Judges Licensing Conference

Please see updated information on the Judges Licensing Conference in Alberta in mid-May and note the deadline for forwarding fees to attend.  

Ontario Goat Annual Meeting

Please see the accompanying poster from Ontario Goat notifying everyone of their Annual Meeting on March 24.

Ab Carroll is a very interesting speaker From the Ontario Stockyards at Cookstown with a wealth of information to share on marketing goats at public auction/stockyards.

If you are interested in attending the virtual annual meeting and hearing Mr. Carroll’s presentation and/or becoming a member of Ontario Goat please visit www.ontariogoat.ca.

Seeking New Members for the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council

Seeking New Members for the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council

Apply by March 22!

The Canadian Agricultural Youth Council, hosted by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), is recruiting creative and outspoken people who have a passion for food and farming and enjoy working in a team to find solutions and have impact.

The Youth Council meets regularly with Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food as well as department officials to discuss the issues that matter the most to young people in food and farming. Together, Youth Council members look for ways to overcome challenges facing youth and build a vibrant future for food and farming in Canada that reflects the values and aspirations of young people from all walks of life.

First established in 2020, the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council provides an opportunity for the next generation of leaders to share their personal experiences, perspectives, and innovative ideas on how to tackle issues from across the agriculture and agri-food sector.

During this unique career building opportunity, Youth Council members will learn about how policy and programming is developed at AAFC and expand their professional skillset and network.

Who can apply?

We welcome youth, ages 18 to 30, from across Canada to apply to the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council by March 22 if they have experience and knowledge of food and/or farming as a result of their upbringing, academic studies, volunteer work, current employment, or other life experiences.  

The next cohort of Youth Council members will be made up of 25 diverse youth from across Canada including farmers, students, researchers, teachers, food processors, business owners, scientists, and advocates. Agriculture doesn’t just mean on-farm activities — it also includes food processing, distribution, marketing, retail, restaurants and all the other activities along the value chain. 

If you want to learn more about government, expand your professional network, and work together to create positive change in the food and farming sector, please apply by March 22, 2022.

À la recherche de nouveaux membres pour le Conseil canadien de la jeunesse agricole!

Posez votre candidature d’ici le 22 mars!

Le Conseil canadien de la jeunesse agricole, chapeauté par Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada (AAC), est à la recherche de personnes créatives et au franc-parler qui sont passionnées d’aliments et d’agriculture et qui aiment travailler en équipe pour trouver des solutions et changer les choses.

Le Conseil rencontre régulièrement la ministre de l’Agriculture et de l’Agroalimentaire du Canada ainsi que des représentants du Ministère pour discuter des questions les plus importantes pour les jeunes dans les domaines de l’alimentation et de l’agriculture. Ensemble, les membres du Conseil cherchent des façons de relever les défis imposés aux jeunes et de façonner l’avenir de l’alimentation et de l’agriculture de sorte qu’il soit dynamique et qu’il reflète les valeurs et les aspirations des jeunes de tous horizons.

Établi en 2020, le Conseil canadien de la jeunesse agricole donne l’occasion à la prochaine génération de leaders de partager leur expérience personnelle, leurs points de vue et leurs idées novatrices sur la façon de s’attaquer aux problèmes du secteur agricole et agroalimentaire.

Il s’agit d’une excellente occasion de perfectionnement professionnel dans le cadre de laquelle les membres du Conseil apprendront comment les politiques et les programmes sont élaborés à AAC et élargiront leur champ de compétences et leur réseau professionnels.

Qui peut postuler ?

Nous invitons les jeunes de 18 à 30 ans de partout au Canada à poser leur candidature pour devenir membres du Conseil canadien de la jeunesse agricole d’ici le 22 mars s’ils ont de l’expérience et des connaissances dans le domaine de l’alimentation ou de l’agriculture acquises dans le cadre de leurs études, d’activités de bénévolat, de leur emploi actuel, d’autres expériences de vie, ou parce qu’ils ont grandi dedans étant plus jeunes.

La prochaine cohorte du Conseil canadien de la jeunesse agricole sera composée de 25 jeunes des quatre coins du Canada, dont des agriculteurs, des étudiants, des chercheurs, des enseignants, des transformateurs d’aliments, des propriétaires d’entreprises, des scientifiques et des défenseurs de causes. L’agriculture ne se limite pas aux activités à la ferme – elle comprend également la transformation des aliments, la distribution, la commercialisation, la vente au détail, la restauration et toutes les autres activités de la chaîne de valeur.

Si vous souhaitez en apprendre davantage sur le gouvernement, élargir votre réseau professionnel et travailler ensemble pour créer un changement positif dans les domaines de l’alimentation et de l’agriculture, veuillez poser votre candidature d’ici le 22 mars 2022.

Improving Milk Quality and Udder Health Seminars

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) is hosting a series of webinars focused on Improving Milk Quality and Udder Health on March 1st and 3rd, 2022.

Producing high quality goat milk is profitable for both producers and processors. The quality of goat quality is influenced by many factors ranging from milking procedures to udder health. Milk quality continues to be a concern for Ontario goat producers with approximately 10% of bulk tank samples having a Bactoscan level (ibc/mL) of more than 321,000 over the last two years. Join OMAFRA and leading experts for a webinar series focused on improving milk quality and udder health.

These sessions are free and open to any interested producers or industry representatives. The webinars will be hosted on Zoom with an audio-only call-in option also available.

Registration is required to receive connection details and links to access the webinar recordings. Register via Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/improving-goat-milk-quality-udder-health-webinars-tickets-265282526177) or by calling the Agricultural Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300.

Session 1: How Can We Improve Milk Quality?

Tuesday March 1st, 2022 10:30am – 12:00pm  

Factors Affecting Milk Quality

Dr. Cathy Bauman, Assistant Professor, Ontario Veterinary College

Impact of Milking Procedures and Equipment on Milk Quality

Phillip Wilman, Raw Milk Quality Program Coordinator, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Session 2: Health Management for the Milking Herd

Thursday March 3rd, 2022 10:30am – 12:00pm

Udder Health in Dairy Goats

Dr. Paula Menzies, Professor Emerita, Ontario Veterinary College

Managing Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis Virus and Its Impact on Milk Production

Dr. Charlotte Winder, Assistant Professor, Ontario Veterinary College

Commentary of Letter of Intent to CLRC

At their December board meeting the CGS board passed a motion to forward a letter to CLRC expressing intent to withdraw from our business relationship with CLRC effective December 31, 2022. A letter of intent does not mean that CGS will withdraw from our relationship with CLRC at the end of 2022. However; it does open up that option and guarantees that any possible cost of leaving the relationship will be minimized. Leaving a relationship without the appropriate one year’s notice can result in very high costs of withdrawal.

CGS has been working with other small ruminant industry partners, including CLRC, on an Integrated Genetic Databases project. The group of partners were successful in obtaining over $400,000 in government funding over three years. The Steering Committee of this group, including CLRC identified as a top priority analysis of CLRC’s current operating system including the possibility of replacement. CGS has been part of supporting this work as CLRC and the Steering Committee address replacement of the current CLRC system.

Goals in this work are twofold:

  1. To significantly reduce the cost of service charged by CLRC to member associations. This cost must be factored into registry fees charged to members of each association.
  2. Improve the efficiency of processing of registry work further.

CGS regards both of these goals as both important and wise as they will have a direct impact on any member submitting registry work for processing.

 In addition the CGS Board made a decision to conduct independent investigations into other options for registry service delivery.

This is wise and prudent because the level of service, and cost of service, provided to members is of paramount importance.  

No organization should ever simply accept the status quo as the only option.

The decision made by the Board of Directors came about after extensive investigations of the current situation and options.

If continuing to work with CLRC is the best option as of January 1, 2023 then that path will be followed.

All decisions are made with the best interests of members foremost in mind.

Should further communication be desired members should contact their representative on the CGS Board.

Report of January 2022 CGS Board Meeting

This meeting was held via Zoom.

Present: Sandy Howell, President; Callum Mcleod; Susan Frazer; Arnie Steeves and staff-Russell Gammon.

Regrets: Ed Cavanagh; Karen Cavanagh; Catherine Lord.  

In calling the meeting to order President Howell paid tribute to retiring Board members Callum McLeod and Karen Cavanagh for their input into making CGS a better organization.

Sandy has been doing a great deal of work on ongoing proposed revisions to the CGS by-laws and is moving forward with more drafting of revisions.

In addition she has led on making some revisions to the Milk Testing programs booklet. CGS will also be revising some of the application forms for programs in the very near future.

The Board spent considerable time discussing the future of registry services for CGS. Options are being explored through much work in cooperation with our current registry system and other industry partners. CGS is also doing some independent research.    

Chris Grab from Alberta and Jonathan Dugdale will be welcomed to the Board in February. The Board invested time outlining contents of an onboarding package that will be supplied to the new Board members.

It was with great regret that the Board received the resignation of Catherine Lord from the province of Quebec. Catherine brought the prospective of a larger herd owner to the Board table.

The Board will follow steps outlined in the current by-laws to find a replacement.

 In other business it was decided that a hard copy of the upcoming Yearbook publication will be mailed to all members. Newsletters will be emailed to those who have requested digital copies of publications only. The yearbook is more of a reference keeper item. The Yearbook will be published in late March/early April.

Work is underway to confirm a team of classifiers for 2022.

The pre-AGM Board meeting date has been set and this meeting will take place after reviewed financial statements have been received and reviewed. The Board has examined internal financial statements to the end of December. Current assets of the association now exceed $40,000. The review of 2021 financial performance is already underway.

Reminder that the Annual Meeting will take place on Saturday, February 19th, beginning at 12:00 noon eastern time and will take place via Zoom! Guest speaker at the AGM will be Dr. Jacques Chesnais who is heavily involved in supporting work on the Integrated Databases project.

Report of the CGS Board Meeting, December 2021

This meeting took place via our Zoom account.

Present:  Sandy Howell, President; Susan Frazer; Callum McLeod; Arnie Steeves; staff-Russell Gammon .

Regrets: Catherine Lord; Ed Cavanagh; Karen Cavanagh.

The Board approved a motion to send a letter of intent to withdraw from use of the registry services of CLRC as of December 31, 2022.

Work proceeds on investigating options for other service providers and also working with industry partners and CLRC on plans for a new operating system at CLRC. Time will tell if the notice of intent will be actioned. The letter was sent before December 31, 2021.

The Board approved a motion to have RLB, Robinson, Lott and Brohman carry out the review of CGS 2021 financial performance.

With regard to fees for One Day/Star M milk testing the first two tests in any calendar year will be at regular fees, any third non-selective tests will be performed at no charge by CGS.

A motion was approved regarding classification fees for 2022 to improve cost recovery for any classification service provided.

2022 fees will be:

Site fee:  $300.00

Fee for applications submitted after the deadline of MARCH 31, 2022: $200.00

Cancellation Fee:  $100.00

Applicants will also estimate the number of animals they expect to classify and submit fees for them at time of application.

First twenty animals   $20.00 per head.

21st to 49th animal $17.50 per head.

50th animal and above : $10.00 per head.

Project to Improve and Integrate Genetic Improvement Services

The Sheep and Goat Industries Launch a Collaborative Project For Improving and Integrating Genetic Improvement Services in Canada.

Read more here: LINK

Les secteurs ovin et caprin lancent un projet collaboratif pour améliorer et intégrer les services d’amélioration génétique au Canada.

Lire la suite ici : LIEN