Passing of Roberta Frazer of Six Mile Red Angus

It is with great personal sadness and equal industry gratitude that we pay respect to an important part of our Canadian Angus fraternity who has been called Home.

We lost one of our true breed pioneers this week: Roberta (Birdie) Frazer of Six Mile Red
Angus passed away last Tuesday morning, February 19^th, joining the ‘love of her life’, Ken, to raise the best Red Angus in Heaven. I suspect Birdie is elated to rejoin Ken and work together with other breed stalwarts like Rod Mackenzie in populating God’s acres and paddocks with ‘divine’ Red Angus genetics.

To access the Tribute to this Canadian Angus Legend, please see: http://www.pichehawkinsgrondinfuneralchapels.ca/book-of-memories/1501771/FRAZER-Roberta-/obituary.php

The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at the Hall on Main Street in Fir Mountain, Saskatchewan.

Please join our thoughts and prayers with and for Birdie’s family, Clayton and Corinne Gibson and their children – Callie, Cade and Coy – as well as Birdie’s granddaughter, Sandi Gray and husband Michael, through this transitional period when they will hopefully be able to celebrate a purposeful life, well-lived and served to a ‘greater good’. What would our nation’s Red Angus world look like if not for Ken & Birdie? I cannot even imagine…

It feels as though we had Ken & Birdie for such a brief interlude, and yet their impact and influence on our national Angus family will endure for time everlasting. Thank you, Gibson family, for sharing them with us…

God Called You Home

by Lindsey Zacher

God looked around his garden
And found an empty space;
He then looked down upon this earth
And saw your tired face.
He put His arms around you
And lifted you to rest;
God's garden must be beautiful,
He only takes the best.
He knew you were in pain,
He knew you might never
Get well upon this earth again.
He saw the road was getting rough
And the hills were hard to climb,
so He closed your weary eyelids
and whispered 'Peace be thine.'
It broke our hearts to lose you,
But you never went alone,
For part of us went with you
The day God called you Home

 
Posted by Rob Smith Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Brian's January

·     The Peace Country Beef Congress was held this year in High Prairie.  This is a 6 ½ hour drive from Red Deer.  Decent attendance (around 200) for this 2 day show.  We share booth space with the Peace River Angus club.  Hereford and Simmental were also in attendance. The cattle show numbers were down a bit (100) but still a good strong showing.  Angus fared well and did their share of winning.  4-H is a big part of this event also.  This area of the province is very happy for our attendance and I feel a strong worthwhile venue.  They are definitely starving for attention up in the north.

·     The 15^th annual Beef Industry conference was held again in London, ON.  We shared booth space with Hereford, Simmental, Limousin and Charolais.  This makes the cost very effective.  A very good conference with over 500 attending the final banquet.  Very busy at the booth, therefore did not attend many sessions.  I felt that the contacts I made for our up-coming annual meeting in June for Rancher Endorsed day will be very valuable.  A good conference to be visible at.  Also Ontario Corn Fed program was given 2.5 million by their Ont Ag Minister.

·     The National Western Stock Show, held in Denver, Colorado was very successful in terms of networking with our American co-parts.  The sharing of knowledge and expertise came very much into play at this event.  There were 2 major bull & female shows that are open bull show and female show, sale bull show, and junior heifer show.  There are also seven black Angus specific sales taking place either at the National Western grounds or in the nearby vicinity.  Huge crowds attended these events, with many Canadians participating in the both showing and selling.  There were some new purchases heading for Canada.  Canadian cattle did also make an impact at the shows and were strong competition.  A major part of Denver is the pen show.  Tremendous happening with some excellent sets of bulls to view and access.  I really enjoy the pen show, as it is my favorite part of Denver.

Denver gives you an insight of what is happening in the big US. Trends play a big part, and they quite often follow them.  The cattle were getting quite small up to this year, and some said they were following the number game too much.  Maybe so, but I think they look at what Canada was bringing south, and the Herefords and some other breeds right close by in the same barns, and decided they better change their ways.

To sum up things, I liked a lot of the cattle this year, and was impressed with the size increase and increased structure improvement in most of the cattle.  Nice to see their cattle still have some size like ours.  After all, we ultimately still sell by the pound through our Auction systems.  I feel they are just right on size.  We will have to see what fad they follow next.

·     Meeting with Agri-team who are undergoing a study for the federal government in regards to traceability and animal movement.  They had a number of questions to ask.

·     The Alta Feeders Association group held their annual convention in Red Deer.  Our booth and Simmental were the only breeds represented.  This convention is all delegates from different areas of the province, therefore the first day is busy and the second day somewhat scarce.  I talked with lots of cow/calf producers and they were keen on our programs.  One producer had used our tags, but was turned down because he is using Hereford bulls on his herd of entire black Angus cows.  He would like to get back on but our rules say no.  Something to think about.

I would like to see this event shortened up by one day, as the first day is all we really need.

·     The “Alberta Cattle Feeders” held their AGM in Lacombe this year.  We are an affiliate member in this organization.  Around 50 attended, as a bus came up from the Southern Alberta to make a good crowd.  Their main issue was discussion on the check-off and if they were going to agree to carry on as is.  There were some great speakers regarding AAFC and barley breeding.  We were the only breed in attendance.  It is good to rub shoulders with the group of mostly feedlot operators.

·        Again in a good month for Canadian Angus.

  Posted by Brian Good Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca