Canadian Milking Shorthorn Society

Milking Shorthorn Update from Canada

by Ryan Barrett, Secretary - Manager, Canadian Milking Shorthorn Society

Hello to our British Dairy Shorthorn friends. 2022 has been a much more normal year for most of us, with the return of in-person events and international travel, along with many other things. In July, we were able to hold our first inperson Field Day and Annual Meeting since 2019. The day was hosted by President John Eccles and his family at their farm in Dromore, Ontario. We had a great turnout of Shorthorn friends both new and old while viewing the Laralor herd. At the Annual Meeting, we announced three winners of major Society awards. The 2022 CMSS Cow of the Year is Prinsville Pingerly Star, owned by Prinsville Dairy Farms of Bloomfield, Ontario. Recipients of our Distinguished Service Award are long-time Milking Shorthorn breeders Brodie and Brenda Cupples (Northend) of Errington, British Columbia. As well, Oceanbrae Farms (the Barrett family) were named Master Breeder for the second time, based on the points accumulated by the cattle they have bred. Congratulations to all of these herds on their success and for their contributions to the breed.

Across Canada, we have seen a significant drop in entries for dairy shows, including local, regional and national level shows. Consequently, the CMSS decided to continue with a Virtual Show in 2022, with results due to be published in late October. Visit our Facebook page or website to view the results. Thank you to our judge, Michael Tuhan from the Riversleigh Illawarra herd in Australia. Our sire-proving program with Semex continues to build momentum in offering top Milking Shorthorn genetics to breeders both here in Canada and around the world. Oceanbrae Royal Bentley (Royalty x Jurist) received his first proof in 2022 and he debuted as the #1 Active LPI sire and #3 overall, with a balanced proof for milk, components, conformation and management traits. A number of his daughters were exhibited at World Dairy Expo in October. Also excelling in the show ring are daughters of Oceanbrae Foster (Pingerly x Logic), due for a proof in early 2023. In September, Semex released semen on Kuszmar Mercury Stargazer (Remington x Mudslinger), an American sire with an outcross pedigree to most bloodlines in Canada or the United Kingdom. We have another bull lined up for release later in 2023, so stay tuned. One of the major initiatives for our Society this year was to start building a reference population of genotyped animals in order to explore genomic evaluations for Canadian Milking Shorthorns. Through successful applications to a number of different provincial or regional genomic research funds, we have been able to genotype more than 500 animals so far in 2022. A number of these animals are either AI sires or deceased cows that had hair or blood samples in storage, so we will also hopefully be able to use genomic testing for parentage verification in the near future. Our goal is to get to at least 800 animals tested by early 2023. Ideally, we would like to combine our genotypes with those from other countries in order to build an international reference population. For both the UK and Canada to benefit from each other’s genomic data, we will need to have UK Dairy Shorthorns submitted to Interbull, so that we can exchange genetic evaluations. I hope that this will come in due course. Our Embryo Expansion Program also continued in 2022, where the CMSS subsidizes the cost of purchasing embryos for approved new breeders. It is hoped that this will introduce Milking Shorthorns to herds that might not otherwise have Milking Shorthorn genetics, particularly herds in parts of the country where there aren’t many Milking Shorthorns (ie. Western Canada, Quebec). We received more great applications this summer and selected three herds to participate this summer. Best wishes to British Dairy Shorthorn breeders from your friends in Canada. Ryan Barrett

Prinsville Pingerly Star - Cow of the Year