The news about the recent highly successful Jersey development day/open barn meetings at Ferme Reyla and Rapid Bay Jerseys in Western Quebec really got us thinking as you know from a previous post.
two hundred and thirty plus people at a Jersey day!
Something kept tickling the back of my mind as I thought about that total attendance.
We had cause to dive into bound volumes of the Jersey Breeder that we keep in our "back room" at Jersey Canada Hqs recently. Happened that we had to look at those issues from 1959, half a century ago! Then it all clicked! As so often happens the bound volume opened up to August 1959 and an article by R. W. Nason entitled "Nova Scotia Field Day, Held on the North Shore" caught my eye. Hardly a surprise I'd be interested as the first twenty years of my life had been spent growing up on Nova Scotia's North Shore! The very first paragraph began this way: "With well over two-hundred-and-seventy-five in attendance the 1959 Jersey Field Day could not only be considered as one of the largest livestock events of its kind in the province.....". This was the article I had been thinking about!
Now at the moment this event was held at the Stony Acre Jersey Farm of Sigbert MacConnell and his son Rae at Meadowville in Pictou County a few miles a little three year old nipper, who is now typing these words, was probably giving his Mother grey hairs!
It is really something to think that half a century, fifty years later, we are having very similar turnouts at Jersey events! Consider all the changes the industry has gone through!
The news about the roaring success of the event in Quebec ties in so well with other levels of activity we are seeing this year. In fact we are now back to levels of memberships and registrations that have not been seen since the era when All-Jersey pr grams were being wrapped up and pooling of milk was happening. The Jersey breed went on a downhill slide in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Most would say that supply management has been a great thing for the Canuck dairy producer in many ways. There was, however; a period of radical adjustment to the new reality and new system for the Jersey breed as special markets for Jersey milk disappeared. Thankfully some talented dairy producers, aware of the Jersey's ability to profit in any market stuck continued to develop their Jersey herds. Today, those still with us, can take a great measure of satisfaction that the breed is back where it was four decades ago in a much smaller industry cow and producer number wise!
Four decades later we've more than regained lost ground! Supply management continues to exist but has been adapted to allow for creation of specialty products some from Jersey milk only! And all that remains is to wonder: What next? How far can the recovery go?
"Wethinks" the top of the extended Jersey surge has yet to be reached-perhaps we're still only in the early stages!
Forty, fifty years on we're still "growing, we're still going strong" as Mame in the musical would same!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
We Stand in Awe!
...and we are cheering!
The December 2009 Jersey Journal from the USA arrived on December 11.
Among many arresting pieces of information was the Page 17 Editorial "Finishing Strong in 2009".
This article made such great reading! One could not come away from a reading without being very motivated!
Seems that, as of late November, the American Jersey Cattle Association's year to date total for registrations is already the fifth best total EVER recorded in 141 years of history of the association! There is no question that the 2009 total will be at the very least the fourth best total ever recorded!
Please pause and consider that this means that in the top five all time yearly totals for the AJCA three of them are 2007, 2008 and 2009 with the long ago years of 1947 and 1953 being the other top finishers!
Dig a little deeper and you'll discover that the new top ten list for all time will contain 2002, 2005, 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009! The other four years will be "golden oldies" like 1928, 1929, 1947 and 1953!
And why stop at the fourth best year in history this year? 2009 could well end up as the second best year in association history along with 2008!!!! Think about that and all the changes the dairy industry has gone through in 141 years and what 2009 was like for the US dairy industry!
Six of the top ten years being since 2002!!!!! AWESOME!
The great things happening with the Jersey breed in the USA-and there is so much more than the registration totals alone-are being stimulated here in Canada too!
It is clear that our registration total will be the best we've seen in a decade, since 1999, and possibly the best we've seen since 1985, 24 years ago! Equally interesting is that 1985 is the best year for Jersey Canada registrations since 1969, four decades ago!
Can you say renaissance of the Jersey breed in North America?
Where will we both land? December 31 holds the final answer. It is, however; clear that the Jersey breed is moving ahead like never before. In a radically changed industry from ten or twenty four or forty or one hundred and forty one years ago we're truly rockin' on! And for that we are so thankful!
Bravo, AJCA and US Jersey owners and Canuck Jersey owners! All of your hard work is paying off in an overflow of abundance and dividends!
The December 2009 Jersey Journal from the USA arrived on December 11.
Among many arresting pieces of information was the Page 17 Editorial "Finishing Strong in 2009".
This article made such great reading! One could not come away from a reading without being very motivated!
Seems that, as of late November, the American Jersey Cattle Association's year to date total for registrations is already the fifth best total EVER recorded in 141 years of history of the association! There is no question that the 2009 total will be at the very least the fourth best total ever recorded!
Please pause and consider that this means that in the top five all time yearly totals for the AJCA three of them are 2007, 2008 and 2009 with the long ago years of 1947 and 1953 being the other top finishers!
Dig a little deeper and you'll discover that the new top ten list for all time will contain 2002, 2005, 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009! The other four years will be "golden oldies" like 1928, 1929, 1947 and 1953!
And why stop at the fourth best year in history this year? 2009 could well end up as the second best year in association history along with 2008!!!! Think about that and all the changes the dairy industry has gone through in 141 years and what 2009 was like for the US dairy industry!
Six of the top ten years being since 2002!!!!! AWESOME!
The great things happening with the Jersey breed in the USA-and there is so much more than the registration totals alone-are being stimulated here in Canada too!
It is clear that our registration total will be the best we've seen in a decade, since 1999, and possibly the best we've seen since 1985, 24 years ago! Equally interesting is that 1985 is the best year for Jersey Canada registrations since 1969, four decades ago!
Can you say renaissance of the Jersey breed in North America?
Where will we both land? December 31 holds the final answer. It is, however; clear that the Jersey breed is moving ahead like never before. In a radically changed industry from ten or twenty four or forty or one hundred and forty one years ago we're truly rockin' on! And for that we are so thankful!
Bravo, AJCA and US Jersey owners and Canuck Jersey owners! All of your hard work is paying off in an overflow of abundance and dividends!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Those Jerseys! They are everywhere!
Always nice to see the Jersey breed being recognized as a thriving part of our Canuck dairy industry! When I was at the Manitoba Dairy Conference in early December, I made a pleasing discovery! Jersey Canada Past President Janna Remond came for a visit at one point carrying an interesting T-shirt.
See accompanying photos of the front and back of this "Running Jersey"! The shirts were created by Manitoba Milk, the provincial milk marketing agency. I spoke with the friendly lady who was looking after sales in their promo item booth during the conference. She told me that some on their team felt it was time to go with some colour after creating so many black and white items! I couldn't help but agree, of course!
Now we might like a prettier cow but we have to recognize that the shirts are for more than the fine connoisseur of cows crew! The 204 "runner number" relates to the area code for Manitoba. We love the message on the backside of the shirt, or Jersey, which reads: "Caution! Drinking Chocolate Milk Can Lead to Winning Races."
We congratulate and thank Manitoba Milk for creating an item featuring a Jersey cow on a running jersey! The Manitoba Milk website is at www.milk.mb.ca. Yup, those Jerseys they are popping up anywhere and everywhere, and that will continue and amplify!
See accompanying photos of the front and back of this "Running Jersey"! The shirts were created by Manitoba Milk, the provincial milk marketing agency. I spoke with the friendly lady who was looking after sales in their promo item booth during the conference. She told me that some on their team felt it was time to go with some colour after creating so many black and white items! I couldn't help but agree, of course!
Now we might like a prettier cow but we have to recognize that the shirts are for more than the fine connoisseur of cows crew! The 204 "runner number" relates to the area code for Manitoba. We love the message on the backside of the shirt, or Jersey, which reads: "Caution! Drinking Chocolate Milk Can Lead to Winning Races."
We congratulate and thank Manitoba Milk for creating an item featuring a Jersey cow on a running jersey! The Manitoba Milk website is at www.milk.mb.ca. Yup, those Jerseys they are popping up anywhere and everywhere, and that will continue and amplify!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
What in the name of time is happening here?
WOW! And we mean WOW!
During the time period from November 29 to December 7, our fearless and agile and highly capable National Extension Agent Jean-Marc Pellerin traveled to British Columbia and Manitoba and back home to Quebec. He was doing extension work as part of Jersey Canada's cooperation with regional Jersey associations. In this case Jersey West and Jersey Canada were teaming up to grow the breed in two of the four Western provinces!
In addition J-M attended the annual meeting of the Manitoba Jersey Cattle Club (see our two most recent Think Jerseys! blog postings from earlier this month!) and work with the Jersey display at the associated Manitoba Jersey Conference.
In four and half days (some of them very loooonnnggg days!) J-M accomplished the following in working with newer Jersey owners:
This is a phenomenal amount of activity for such a short and jam-packed trip! Two things are readily apparent from the trip! We have a superb National Extension Agent-but you knew that already! This "Jersey thang" is taking off like never before! We're living in the land of no limits! And we are lovin' that! Watch us grow and be a part of the momentum!
During the time period from November 29 to December 7, our fearless and agile and highly capable National Extension Agent Jean-Marc Pellerin traveled to British Columbia and Manitoba and back home to Quebec. He was doing extension work as part of Jersey Canada's cooperation with regional Jersey associations. In this case Jersey West and Jersey Canada were teaming up to grow the breed in two of the four Western provinces!
In addition J-M attended the annual meeting of the Manitoba Jersey Cattle Club (see our two most recent Think Jerseys! blog postings from earlier this month!) and work with the Jersey display at the associated Manitoba Jersey Conference.
In four and half days (some of them very loooonnnggg days!) J-M accomplished the following in working with newer Jersey owners:
- 20 herd visits
- 6 new members signed up-taking us over 1,025 for the year!
- 4 new herd names registered-taking us over 130 for the year!
- 46 registrations!
- 63 transfers (plus 25 to 30 more that RGG and J-M collected at the Dairy Conference!)
This is a phenomenal amount of activity for such a short and jam-packed trip! Two things are readily apparent from the trip! We have a superb National Extension Agent-but you knew that already! This "Jersey thang" is taking off like never before! We're living in the land of no limits! And we are lovin' that! Watch us grow and be a part of the momentum!
Monday, December 7, 2009
The Race to Stay Current
Seems like every time we go to print, publish or present some Jersey material we run the extreme risk of being out of date within minutes! Case in point - last week we had the privilege of making a presentation entitled "Celebrating The Jersey Miracle" at an historic annual meeting of the Manitoba Jersey Cattle Club at the Manitoba Dairy Conference. As is so often the case, we were busy putting finishing touches (okay, honesty hour - creating it for the first time!!) on the presentation on Tuesday afternoon December 1 before a Wednesday afternoon flight to Winnipeg (aka Winterpeg)! We thought we were really up to date!
Amongst all the state of the union/status updates, we were beyond chuffed about our 2009 membership total which had climbed to 1,020 as of Monday the 30th of November! And so up to date, we thought!
Got to Manitoba on Wednesday meeting and met up with our Jersey "Man In Motion" Jean-Marc Pellerin, who was fresh from two and a half days work in British Columbia. Jean-Marc had been waving the Jersey flag on behalf of Jersey West/Jersey Canada with much help from BC National Director Anita Norrish. Well, what did J-M have for news? Five new members! New total for 2009? 1,025 - highest in 42 years, but you knew that, eh?
So, on Thursday morning I had to report to the Manitoba meeting that our Power point slides created about 40 hours earlier were already slipping into "outdatedness"! Frankly, I LOVED doing so! Any idea how much fun it is to be involved in a breed where upward trending and "change are the only constants"??? Answer: LOTS!!!
Amongst all the state of the union/status updates, we were beyond chuffed about our 2009 membership total which had climbed to 1,020 as of Monday the 30th of November! And so up to date, we thought!
Got to Manitoba on Wednesday meeting and met up with our Jersey "Man In Motion" Jean-Marc Pellerin, who was fresh from two and a half days work in British Columbia. Jean-Marc had been waving the Jersey flag on behalf of Jersey West/Jersey Canada with much help from BC National Director Anita Norrish. Well, what did J-M have for news? Five new members! New total for 2009? 1,025 - highest in 42 years, but you knew that, eh?
So, on Thursday morning I had to report to the Manitoba meeting that our Power point slides created about 40 hours earlier were already slipping into "outdatedness"! Frankly, I LOVED doing so! Any idea how much fun it is to be involved in a breed where upward trending and "change are the only constants"??? Answer: LOTS!!!
Brilliant concepts/Well Delivered/Tangible Results
Things were really on the go last week in Jersey Canadaland!
For the first time in history, the venerable (but pulsing with life!) Manitoba Jersey Cattle Club held an AGM in conjunction with Manitoba Holsteins and Manitoba Milk, the provincial milk marketing agency. What a roaring success this event was! The Manitoba Dairy Conference is one big deal! At the Thursday evening banquet the crowd was a "sold right out" one at 500 people plus! Attendance at the Jersey meeting held on Thursday morning was triple what it had been in 2008!!!
It is so much fun to meet and interact with the scads of new folks we have working with Jerseys these days! It was exciting to see so many young people present! Great for the future! The word Jersey was very high profile on signage and in programs and other materials. Seems like the dairy industry is in robust shape in Manitoba and the same could be said of the Jersey breed. In fact the breed is enjoying the same renaissance in this most easterly of prairie provinces that it is revelling in elsewhere in Canada! Bravo Jersey Manitoba! Super concept, brilliantly actualized!
Meanwhile.....farther east......more Jersey great times were being celebrated in Western Quebec! Jersey Quebec was delivering a two-farm open barn event in that province's fertile Chateauguay Valley! The MacDougall family of Ferme Reyla just north of Ormstown and The Borlands of Rapid Bay Jerseys on the other side of town played host to a very large crowd of Jersey owners and potential Jersey owners. The Borlands estimate that over 200 people were through their barn. Frank Putnam, a writer from Holstein World part of the Dairy Business company in New York state was present and created a great story on the event for Holstein World's All Breeds Blog! The Queen of Rapid Bay, Vandenberg Amedeo Gorgeous EX-97, the two time RAWF Grand Champion, will be featured for the second time on CBC's French language agricultural show La Semaine Verte! There can be no doubt that dairy producers went home both pumped up about the Jersey breed and thinking about how they could integrate Jerseys or more Jerseys into their operations!
Congratulations to all concerned for efforts in getting the word Jersey out there in public! As Gary Bowers, Jersey Canada Past President from 2000 has said: "Our job is to make the word Jersey as highly visible as possible!" Mission in process!
Meanwhile.....farther east......more Jersey great times were being celebrated in Western Quebec! Jersey Quebec was delivering a two-farm open barn event in that province's fertile Chateauguay Valley! The MacDougall family of Ferme Reyla just north of Ormstown and The Borlands of Rapid Bay Jerseys on the other side of town played host to a very large crowd of Jersey owners and potential Jersey owners. The Borlands estimate that over 200 people were through their barn. Frank Putnam, a writer from Holstein World part of the Dairy Business company in New York state was present and created a great story on the event for Holstein World's All Breeds Blog! The Queen of Rapid Bay, Vandenberg Amedeo Gorgeous EX-97, the two time RAWF Grand Champion, will be featured for the second time on CBC's French language agricultural show La Semaine Verte! There can be no doubt that dairy producers went home both pumped up about the Jersey breed and thinking about how they could integrate Jerseys or more Jerseys into their operations!
Congratulations to all concerned for efforts in getting the word Jersey out there in public! As Gary Bowers, Jersey Canada Past President from 2000 has said: "Our job is to make the word Jersey as highly visible as possible!" Mission in process!
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