Page 24 - BCHNews-WCDN1224-Web

24 WC DAIRY NEWS  CHRISTMAS 2024
BC Holstein Branch
A Year of Resilience and Growth
Amanda Poelman
The BC Holstein Branch held its Annual
General Meeting on November 27th, in
conjunction with this year’s BC Dairy
Industry Conference. President Thomas
Cuthbert welcomed everyone to the
meeting and presented an overview of the
year’s events. “It was another tough year for
the BC dairy industry,” he said, “It sort of
feels like we are in a post-Covid hangover.”
While keeping an eye on things south of the
border, Thomas is optimistic about 2025,
which will kick off with a Herd Management
workshop on February 12th.
Perhaps the biggest event on the horizon
is the 2026 National Holstein Convention,
which will be held April 14-16, 2026, at
the Delta Hotel in Burnaby. The events
will be followed by a show on April 17th.
In preparation, Thomas hopes that the
membership will step up to help, “We’ll be
calling soon – please don’t say no!”
Thomas recognized Lexi De Jong for her
contributions, particularly on the Show
committee since she has stepped down
from the Board. He welcomed new director
Heidi Schurmann while thanking the rest
of the board for their ongoing work and
dedication to BC Holstein activities.
Carl Barclay delivered reports for the
Show and Events committees. “With high
inflation and input costs at a record high, it
seemed that asking businesses for support
was not an appropriate response to the
state of the industry,” thus the 2024 BC
Spring Show was cancelled.
A very-well attended Branch picnic was held
at Richard and Judy Bosma’s Abbotsford
farm on July 31st. A BBQ lunch was served,
and Carl thanked J&D Dairy Services, RBC,
Classification
1) Milk Recording
•  DHI mobile app is now included in the
basic services provided by Lactanet.
Paper reports will still be available for fee,
but the hope is to be paperless by March.
2) New Genetics Tools
•  Modernized LPI formula will be released
in April 2025.
•  New Genetics website (www.lactanetgen.
ca) is now live and offers access to new
indexes like using beef on dairy.
•  Calf health evaluations with be another
tool moving forward.
3) Initiatives to Support the Dairy Industry
•  Dairy sustainability (in partnership with
FCC, DFC) – eligible farms can receive up
to $4000 for participating and making
changes to improve sustainability on
farm. This includes reporting on two
areas that often lack information – calf
mortality and reporting reasons when
cows are sold.
•  Time saving tools: DHI Mobile, DairyComp
Mobile and pregnancy testing.
•  Simplifying on-farm admin: automated
traceability, proAction and registration.
Terry Wagner (Evergraze Holsteins)
accepts BC’s Cow of the Year Award.
Classification
237,884 236,423
181,798
2022 2023 2024 Sep YTD
Genomic Testing
Canada
Genomic Testing
18,637
14,557
14,515
2022 2023 2024 Sep YTD
Canada
Registration
Registration
273,133 272,815
198,727
2022 2023 2024 Sep YTD
Canada
WestGen and BC Dairy Association for their
generous sponsorship of the event. Beyond
the zipline and bouncy castle for the kids,
everyone could view the cattle selling the
next day in the Vedderlea Dispersal Sale.
A Ac ct ti iv vi it ty y o on n t tr ra ac ck k t to o l la as st t t tw wo o y ye ea ar rs s
Congratulations to Allyson and Ashlee
N NE EW W E En nd d V Vi is si it t r re ep po or rt ti in ng g o on n
McAvoy who received the gold watches
C Cl la as ss si if fi ie er r t ta ab bl le et ts s f fo or r c co on ns su ul lt ta at ti io on n! !
sponsored by the BC Branch for champion
calves at the Maple Ridge Fair. Allyson
was Grand with PACIFIC CREST JORDAN
British Colombia
SNEAKERS, while Ashlee won Reserve
2022 2023 2024 YTD
18,047 13,864 9,779
with GOLDENSET POLLY BULLS EYE. Carl
also presented the four nominees for BC’s
cow of the year competition (see page 8).
Angela Hamming congratulated the
Okanagan, Vancouver Island, and Fraser
Bob Reck, Regional Sales Manager,
Valley Holstein Clubs for hosting three
successful Breeders Cup competitions
gives Lactanet update.
On track to meet or improve on last year
this year. Nearly 200 cows were presented
during these contests, and a common
In summation, Bob says that robotic herds
Ongoing promotion for new herds to
theme of high-quality animals emerged,
are a large and growing segment of the
genotyping: receive free TSU’s and an
according to judges Markus Hehli, Lorene
Applicator for your first group submission!
dairy landscape in the west, and Lactanet
Barnum and Michael Haambuckers.
remains committed to providing support to
In his Field Ser vices report, Greg
all herds by growing the ‘toolbox’ available
British Colombia
2022 2023 2024 YTD
Hessels highlighted the well-attended
to producers for long-term sustainability.
509 508 324
‘Dairy Dynamics’ workshop presented by
Holstein Canada, Lactanet, and BC Dairy
in November. Luke Van Huizen gave an
update from the Judging committee, and
despite there being few opportunities for
Tier 1 level judges, he feels positive that
chances to host smaller judging clinics at
shows next year will arise. Ridley Wikkerink
Registration Activity on track to
gave the Treasurers report and announced
budget.
Taya Hamming as the recipient of the $1000
BC Holstein Branch Bursary.
For those behind, contact your Field
Service Business Partner or Customer
Lactanet Update
Service for assistance.
Bob Reck, Lactanet Regional Manager, gave
Registration is key in linking data to
an update on Lactanet activities in 2024
animal records for you to use.
and congratulated West River Holsteins,
Trinity Holsteins and Rose Gate Dairy on
British Colombia
being the Top 3 Best Managed Herds in BC.
2022 2023 2024 YTD
20,128 19,447 13,352
Looking ahead to 2025, Lactanet will
continue to focus on the following areas:
WestGen Update
WestGen marked its 80th anniversary
in 2024 and Marketing Manager Krista
Christiuk gave a brief update on the year
that was. In 2023, the demand for beef
semen outweighed that of conventional
and sexed dairy semen for the first time.
It is expected that will shift back to sexed
dairy semen now that the number of
available replacements is much lower.
The WestGen Endowment Fund continues
to support many different organizations
and research initiatives, which included
$15,000 invested into 27 4-H clubs across
BC this year. Krista also highlighted
WestGen’s excursion to Japan, planned
for February 2026.
Holstein Canada Update
Toby Kleinsasser (Field Services), Willem
Vanderlinde (AB National Director) and
Pascal Lemire (Classification Manager)
were on hand to give an update from
Holstein Canada. Willem updated
the membership about Paul Larmer’s
appointment as a ‘Special Advisor’ to
the board, during what is described as a
tenuous year for the Association. Toby
highlighted the success of Holstein
Canada’s ConneXXion app, which has
been steadily growing in popularity largely
due to the ease of genomic testing while
using the app.
Pascal Lemire discussed the regionalization
of Holstein Canada’s Classification
program, which will begin in 2025. Ideally,
he would like to see three classifiers
located in Western Canada, which would
cut down the amount of travel required for
classifiers based in Ontario and Quebec.
He also highlighted that the classification
system will celebrate its 100th anniversary
next year! To promote this, Holstein
Canada is recognizing herds across the
country who have bred over 100 Excellent
cows. Five herds received recognition
certificates in BC - WILLSWIKK (205 EX
cows), BENCO (188), WEDGWOOD (185),
HAMMING (172), and WESTCOAST (157).
Congratulations to these breeders for this
outstanding achievement!
Congratulations to Evergraze
Holsteins whose cow won
BC’s Cow of the Year title – see page 14.
Congratulations also to Ben Cuthbert
on being recognized as a new
Honourary Lifetime Member of the BC
Branch – story on page 8.