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at their annual meeting in Guelph this summer. Kevin and his wife Noreen own and operate Blairs.Ag with their family and staff. For more than 35 years, Blair’s family has been involved in the purebred beef industry. Their primary focus in recent years has been Red and Black Angus with a total of 350 purebred females, an extensive embryo program and 10,000 acres of grain and pasture land at Lanigan, Sask. Blair is a strong supporter of the Canadian Junior Angus program; Blairs.Ag offers a scholarship program for youth who purchase heifer projects from them. They also support the Canadian Angus Foundation (CAF) and the CAF Building the Legacy Sale, which has raised more than $110,000 for Canadian Angus youth programs over the past two years. Corinne Gibson of Six Mile Red Angus at Fir Mountain, Sask., was elected president elect at the meeting. Her family has been raising Angus cattle since 1954. She and her husband Clayton had their 36th Annual Bull Sale in April averaging nearly $6,000. n Canadian Hereford Association president Burt Grundy and general manager Gordon Stephenson met with importers looking to potentially import 1,200 purebred cattle during the Canadian trade mission to Russia and Kazakhstan led by federal Minister Ritz and Alberta Minister Olson. Jim Weaver of Weavercraft International will do the followup with both importers. In Kazakhstan, Grundy, Stephenson and Rod Guilford of Xports International

Canadian Charolais Association board. Front row (l-r): John Wilgenbusch (first vice-president), Halbrite, Sask.; Brent Saunders (president), Markdale, Ont.; Brian Coughlin (second vice-president), Cobden, Ont.; Wade Beck (past president), Lang, Sask. Back row (l-r): Lyle Bignell, Stettler, Alta.; Ricky Milton, Cornwall, P.E.I.; Bernard Begin, Ste-Marie de Beauce, Que.; Kelly Carson (general manager). Missing: Rod McLeod, Cochrane, Alta.; Dory Gerard, Innisfail, Alta. and Campbell Forsyth, Eriksdale, Man.

had private meetings with ministers Ritz and Olson in conjunction with Bakyt Ataibekov of the Dinara Ranch. Minister Ritz and Grundy presented Mr. Ataibekov with the Canadian Hereford Ambassador Award during a reception at the Canadian Embassy and Gordon Stephenson presented him with a cheque for $5,000 as a sponsor of the Almaty Farm School, which is a Dinara Ranch project. n The Canadian Simmental Association has a new corporate relationship with New Holland Agriculture with New Holland becoming a Platinum Sponsor of the Beef Innovations 2013 Symposium, a supporter of the YCSA National Classic and the Guelph Beef Innovations Field Day. It is

(l-r) Diana Raffan, Don Raffan, Margarette Raffan, Peter Raffan and CAA’s Brian Good.

n Valley Auction, Armstrong, B.C., has been chosen as the Canadian Angus Association’s Auction Market of the Year in recognition of its work promoting Angus and Angus-cross cattle. Brian Good, director of field services for the Canadian Angus Association, presented the award at the Livestock Markets Association of Canada annual convention. Don and Peter Raffan currently run the auction mart. The decisions their parents made in 1963 to purchase the auction mart and move their family from Calgary to Armstrong, have impacted the Raffan brothers for nearly 50 years.

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also a contract advertiser in the Simmental Country Magazine and a supporter of other CSA promotion. n The Canadian Junior Hereford Association held its Bonanza in Brandon, Manitoba from July 30-August 3 in conjunction with the Canadian Hereford Association’s annual meeting. There were 199 head of cattle, 131 juniors and 100 adults registered for the event. Guest speakers included Dr. John Basarab and geneticist/rancher Sean McGrath. n Congratulations to the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders who brought home the win in the Five Nations Beef Alliance Challenge on the FNBA YouTube Channel (www. youtube/fivenationsbeef) with over 7,000 views. The one-month contest recorded a total of 11,000 views on the site in total with Australia as the runner-up. One of the CYL representatives will win a free trip to the FNBA Summit in Australia. n The largest number of golfers yet took to the links for the T Bar Invitational Sixth Annual Golf Tournament in June. In the last six years this event has raised $243,000 to support the activities of eight national junior breed associations, representing approximately 2,100 members. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Canadian Western Agribition Junior Beef Extreme. n Helge and Candace By of the Charolais Banner were asked to speak to the Norwegian Beef Breeders Association when they were in Norway in June. The Bys hosted some of the Norwegians at Agribition. c

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