A group of international Shorthorn breeders has accomplished something
few Canadians can claim.
They have traveled Canada from sea to sea attending breed meetings, a
sale and tours of purebred herds in nearly every province.
“There seems to be a renewed interest in the breed, especially in the
United States,” said Lloyd Wright, manager of Shadybrook Farms in the
Eastern Townships of Quebec.
World Shorthorn Council delegates from Australia, New Zealand, Great
Britain, the U.S. and Zimbabwe attended the Shadybrook production sale,
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where a yearling bull named Shadybrook Centurian sold to an American
syndicate for $100,000. It is going to Cates Farms in Indiana and WHR
Shorthorns in Texas. The top selling female, at $13,000, was a heifer
calf and the top selling bred cow went for $10,900.
American buyers bought about two-thirds of the 44 lots, giving
Shadybrook a $10,000 sale average.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done in promoting the breed,
especially for the commercial side,” said Wright. A positive for the
breed is demand among commercial beef producers looking for bred
females to infuse new genetics into their programs.
For Scottish Shorthorn breeder John Gibb, that is encouraging news.
Gibb has visited Canada a number of times viewing herds and shows. The
president of the world council made his first visit to Canada in 1980
for a world conference. Over time he bought three bulls from breeder
Dan Stephenson of Okotoks, Alta.
“If I hadn’t come on that conference, things might have turned out
differently,” he said. He liked what he saw in the Canadian style
animal and used those bulls to help expand his herd to 75 purebred cows.
The British Shorthorn industry suffered a blow last year during the
foot-and-mouth epidemic. A major Scottish purebred herd with pedigrees
that extended back more than a century was destroyed because of fear of
infection.
A Canadian project based in Alberta sent 300 embryos to help rebuild
the herd. So far, about 60 calves have been born as a result of that
project with more expected next year.
Fear of foreign animal disease has made it increasingly difficult to
move beef genetics around the world.
“If we can’t get genetics from around the world, it makes things more
difficult for us,” said Gibb.
The beef industry continues to be under attack in his country because
of disease, food safety scares and subsequent government regulation
that tracks the movement of every meat animal in Great Britain.
Another challenge is working with European Union rules.
While Shorthorns originated in Great Britain, these moderate-sized,
naturally marbling breeds have been supplanted by Continental cattle.
Great Britain is subject to the European beef grading system that
selects lean, high yielding carcasses over marbled ones.
Producers are paid on the basis of grade with a preference for heavily
muscled animals like Belgian Blue, Simmental, Charolais and Limousin.
All grading is handled visually, which Gibb said leads to a lack of
consistency.
“There is a disincentive against the breed because the steer market
isn’t that good,” he said.
