Sunday, August 26, 2007

Going global!!!

Hello at last everyone! This has been a summer of adventures that has FLOWN by! The end of August is almost here! Ryan noted in an earlier post that I had been in British Columbia in late July! I am very keen to write about that and about 50 to 75 other things that have happened of late but need to create more hours in the day! I've decided to re-name my multiple "to do" lists to "to enjoy" and "get to do" lists!

For today I would like to focus on an explosion of international Jersey-related happenings and action that has washed over Jersey Canada in recent times. As many of our readers will be aware Jersey Canada has placed a very strong emphasis on expanding the domestic Canadian market for Jerseys and Jersey genetics in the latest five years. This emphasis has been perfectly placed as opportunities are rich in quality and bountiful in abundance!

On other hand the international status of the Jersey breed is being elevated on a daily, if not hourly basis. I recounted some of the great news flowing out of the World Jersey Cattle Bureau meetings in Brazil in June and July in my "Jersey Rising" Make It Happen article in the August-September Jersey Breeder (now available for free viewing on our website by the way!!). Regional reports at the Bureau meetings described a breed "on fire" around the globe and enjoying new growth and expansion like we have never seen before!

We have a series of "And then....." experiences from the latest week that show how Jersey Canada has become a very active part of a global Jersey surge!

So.....

And then.....we heard from Semex Alliance Sales and Development dude Sam Mitra that Semex has successfully placed orders of Jersey semen in both Turkey and Taiwan-hardly traditional Jersey countries.

And then.....Jackie Jardine from the Canadian Livestock Genetics Association (GLGA) informed us that Dr. Brian Hill was on his way to the Ukraine with Canadian Jersey embryos and that he was going to take some photos for us of Canadian-bred Jersey calves resulting from an earlier sale of embryos!

And then...we heard from Dr. Hill still in the Ukraine but busy on his Blackberry telling us that he had seen the calves, there are more on the way in November, he implanted another batch late last week and interest is brewing in seeking some more Canadian embryos!


And then...Dann Brady of the Semex Alliance contacted us to ask about an older cow who had attracted the attention of an international buyer looking for embryos!


And then....Bev Spriel of Fulcrum Management Services who does a lot of work for CLGA was in the office in Guelph to purchase two of our new true type model cows (have you purchased yours yet?) One was going to be presented by Quebec Exporter Pierre Trudeau to a provincial agriculture Minister from a Mexican state during Expo-Quebec's expanding International activities program!


And then...I attended a meeting of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair's International Advisory Committee in Toronto on August 23rd. Wow! What a positive and energizing meeting! The committee is really getting geared up to propel the RAWF into very big work on expanding International business during this world-class show!


And then..we were consulting with Canadian embassy staff Marcio Francesquine and Ana Paula Mendes de Oliveira about a trip by Gary and Maureen Bowers to the Castro show in Parana state in Brazil and an upcoming one by Callum McKinven from Quebec to the Expointer show in the south of Brazil.


And then...we heard from our wonderful contact Kit Shum about an impending visit by a Chinese delegation who are very interested in Canadian Jersey genetics.


And then....we looked at how much contact I alone had had with international Jersey people over the most recent four days with these results:


United States 15 different parties;
South Africa 5 people; Brazil 4; Australia 4; Brazil 4; Jersey 4; New Zealand 1; Costa Rica 1 (who was in Colombia at the time); Uruguay 1; England 1; International Atomic Energy Agency doing some research on dairy cattle populations. And this in just four days! WOW!

So, yes, the Jersey breed and Jersey Canada are going global in a very big way! We'll continue our strong levels of activity in the domestic market here in Canada but we'll continue to go nuts on the international scene too!

How inspiring! How much fun! How much potential for future progress and profit!

Jersey is indeed rising and we're indeed moving fast! RGG

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