Canadian Charolais Youth Association News

Hello everyone! I am Rachael Verwey, President of the Manitoba Junior Charolais Association. I am also a member of the National Charolais Youth Association Board. At the beginning of January we had a very successful Winter Meeting in Saskatoon. We meet in Saskatoon each year as it is a central location for all provinces, and even though the weather was a little stormy, all of us were able to make it out for the meeting. At the meeting we went over the year’s events, such as our past conference that was held in Ontario, and also made sure that our upcoming conference for summer 2014 in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, is on track.

We discussed our programs and have made some changes to better serve the youth members. The Genetics Program now allows any Charolais youth member to apply for semen to breed a female with, regardless if they are purebred or commercial. We feel this will give more members a chance to take advantage of our great genetics available. Check out the website for the bull listing, and remember the deadline to apply is Feb. 15, 2014.

One of our biggest topics of discussion at this meeting was our financial situation. We first talked about our income. We made $3,015 on our semen auction which was held at Agribition. Proceeds from the 2012 Alberta conference were $9,000; with the 2013 conference books being wrapped up shortly; Charolais Banner sponsorship for sale dates on the Charolais Calendar was $2420, and we also had $2,270 coming from the T‐Bar Tournament.

We went into detail discussing where our money is going. We went over the Education Award that is valued at a total of $1800, which is given out to Senior members at the conference based on placings throughout the week. The leadership scholarship is also another award available that was valued at $1800, but has now been raised to a total of $3000. We felt this increase necessary to reflect constant increases in tuition, and it is available to those members that are enrolled in a post‐secondary institution. We also discussed the Conference and Show new member rebate which was $900 in 2013. This rebate is $50, and is given back to each first time member attending our summer conference. The essay competition is given out each year at the conference and totals $1000. Our genetics program cost $600 in 2013 and our annual winter meeting cost $4600, which included hotels and travel costs.

With all of this said, we are always looking for ideas on new programs for the Charolais youth. If you have any input or suggestions on ways to attract new members or improve our existing program, your comments would be greatly appreciated. The Canadian Charolais Youth Association National Board can be contacted at charolaisyouth@gmail.com.

Happy Calving.

Winter Meeting Report

Rachael Verwey, Director

National Board attending the Winter Meeting Back l-r: Sarah Weinbender, Kirstin Sparrow, Luke Marshall, Megan McLeod; Front l-r: Rachael Verwey, Courtney Black, Tomina Jackson

CCYA NATIONAL BOARD charolaisyouth@gmail.com

President: Kirstin Sparrow kp.sparrow@hotmail.com Vice-President: Sarah Weinbender sarah.weinbender@gmail.com Treasurer: Courtney Black blackbern@hotmail.com Secretary: Tomina Jackson tomi_j_@hotmail.com Director: Luke Marshall futureal@telusplanet.net Director: Megan McLeod rodmcl@telus.net Director: Holly Smith holly27smith@gmail.com Director: Courtney Black blackbern@hotmail.com Director: Rachael Verwey verweyr@myumanitoba.ca

2014 CCYA Conference & Show Exec.

President: Rachael Verwey verweyr@myumanitoba.ca Vice-President: Jared Preston jppreston223@gmail.com

CCYA Provincial Advisors

SK: Darwin Rosso Rosso.c@sasktel.net ON: Billie-Jo Saunders dbjsaunders@gmail.com MB: Donna Jackson Jackson7@mymts.net AB: Kasey Phillips kphillips@mcsnet.ca Youth Coordinator: Brandon Sparrow b.sparrow265@gmail.com, 306-291-6968