One of the great joys for those involved with Jersey Canada has been the steady growth in both the people and the animal sides of our business that we've seen over the latest decade! This current decade has commenced with another year that looks like the trend is going to continue and amplify!
Allow us to provide a sampler of stimulating news on Jersey advancement in Canada in 2010:
-One of the most important aspects of a company's business life is the ability to keep growing as evidenced by new people making investments in the breed. Our success in this area has been nothing short of astounding in recent years! Many people are buying their first Jerseys now. A goodly percentage of these new buyers are settling in to owning Jerseys. They express their longer-term commitment by registering a herd prefix. This act signifies that they plan to register Jersey cattle.
As of the latter part of September we had registered 108 new herd prefixes since January 1, 2010.
This accomplishment marks the fifth consecutive year that Jersey Canada has registered more than 100 new herd prefixes in a year! Results from the last quarter of the year are still to be tallied. It does appear that by January 1, 2011 we'll be enjoying and celebrating our fifth consecutive year with over 130 new herd prefixes registered!
Add to this good news the fact that since January 2004 we have registered well over 930 new herd prefixes and you can see that a significant growth trend is well under way!
Continuing on the people side it is encouraging to see that our 2010 membership total is slightly ahead of our 2009 year-to-date total! 2009 was our best year for memberships since 1967, over four decades earlier! We'll see where we land but for now things look promising!
With regard to animal-related activity it is neat to be able to report that we are ahead of our 2009 registration total. The 2009 year end registration stat was the highest since 1985, 24 years earlier and the second best annual finish since 1969. If all continues as it is now we'll be at our highest level since 1969 this year!
Transfers of animals are slightly behind the 2009 total.
And how are those registrations arriving at Jersey Canada? More and more arrive as an electronic file!
This year we are running at 57.6% of registration applications submitted electronically after nine months. Last year we set an all time record of 57.2% electronic. We are convinced that we'll see the first year in history over 60% this year!
To think that many of our measures of activity are the best they've been in over 40 decades in a radically changing industry is both exciting and motivating! And then when one dreams about how much more we'll grow during this new decade the motivation factor expands!
It is understandable that questions arise after a period of sustained and steady growth. Will this continue? Will things get even better? Is that possible?
For now the answer appears to be that the upward trajectory of the last five to ten years is being well-maintained! Now that's exciting and inspires us to dream of even more growth! Go Jersey!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Site update: Jersey West
The Jersey West website has been updated this morning will some of the latest news from Jersey breeders and programs in Western Canada. Included are links to pedigrees on Jersey consignments to the Red Deer Westerner Dairy Showcase Sale on October 29th.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Another 9/11 remembered
Two years to the day after that fateful September morn in 2001 I and a small contingent of other Canadian Jersey people were in an unusual spot. After a very long overnight flight across continents we were shuttling between New York City's major airports LaGuardia and JFK. We had spent the first ten days of September 2001 in the fascinating, captivating, scenic and Jersey- rich country of South Africa. Our mission had been all about attending the annual council meetings and associated tours of the World Jersey Cattle Bureau. Now, jet-lagged and overflowing with precious and happy memories we were most of the way home to our final air destination of Toronto, Ontario.
Just as on that sunny, bright Tuesday morning in 2001 New York was bathed in sunlight and hope for a new day or activity and productivity. Some things are simply too ironic. Sometime after 8:30 a.m. we were making our way through another security check. Just as we got close I was standing right beside a security agent. I was so close that I could hear him say softly, with definite solemnity and a tinge of sadness in his voice into a microphone on his shoulder: "8:46 a.m.". And then, I instantly recalled. That was the moment that that the first hi-jacked plane hit the first tower at the World Trade Center. And you could almost "hear silence descend" over the bustling terminal. For a moment frozen in time we were cast into a sea of deep reflection on lives lost in an instant, hopes dashed, families torn asunder, hatreds unravelling but bravery and heroism and leadership coming to the fore too, fear rising, and so many questions asked some never to be answered.
Then on we went, somehow secure in the knowledge that our plane would wing its way across New York State, over Lake Ontario and safely on to Toronto.
This tiny instant provided yet another door of insight into a landmark and horrid moment in the history of the world, North America in particular but as it turns out the whole world. Seven, and nine, years later it is good that we recall both moments and the day that heroism and bravery took their rightful place and said no to terrorism and yes to life after our lives had taken a body blow of gigantic proportions!
Yes, we remember, so clearly.
Just as on that sunny, bright Tuesday morning in 2001 New York was bathed in sunlight and hope for a new day or activity and productivity. Some things are simply too ironic. Sometime after 8:30 a.m. we were making our way through another security check. Just as we got close I was standing right beside a security agent. I was so close that I could hear him say softly, with definite solemnity and a tinge of sadness in his voice into a microphone on his shoulder: "8:46 a.m.". And then, I instantly recalled. That was the moment that that the first hi-jacked plane hit the first tower at the World Trade Center. And you could almost "hear silence descend" over the bustling terminal. For a moment frozen in time we were cast into a sea of deep reflection on lives lost in an instant, hopes dashed, families torn asunder, hatreds unravelling but bravery and heroism and leadership coming to the fore too, fear rising, and so many questions asked some never to be answered.
Then on we went, somehow secure in the knowledge that our plane would wing its way across New York State, over Lake Ontario and safely on to Toronto.
This tiny instant provided yet another door of insight into a landmark and horrid moment in the history of the world, North America in particular but as it turns out the whole world. Seven, and nine, years later it is good that we recall both moments and the day that heroism and bravery took their rightful place and said no to terrorism and yes to life after our lives had taken a body blow of gigantic proportions!
Yes, we remember, so clearly.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Here a Jersey, there a Jersey, everywhere...
And I would guess the best way to begin is.......a Jersey, Jersey....as a tip of the hat to the legendary Old MacDonald who had a farm!
Late this past week Adrian Haeni, First Veep of Jersey Canada and a team leader at Lone Pine Jerseys
in Alberta told us a brief but interesting story.
He had trucked four of the family's mature cows to a Holstein Judging school farther north in Alberta. The Moreys of Unique Valleystream Genetics had done the same deed with four of their older cows and Markus Hehli had sent his best mature Jersey on a trip with the same destination.
This marked the first time that Jerseys had been part of this event. We're sure they were an impressive group who represented the breed well and also provided a good challenge to place!
We were reminded that Kristie Rivington of Jersey Ontario had told us that of nine classes placed at the Ontario 4-H inter-county judging competition three consisted of Jerseys!
Yes, the breed is certainly making rapid advances in profile and we "heart" that!
There are a few million other examples of where Jersey people have stepped up and made their cows available for examination by the dairy public further enhancing the breed's image and visibility!
All together now for a rousing rendition of: "Everywhere a Jersey, Jersey"!!!
Late this past week Adrian Haeni, First Veep of Jersey Canada and a team leader at Lone Pine Jerseys
in Alberta told us a brief but interesting story.
He had trucked four of the family's mature cows to a Holstein Judging school farther north in Alberta. The Moreys of Unique Valleystream Genetics had done the same deed with four of their older cows and Markus Hehli had sent his best mature Jersey on a trip with the same destination.
This marked the first time that Jerseys had been part of this event. We're sure they were an impressive group who represented the breed well and also provided a good challenge to place!
We were reminded that Kristie Rivington of Jersey Ontario had told us that of nine classes placed at the Ontario 4-H inter-county judging competition three consisted of Jerseys!
Yes, the breed is certainly making rapid advances in profile and we "heart" that!
There are a few million other examples of where Jersey people have stepped up and made their cows available for examination by the dairy public further enhancing the breed's image and visibility!
All together now for a rousing rendition of: "Everywhere a Jersey, Jersey"!!!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
I can't stop thinking big
In 2011 a new album will be released by the iconic Canadian rock band Rush. One of the songs on this forth-coming album has already been released. It is called Caravan. The lyrics are unusual and fresh. The central theme and main line of the song seems to be the refrain " I can't stop thinking big". Like any good refrain it is repeated a number of times amidst the guitar riffs and other musical goings on!
What a great short sentence! Think about it: I can't stop thinking big! What an excellent predicament! Sometimes we let life restrict us to small thinking and living below our God-given potential
On the other hand when we let our imaginations run free and our hopes soar and feel our pulses quicken we can see into the future with brilliant positivity!
We had such an experience recently when a number of Jersey breed leaders from across Canada sat down in an wonderful church in Belleville, Ontario called Maranatha Church. The goal of the conclave was to work up a draft base for a brand new strategic plan for Jersey Canada to cover 2011 to 2013.
Thankfully our team of about a dozen, led by facilitator Jo Anne Henderson, were, to a person, people who "can't stop thinking BIG"!!!
Long before the draft has been vetted and doctored and then approved it has already impacted and revised our thinking.
Why settle for small paltry dreams? Why not the best? Why not having the best days for Jersey Canada and its members still ahead of us? Why not dreaming about touching the sky and then propelling upward into the absolute stratosphere?
Why not think big, talk big and then act big and work and make it happen?
Apply this kind of approach to your entire life and see what transpires!??
The world needs more big thinkers who will then step up and speak out and actualize their big thinking!
We've found time and time again that when you set great goals and are definite and clear about them
something fine and indeed awesome happens. Either you're drawn to achieving the goals or the achievement of them comes closer to you and you start to see miracles happen!
Try it!
Thank you Rush for a renewed stimulus to become fixed on thinking big!
What a great short sentence! Think about it: I can't stop thinking big! What an excellent predicament! Sometimes we let life restrict us to small thinking and living below our God-given potential
On the other hand when we let our imaginations run free and our hopes soar and feel our pulses quicken we can see into the future with brilliant positivity!
We had such an experience recently when a number of Jersey breed leaders from across Canada sat down in an wonderful church in Belleville, Ontario called Maranatha Church. The goal of the conclave was to work up a draft base for a brand new strategic plan for Jersey Canada to cover 2011 to 2013.
Thankfully our team of about a dozen, led by facilitator Jo Anne Henderson, were, to a person, people who "can't stop thinking BIG"!!!
Long before the draft has been vetted and doctored and then approved it has already impacted and revised our thinking.
Why settle for small paltry dreams? Why not the best? Why not having the best days for Jersey Canada and its members still ahead of us? Why not dreaming about touching the sky and then propelling upward into the absolute stratosphere?
Why not think big, talk big and then act big and work and make it happen?
Apply this kind of approach to your entire life and see what transpires!??
The world needs more big thinkers who will then step up and speak out and actualize their big thinking!
We've found time and time again that when you set great goals and are definite and clear about them
something fine and indeed awesome happens. Either you're drawn to achieving the goals or the achievement of them comes closer to you and you start to see miracles happen!
Try it!
Thank you Rush for a renewed stimulus to become fixed on thinking big!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Breeder is now online!
Since the August - September 2010 issue of the Breeder was made available on the website for free on Tuesday, August 10th, over 180 people have read the magazine! In just two days!
You can find the Breeder online here and can be viewed in a flip book format or can be downloaded as a PDF.
Jersey cheese featured in the Globe and Mail
La Belle de Jersey, a cheese produced by Les Bergeries du Fjord in the Lac St-Jean region of Quebec, has been featured in the Globe and Mail, one of Canada's national newspapers.
Globe and Mail - Belle de Jersey
This cheese is made from the milk provided by the Jersey du Fjord herd from Laterriere, Quebec. The "Belle de Jersey" name comes from the fact that a certain percentage of the herd is descended from the great Duncan Belle!
Globe and Mail - Belle de Jersey
This cheese is made from the milk provided by the Jersey du Fjord herd from Laterriere, Quebec. The "Belle de Jersey" name comes from the fact that a certain percentage of the herd is descended from the great Duncan Belle!
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