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THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2002. PAGE A-5.
Agriculture 2002
Shorthorn conference comes to Canada
By David Blaney
Citizen publisher
The 10th World Shorthorn
Conference is returning to Canada
in September, after an absence of 12
years. Every three years the World
Shorthorn Society holds a world
conference in different member
countries.
This year's
conference is
actually one
year late, but
that doesn't
seeln to damp-
en the enthusi-
asm of retired
Morris Twp.
farmer Ross
Procter.
Procter, along,
with Ian
McRae of Ayr
was asked to
take over the
duties of con-
ference organ-
organizer izer by the
Canadian Shorthorn Society.
Procter has been a shorthorn
enthusiast for many years and main-
tains an active interest in improving
the breed and the cattle industry as a
whole. When he isn't involved in
promoting Shorthorns to anyone
who will listen, he keeps his hand in
the farming business helping his
two sons with their operations.
The world society is made up of
members from Argentina, Great
Britain, 'Ireland, New Zealand,
South Africa, United States,
Uruguay, and Zimbabwe as well as
Canada. It was established to help,
with the exchange of information
and ideas among enthusiasts of the
breed.
As Procter tells it, the idea of a
conference was conceived by some
farmers in South Africa in 1973.
"Probably sitting around -someone's
backyard with a beer," he says. _
In 1974 the first conference was
held in Capetown, South Africa.
Since then it has been hosted by
Canada, Argentina, Great Britain
and in 1998 by Australia.
The conference states its goal -as
`the exchange of ideas and achieve-
ments ... in the pursuit of excel-,
lence.' But, as Procter is quick to
inform you, this is no elitist 'club
interested only in heavy-duty scien-
tific discussion. He makes clear that
everyone is welcome if they have an
interest. He says the aim is to have
some fun with friends old and new
while you improve your knowledge.
With this in mind the host country
organizes a two-day conference of
top industry speakers as well as
tours. and events that involve the
participants in both agriculture and
tourism. Participants visit farms and
get a chance to take in the sights of
the host country.
This year's conference will be
held in Charlottetown, P.E.I., at the
veterinary college. Otto Radostits
and Charlie Gracey will make pre-
sentations.
Radostits was educated at the
Ontario Veterinary College in
Guelph where he went on to be a
member of the staff from 1959 to
1964 with a short break to teach at
Perdue University. From here he
moved to the Western College of
Veterinary Medicine where he start-
ed the veterinary clinical teaching
practice.
In 1967 he received his Master of
Science degree in animal nutrition
from the University of
Saskatchewan. He later becarrie the
head of the department of
Veterinary Internal Medicine at the
college.
He will talk about infectious dis-
eases in cattle and biosecurity. He
will also discuss the public health
aspects of controlling those dis-
eases, which can be transmitted to
humans.
Gracey was born and raised on a
farm in Oxford County.
After receiving a masters in ani-
mal breeding he joined the
Kemptville Agricultural School in
1960.
He became the associate livestock
commissioner for Ontario in 1965.
`From 1970 until 1990 he was at the
Canadian Cattleman's Association
as manager and executive vice-pres-
ident.
He was appointed to the Canadian
International Trade Tribunal in 1990
and remained for five years before
returning to the cattle industry
where he privatized the beef-grad-
ing program and served as the pres-
ident of the Canadian Beef Grading
Agency until 2000. One year later
he was inducted into the Canadian
Agricultural Hall of Fame.
After the formal part of the con-
ference is over participants will be
able to take part in a cross-Canada
tour. For convenience the tour has
been divided into an eastern and
western section.
Procter said, "When we (he and
McRae) took on the job we appoint-
ed a contact person in each
province. Each contact determined
what to do in their area." The con-
tacts have been instrumental in
arranging for the conference goers
to see the farm country of Canada
much as local residents do accord-
ing to Procter. "They will be having
dinners in church halls and meetings
in Legions as well as visiting work-
ing farms,"
The eastern tour will visit Nova
Scotia and see Peggy's Cove prior
to crossing the Confederation
Bridge to Prince Edward Island for
the formal conference. After the
conference they will travel to
Quebec City through New
Brunswick. During the next four
days they will ,travel to Ottawa via
Victoriaville and West Brome in
Quebec.
From Ottawa they will travel to
Kingston and then on to a farm bar-
becue bear Lake Simcoe and a visit
to the Blue Mountain resort area. A
trip to Niagara Falls and a farewell
dinner in Toronto round out the
eastern itinerary.
The western swing will begin in
Winnipeg, moving on to Brandon,
Manitoba and then Estevan
Saskatchewan. As a break from
shorthorns they will be visiting an
elk and a buffalo farm.
After an overnight stay in Fort
Qu' Appelle a stop will be made in
Regina where participants will visit
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
headquarters. Next the tour moves
into Alberta with visits to Medicine
Hat and Calgary.
Everyone will overnight in Banff
before travelling by coach through
the Rockies to Vernon, British
Columbia. A tour of the Okanagan
Valley will highlight the B.C. por-
tion of the tour before a day of
sightseeing in the Lower Mainland
ending in Vancouver.
The eastern tour will take place
from Sept. 19 until Oct. 3 and the
western portion from- Oct. 3 to 12.
During that period the tour partici-
pants will see many of the premier
shorthorn herds in Canada.
Organizing an across Canada tour,
three weeks in length, for an inter-
national group using only volun-
teers might daunt many people.
Procter's calm take on 'the whole
thing is, "Things have worked out
very well."
Although if you ask him to esti-
mate how many will attend he does
say, "Call me up in November and if
I've survived I'll tell you how many
we had."
Although many people would
expect this type of conference to be
heavily business oriented Procter
stresses that the idea is for the par-
ticipants to get to know each other
and talk about their individual farm-
ing experiences. Then he allows
with a slight smile, "Business usual-
ly happens among people who know
each other."
ROSS PROCTER
Conference
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,
Food and Rural Affairs
OMAFRA'S Vision:
To foster competitive, economically diverse arid
prosperous agriculture and food sectors and promote
economic development of rural communities.
How to Reach Us
visit our web site - www.gov.on.cammafra
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by providing access to a variety of sources of
information regarding:
Technical and business references
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