before going back home. Bar-RZ lies two hours south of Calgary in Fort Macleod. Jan was supposed to go with us but he was still not feeling well. I didn’t feel too good when I got up in the morning, but nothing was going to stop me from visiting Bar-RZ! I had been so looking forward to visiting the ranch from where my favourite cow, Munka Lady ET (Lady Roxanne) comes from. So, a couple of tablets and we set off.
We drove through a town called Claresholm. We drove passed two western stores and the Canadian Appaloosa Horse Museum. I would have loved to stop and take a look at these places if time had allowed.
Sherri and her husband, Stuart greeted us and when we said that we had visited Craig Flewellings, Sherri told me that Craig had bought “Lady Roxannes” dam, Bar-RZ Roxanne from them and flushed.
The cows with heifer calves were in a pasture close to the house and yet again we saw cattle that were as near perfect as you can get. Of all the cows we saw in Canada, not one had a bad udder and teats, same type etc.
The cows with bull calves where an hours drive away, but they took us down to where the yearling heifers were. The ranch consists of 2700 acres of which 700 is leased and crops are grown on it and the rest, 2000 acres is grass and hay is harvested on some of it.
Once again, the landscape was like that of a western film. A river flowed next to the pasture and a bit further down there was a railway bridge high up. I was almost expecting a steam train to come. After looking at the heifers we headed back to the house for refreshments and Stuart and Sherri wanted to show us photos. But we never got that far as the tablets stopped working and my legs refused to carry me…!
I had such a high fever, I didn’t know what planet I was on for a couple of days, never mind which country or even continent!
Conclusion...
This was truly one of the most amazing trips I have done this far and one I will treasure for always.
Many thanks to all involved in making this conference so special.
By Miranda Lysell,
Secretary of the Swedish Hereford Association.
Footnote:
Regarding Quilchena. Since the conference, Douglas Lake Ranch has purchased Quilchena as a whole. Quilchenas website no longer exists but you can read about the ranch on Douglas Lakes website www.douglaslake.com