After seven hours of recycled air on a plane I was really looking forward to some fresh air when we landed. I was in for a rude awakening. As I stepped off the plane into 84 degrees, the humidity in Montreal hit me like a brick wall!

I met Jess Denning, last year’s YDP winner and we headed to Saint- Hyacinthe, Quebec the location of the Canadian Junior Associations “Showdown”. I had known that we were going to the French speaking part of Canada but I was a bit naive to the fact that they actually don’t speak much English. I started to wish my GCSE French hadn’t been quite so long ago as we went to a restaurant and it was all in French with no translation. By the end of the showdown we were saying ‘Bonjour’ to everyone.

Showdown was the main reason for my visit. Jess had been invited to compete after she picked Canada as the place for her prize, a study trip abroad and I took the opportunity of tagging along to take a look at what makes their programme so successful. I wanted to know how they get and keep 600 members.

The Canadians run a very different programme to ours and it’s much along the same lines as our Young Farmers Clubs. The juniors are under 21, need to own cattle and they pay to belong to the Junior Association. Just like our Young Farmers Club’s they run both provincially and nationally and both are run by the Juniors themselves, with an adult advisor like we have in the form of YFC club leaders.

Each province then votes for members to go forward to the National Board of Directors that run the national programme. The main event at both levels is the Showdowns, where junior members come together to compete at all manner of character building activities, as well as many cattle competitions. Building great agricultural leaders for the future is the other national initiative that takes the form of a conference style weekend usually held in February.

Showdown was everything I expected it to be, although no adult participation at any level left me somewhat frustrated as I would’ve loved to have got involved. There is no lower age limit so if the “pee wees” or juniors need help then they ask an older participant to help and that is great to watch. The Showdown programme was all about healthy competition and the activities are designed to create confident well rounded individuals.

Some competitions are completed before the Showdown, such as photography, art, literature (essays or poetry) scrap booking and graphic design. Activities that took place during the three days were: team grooming (two people with 10 mins to dress an animal); stockjudging (written reasons, with top from each age group being chosen for team judging); showmanship, public speaking, sales talk (bit like an interview); print marketing (cut and stick a poster) and a cook off (teams of six preparing two steaks, loads of effort with everyone dressing up in their chosen theme).

Then there are the confirmation classes for those who brought their cattle along. As the national Showdown moves location each year, junior members get the chance to bring their own cattle when it’s close to them. There are lots of prizes on offer but the main trophy for each age group is the aggregate award, a fantastic silver buckle. It’s all about buckles in Canada!

Canadian Junior Coordinator, Belinda Wagner and the Board of Directors were great at encouraging Jess to join in and she ended up entering 8 of the 11 competitions and doing pretty well at that! As we had only arrived in Canada the day before, the art was done in the hotel room, the literature was done in the bar and public speaking was done with me timing Jess in the restaurant to check she was within the time scale.

First competition was team grooming where Jess and the American Red Angus Ambassador, Montgomery Dempsey, made up an international team. Neither Canada nor America clip bellies as they want cattle with depth of body and I really wanted to see their faces if Jess did it, but whilst borrowing someone else’s animal it wouldn’t have been the right time to make a point! Jess came away from Showdown with Champion in Print Marketing and Literature and reserve champ in art and public speaking.

I think the biggest thing that struck me about the Junior Association was how well the Canadian Angus Breeders as a whole support this initiative. Each provincial association is responsible for their own fund raising, which usually involves heifer or embryo raffles and silent auctions. The national programme is funded by auctions and even things like golf tournaments. One of their biggest fundraising ideas is a calendar, at the presentation dinner after showdown, breeders paid between $1000 – $1600 to have a page in it! That truly is great support for the future of the breed.

The next part of Jess’ trip took her to Calgary and as the Stampede was on the temptation of Rodeo and cowboys it was more than I could bear so I went too! It also gave me a great opportunity to meet and chat with the Canadian Association employees and I got the chance to find out more about their Ambassador programme from Assistant Manager, Michael Latimar.

The Canadian Association picks an Ambassador each year that represents the Association on a trip abroad. This is run as a separate programme to the Junior Association but the applicants need to be Junior Members. The applicants must send their CV, write an essay, go through an interview, give a speech to the Angus Association Presidents reception and take an agricultural knowledge quiz. All this is to make sure they select someone who will give the best possible impression at international level.

The first home stay for Jess was with the Hamilton family of Belvin Angus and they very kindly put up with me too. Gavin and Mabel Hamilton are driving forces in Canadian agriculture and have both sat on many of the important industry boards and committees. They have obviously passed their enthusiasm onto their children as both Colton and Quinn have already had leading roles in the Junior Associations.

Quinn has just finished as President of the National Junior Association and currently holds the same position in the Alberta Juniors too. I was able to attend the first part of the Alberta Showdown where Jess was again encouraged to take part and we also got to see the 4H show too. That was a real eye opener in terms of the cattle in Canada and how meat grading systems affect the kind of cattle we all keep. From an Angus breeders point of view you have to admire a country where every breed looks like an Angus. The black Simmentals were some of the best I’ve ever seen, especially with those lovely Angus heads and I was almost tempted to bring some home.

I left Jess in the capable hands of the Hamilton’s and I think she’s going to work there for the next few weeks. I was very grateful for the hospitality shown to me at Belvin and I thoroughly enjoyed talking about and looking at cattle for three days. A big thank you to Gavin, Mabel, Colt and Quinn and the Canadian Angus Association who all made my trip really enjoyable, everyone I met was really friendly and I have certainly come home with a few ideas that will move the YDP forward.

So my last report will do the last day and a bit of Wednesday which saw the Red Angus show being judged. Most people here would say that overall the standard of the Reds was better with less of a tail end. In the females it was the same result as we saw in the Futurity with Six Mile Red Angus winning with Soo Line Reserve with their outstanding two year old heifers. I have to apologies as I did not see the Male Championship in the bulls as we were touring the barns.

Before I mention the Black Angus show I have to mention that all the cattle were stalled in 6 big barns and they say if the cattle were tied side by side the line would be over 2 miles long which is just incredible. The exhibitors have really made an effort to present their cattle with some stalls decorated to the max with water fountains to stuffed bull heads on the walls.

Most of us really enjoyed touring the barns and meeting people and looking at their cattle, as not all cattle there were going to be in the show ring as many herds only had display animals there. Two American herds were present Express Ranches and Sinclair Cattle Company where we saw some of their top sellers of the past year. Over all their cattle were smaller than the Canadian ones.

Also on display were cattle from Dunlouise from Scotland with their Native cattle, they had three bulls on display and a couple of calves on other displays by their bulls. The Native cattle were well received by many over there. Yes they were small but very fleshy – maybe not the kind our commercial men would buy as they like bigger cattle but I have to say well done to the Souter family on their success over in America where they have some of the top volume selling Angus Bulls for semen sales.

Dunlouise cattle on display

Also on display was the World Forum Embryo Display which showed the cattle from around the world and as I said in the Bulletin the British cattle on display were by far the biggest and longest but still carried good fleshing ability there followed  for size by the Danish cattle.

The Junior Show which saw Black and Reds judged together was a real eye opener. To see children as young as 6 showing cattle was a  pleasure and you can see that the future over in Canada is bright with the large turnout of Junior members showing. The overall Champion was from Quinn Hamilton with a cow Belvin Lady Blossom 22′02 by O L G Battle Cry and Reserve going to Jaelayne Wilson with DMM Attraction 32U by DMM Posi-Traction 57P.

The Black Angus show with over 400 head of cattle started at 8 am and did not finish until after 6 pm. It was a real enjoy to watch as we saw each division championship being judged and listening to reasons from the judge after every class. In the Females I would say a lot of the ones that we might have picked were further down the class as they were just too big for the Judge today, he went for very feminine females and placed a lot of emphasis on the calf.

I thought the heifer calf classes were good but the yearling heifers in my opinion could have done with being less fit and a bit longer and bigger. In the older classes I picked out many cows you would love to have back home. The Champion Female was a real belter of a cow, though she maybe could have done with being a frame size bigger, she was a real quality animal and was shown by Soo Line Cattle Co who have had a real good couple of days in the show ring. Soo Line Annie K6271 is by Cudlobe Yellowstone 80M and in Reserve was a two year old heifer Bar E L Mangnolia 15T from Bar E L Angus by SAV 004 Density 4336.

Soo Line Annie

In the Bull Show we saw many good thick bulls. I thought the yearling classes were strong and if it was a show over in the UK they would have been well received at this age, although I’m not whether some would then keep growing on to make good selling bull at Stirling. The Bull Champion was a bull we saw at Hamilton Farms and all liked HF Tiger 5T by HF Kodiac 5R.

HF Tiger 5T

This bull was a real meat machine and his calves on show also did well. Reserve Champion was also the Reserve from the previous show – Eastondale Angus with Eastondale Break Away 32′07.

The British have been spending their money over here to bring in new genetics with Rull Angus from Claire and Edward Jones bringing in Belvin genetics, James Arnott, Coul, buying the Top Price Lot at the Sale, Jim Logan, Galawater, buying embryos from a good TC Stout daughter and John Elliot, Rawburn, buying a share in a classy female Cottage Creek 911J Tyra. John will also have bought more for  Bova Gen. I have bought more embryos from Miller Wilson and along with Gallawater bought the Semen Rights for the UK and Ireland of HF EL Tigre 28U who was Senior Yearling Champion and a full brother to Tiger the Overall Champion. I am sorry if others have bought and I have not mentioned them but these are the ones I know of at the moment.

This has been a wonderful experience and we have met so many fellow Angus Breeders from around the World, made many new friends and had a ball from start to finish. I would like to thank the Canadian Angus Association for such a wonderful Forum and all the volunteers who have made this the best ever Forum in many people’s eyes.

Now as we all start to pack our bags for the flight home I look forward to some work and a DIET we will all have some great memories of our time in Canada. Thanks to all who have texted me I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts from this trip.

The first day saw the Futurity show in which all the cattle that were shown were 2 years old and they had to be shown for the last two years at shows across Canada and be class winners each year to qualify for this year.

We saw a very good show of cattle with all the heifers being shown with calves at foot and being judged as a pair. There were three judges for each the Black and the Red Angus with John Tilson from Wedderlie being one of the Black Angus judges.

John Tilson from Wedderlie judging the Black Angus

All six judges were kept a secret until they walked into the ring to judge the first class, the judges each judged the cattle and place them all with 1st place receiving one point and so on, so the animal with the lowest points won the class.

As you can imagine the Canadians put on a great show with music playing at times and an announcer keeping us informed to what was happening in each ring. The Champion Black Female was Belvin Lady Blossom 2′07 from wait for it James Arnott, Coul Angus from the UK. What a great achievement for James to win this show with a heifer he bought last year in Canada. This balanced heifer was by Belvin Rebel.

Belvin Lady Blossom

Reserve Female was DMM Blackcap Essence 23T from the Miller Wilson herd that we visited first on our tour. This heifer with a good calf at foot was by DMM Dimension 108N.

In the bulls the champion came from another well known herd to us Youngdale with a big powerful son of SAV Net Worth called Youngdale Worth Alot 49T.

Champion bull Young Dale Worth Alot

The reserve came from Eastondale Angus with Eastondale Break Away who is sired by Hyline Right Way.

Over in the Red Angus ring there was an outstanding show of Red Angus Females which were well fleshed and on average bigger than the Black Heifers. Their winner was Six Mile Red Angus with Red Six Mile Bayberry and reserve was Soo-Line Cattle Co with Red Soo Line Annie. These were two good heifers and would have stood up well at any show in the UK.

Red Six Mile Bayberry - champion Red Angus female

In the Red bulls Champion and Reserve were from the same exhibitors as the females with Red 6 Mile full Throttle and Red Soo Line Momentum being Champion and Reserve.

Champion Red Angus bull Red Six Mile Full Throttle

After the show we had time to look at the cattle in the barns before the sale started I didn’t manage to stay for it all as we had to go and get changed for the opening Gala Dinner and also the Auctioners are very much slower over here with only about 12 an hour being sold. I hope David Leggat doesn’t think that is the way to go at Stirling.

The sale was good with many lots making over $10,000 the top was for the pick of the Belvin 2009 calf crop and this made $32,500 to James Arnott Coul Angus, as his pick he has chosen the Argentinean heifer calf that I liked at Belvin which is pictured from that day so good luck James with your purchase and congratulations on winning the Angus Futurity.

On our first day we did manage a trip to to Alta Genetics and saw some of their stud bulls with most people liking the straight Canadian bull Double AA old Post Banderlier. Another bull on show was last year’s Farmfair Champion SAV Wall Street 7091 who is a real thick muscled bull but maybe could be a little bit bigger for our country.

Sav Wall Street 7091

The rest of the day we were treated to seeing an auction market, feed lot, ice hockey training and a Wild West show which were all really interesting.

The next two days saw us travel up to Banff which is a must for anyone going to Canada as it is so beautiful. While there we went to a Glacier, Lake Louise, Bow Falls and up a Gondola to Sulphur Mountain though not everybody enjoyed the experience before hitting the shops in Banff (that would be Karen!).

Karen not looking forward to her Gondala trip!

Our next stop was to Calgary to the Stampede which they sell as “the greatest outdoor show in the world” which I can’t disagree with. It was spectacular from the thrill of the Chuck Wagon Racing to the “Big Show and Fireworks” these entertainers were breathtaking. Our next day saw us see the Rodeo finals with $100,000 for first prize up for stakes in the bull riding, bare back riding, bronco riding, steer wrestling, calf roping and barrel racing. I don’t know how these people do it it’s one tough sport!

Everybody attending the Pre Forum really enjoyed themselves and I would like to thank the forum committee for laying on a great tour and one which we will all remember for a long time.

Today (Monday) saw the first day off the World Forum which turned out to be one wet day with thunder and lightning all day. Though the day was wet we enjoyed our visits to the Bar U ranch which is one of the oldest ranches in Canada and is a National Historic Site of Canada.

Then off to buffalo head smash jump which is a museum about how the Native Indians lived and how they killed the Buffalo by stampeding them over a cliff to get their meat for the winter it was an interesting tour and well worth a visit.

Our last stop of the day was meant to be an outside BBQ but because of the weather the Forum Committee manage to get it changed to an inside premises where we were treated to music and a wonderful meal.

Tomorrow we are off to Spruce Meadows to see over 1200 head of Aberdeen Angus Cattle which we are all looking forward to seeing.

Willabar Angus is run by Andy and Ramona Hart who have 180 cows. This herd with 68 years of breeding behind it does things a little different from all the rest of the herds we have seen as they calve their cows in August so they can sell bulls at 18 months instead of a year like most others breeders. Demand for Willabar “long yearlings” is strong with this year’s bulls averaging over $4000.

Cows were in good condition as they were not nursing but they were of good size with meat in all the right places. One of the highlights of the tour was seeing a big long fleshy Vermillion Dateline son out of a Bold Ruler daughter – he would be the biggest bull we have seen on our travels. Most heifers went back to Mytty in Focus and were in nice condition for calving.

Willabar Dateline son

The last stop on the tour was to Cudlobe Angus from Dyce, Adrianna, David and Margaret Buldoc. Cudlobe is one of the leading herds in Canada for carcass traits particularly for marbling. The family run 400 cows in a very picturesque part of Alberta with the Rockies in the background. We saw about half of the herd and were impressed with length of the cows and their milking ability, these well sized cows were making a great job of their calves with many of the best calves by Cudlobe Payweight. 

Cudlobe cows

As with all the rest of our visits the hospitality today was great and everyone has really gone out of their way to make this an enjoyable trip. We have seen many examples of fantastic cattle and have learnt lots about different bloodlines. However, I reckon many of us will be on a diet now due to the fantastic food we have eaten on our visits.

I would like to thank Eddie for organising this trip and all of our hosts for making this such a great 5 days Thank you very much

I am of to the Pre Forum tour which takes us up to the Rockies and then on to the Calgary Stampede which I am really looking forward to, the only cattle we will see is a visit to Alta Genetics. 

On Monday the World Forum begins were there should be about 1500 head of cattle on display with over 500 Black Angus in the show and over 300 Red Angus with the rest made up of herd display cattle and the world Forum Embryo Calves. I will hopefully have time to let you know what happening over here next week and to tell about the show and cattle on display.

Prairielaine Rosebud (Rommel's dam)

Our fourth day started of very wet, so some of us decided we needed to go and get wellies, so off we headed to a UFA store which is a farmer’s general store. Think the staff got a shock when a bus load of tourists came in to the shop at 8.30 in the morning, after getting sorted out off we went to our first stop at Breamar Angus were we also saw some cattle from Arda Angus. 

Before I tell you about the cattle, by the time we had arrived at the ranch which was an hour’s drive south there was no rain and we had a beautiful day of weather so if anybody need some wellie boots only been on for an hour I know where you can all get them.

Breamar Angus of 80 cows is run by Peter Boak who is a grandson of Frank Slezina of Southolm Angus, Peter last year got the pick of the Southolm herd and we were lucky to see some cows from this famous herd. These older cows were good and carried good size with fleshing ability. One cow Southolm Beauty 33L had just been bought by John Elliot to join his donor herd in Canada, she was a good TC Stockman 365 daughter who I expect will have progeny in the UK after she is flushed. 

A typical Southholm cow

We then saw the show teams of both Breamar and Arda Angus. They were a good bit smaller than the cows, as that is the type they like to show to suit the judges over here.

Our next stop was to the Impressive Hamiltons Ranch owned by Rob and Gail Hamilton. Though we only saw a small portion of their 400 cow herd most of us were really taken with the fleshing ability of the cattle with good breed character and legs. Though they may not be as big as some of the Angus back home these were good cattle and would look good in anyone’s pasture. 

We saw HF Tiger 5T a 2 year old bull which is one of the favourites for next week show and is full brother HF El Tigre 28U who was one of the better yearling bulls we have seen on our travels. It was good to see this 28U as I had placed him 1st last year at Farmfair where I was judging. We were then treated to more steaks and desserts which everybody really enjoyed, but I think there will be some diets starting next week when we get home as the hospitality has been out of this world.

HF Tiger 5T

HF El Tigre 28U

Our last stop of the day was to Doug and Bevs Coldstream herd which most of you will have herd of as they have exported many cattle to the U.K which have done well. Doug was born not far from Wedderlie and in the same town as John Elliot Snr. We saw a bull Coldstream Paradox who was well like. This bull had good fleshing and walked well for a mature bull, the cows were in good working condition with some good paradox calves at foot.

Coldstream Paradox

Also at Coldstream were some cattle from BJ Cattle Company from the Scheirlinck family and Donor cows from John Elliot. BJ like to produce cattle maybe more suited to the UK market as he likes to see size and power in his cattle. We saw some big fleshy heifers and a bull BJ’S Enforcer 808 who Rawburn own a half share in, he was a big bull with great width and a good head and we will likely see calves at Rawburn soon of him.

BJs Gammer 802

John’s Donors were some of the biggest cows we have seen on our travels they have mainly come out of the Hoff, Prairielaine and Argwen herds we got to see Rawburn Rommel’s dam and sister who were very impressive. After seeing the cattle it was time – yes you have guessed – for another BBQ this time Salmon which was served with lots of whisky and wine. You can tell Doug’s from Scotland! Everybody really enjoyed themselves and on the bus home we had songs from Karen and John Elliot Snr to keep everybody amused.
Tomorrow is our last day on Eddie’s tour and we head south of Calgary to see Willabar and Cudlobe Angus.

Another nice day for our second day of touring herds. We started off at Argwen Angus with the Pope family who run 110 cows.

We were treated to a 5 minute slide show of the history of Argwen which was really interesting. The cows were bigger and longer than yesterday’s cows more like the size of cows we see back home. These cows were in working condition and the 2 and 3 year olds looked really impressive. They were running with a 3 year old bull DLMJ Image Maker 2S which was a good solid bull with good length and muscle. The young calves on them look good with plenty of growth, it’s clear to see David Pope has tried to keep size in his herd.

Argwen cows

Argwen yearlings

We didn’t make it to the Junior Show as it finished early and we were running a little behind time, but our next stop was to Belvin Angus where the Hamilton Family showed us a good portion of their 180 cow herd. We started with the donor cows and ET calves as well as their show team for the forum. These were good feminine cows with good size – maybe not as big as Argwen, but big enough with plenty of flesh.

Belvin cows at pasture

We also saw a cow that James Arnott (Coul Angus) from Scotland had bought and will be at show next week. On show also was a really smart ET calf from Argentina which I particularly liked with a great head and body on her.

Belvin 200W

Their main cow herd had many good cows in it and most of us were really impressed with them with over 70% going back to one cow the founder cow of the famous Lady Blossom family.

Belvin Lady Blossom 22M

A group of 29 British delegates have arrived early in Canada before the world forum, which should see the largest British delegation to attend a world forum abroad to see some of Albertas leading herds. The trip was organised by Eddie Gillanders.

The British delegates land at Miller Wilson's DMM herd.

After a good flight out and a good rest we started out on our first day of seeing herds and what a start we have going to see the DMM herd of Miller Wilson (150 cows) which was the top show herd in Canada last year – we were all hugely impressed with a  tremendous show of cattle.

 Their team for the show next week really impressed us all on the trip. These cows are moderate framed but not small, but they carried great fleshing ability and good feet and legs. Many of these cattle have progeny in the UK as Miller Wilson exports many embryos a year. 

Gumbo Gulch Creed 94S

The herd carries a large amount of TC Stockman blood and there new bull pictured is a TC Freedom son.  The cows out at pasture were also good working cows and our group liked their breed character and thickness a lot. The Red Angus cattle were equally as outstanding in my opinion. 

DMM dyna Blackcap 304P

DMM Red Sten Essence 42G

They don’t have many, but what they do have is quality good sized cows. The red cow pictured was show female of the year as a 2 year old and also as a 10 year old – now that takes some doing. The Miller family then laid on a BBQ for us which we all appreciated.

Our next stop was LLB Angus and we were hosted by the Brown family who showed us round their herd which has over 1000 cows and have the largest bull sale in Canada each year. Cattle were also on show from Cottage Creek Angus. 

LLB Allin 387T

LLB is a more performance herd using many of the top bulls from Canada and America, the cows were of good size and length, not in the same condition as DMM as they are desperately needing rain. We saw a lot of nice cow and calf pairs and a couple of their stock bulls which were deep fleshed bulls of moderate size.

One Free Wheeler was reserve male champion at Agribition last fall. We were then all treated to another BBQ which again was well appreciated, but I think we will not all be having such a large breakfast tomorrow as we did today. As we left the rain started to come down which is much welcome. The group have had a great first day and the Millers and Browns have looked after us so well which we all thank so much and are looking forward to tomorrow when we will see Argwen and Belvin Angus as well as heading to the National Junior Show.