The_Ledger_Winter_2017

ABERDEEN  WINTER REGIONAL NEWS

Eastern Aberdeen Association BY DUSTIN BENDER, SECRETARY

assisting with our show and junior committees; and assist ing and coordinating farm, field or junior education events in the region. In an effort for you to get to know Chance a little better, he has provided a short bio below. Chance owns and operates The Brand, a professional livestock marketing service that specializes in graphic design and cattle photography/videography. The Brand also publishes a regional quarterly magazine by the same name. A second-generation beef producer, Chance serves as the manager of Wishing Well Simmentals, his family’s SimGenetics-based program. The farm’s roots trace back to the early 1980s when Chance’s mom bred her first Simmental heifer. Now located near Hortonville, Wis., Wishing Well focuses on proven cow families to produce and market quality breeding animals. Additionally, Chance is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, a past administrative coordinator for the World Beef Expo and has served on numerous industry-focused committees. He is also a for mer field director for the American Simmental Associa tion and continues to contribute to its Progress Through Performance program. Chance is looking forward to serving the members and breeders of the Midwest Aberdeen Association. The Midwest Aberdeen Association-sponsored sale at the Iowa Beef Expo will be Feb. 11 at the Iowa State Fair grounds. If you have an interest in consigning, please con tact Kristen or Jeff Canterbury at (217) 341-3738. Look for this exciting lineup of outstanding breeding stock and show steers for your 2018 show season. If you’re looking for a great animal for Junior Nationals this summer, get it here! We want to thank Jami Wilking and Darwin Engelkes for their time on the Board. The job is thankless and taxing, and Jami and Darwin were very hard-working and dedi cated Board members. New to the Board this year are Eric Kyllo and Doug Schmit. These two are exceptional cattle breeders, and we are very excited to see what they can bring to you, our Midwest members. Northeast Association BY REBECCA MILLER, BOARD MEMBER The Northeast Association has been busy with shows this summer and fall. Our two largest shows, the Fryeburg Fair and Big E, were well attended. We were pleased to have a nice group of exhibitors who exemplify what show manship is truly about – helping others. All of our han dlers, fitters and “pitcrew” were always in the aisles with a brush, holding an animal or touching up a stray hair. The cattle looked professional and were a great representation of this phenomenal breed. The Northeast also had enthusi astic members who traveled all the way from Maine to the NAILE and did us proud. Following the first day of the Big E show, the Northeast region held its annual meeting. All of the general mem bership was invited to attend. Prospective members were welcome to attend as well, without voting privileges. The meeting was well attended, with many members sharing new ideas.

As I write this, it’s the week after Thanksgiving and it’s sunny and 62 degrees here in Ohio – not the normal late fall/early winter we are used to. But I’m sure the normal, cool and wet conditions will be upon us shortly. Cattle markets seem steady and, so far, there is not as much “pressure” as I expected due to all of the wildfires we had in the country this year. Pressure on cattle prices, hay prices and general daily-use items seem to be controlled. Thank you to everyone who came, showed, watched, sponsored or wished good luck and safe travels to all of us who travelled to the North American International Live stock Exposition (NAILE). I thought it was a great show. There were almost 20 juniors showing animals, almost triple that if you count the students from the University of Findlay. We had more than 75 head entered from 33 dif ferent owners representing 12 states from Maine to South Dakota. We gave awards for juniors, showmanship, group awards, supreme exhibit, as well as our normal purple and gold banners. If you missed seeing the award winners, they can be found on Facebook and should be on our website soon. Even though our numbers weren’t as high as we would like, the fact that our junior participation almost doubled from last year; that we had more than 30 owners exhibit cattle; that we had many of the best animals from multiple regions exhibited; and were still able to have families walk away, shaking hands, wishing safe travels and congratulat ing each other is our greatest reward as a Board. Are there things we could make better? Yes, there always are. But putting on the show requires good plan ning and help from many people. Thank you to all those involved. We are always looking for people within the region who would love to help with our Board. Please send us a mes sage if you are interested. Some other very exciting news for our region is that we now have membership from every single state we repre sent! This is a huge goal as it wasn’t until August/Septem ber when four new states were added to our territory. We continue to work on methods to support the operations represented throughout our territory. It takes an active membership to help with that. Thank you! Visit www.easternlowline.com for more updates. And join the conversation on The Official Eastern Aberdeen As sociation (EAA) group on Facebook. We are excited to announce that Chance Ujazdowski has accepted a part-time position as Midwest Aberdeen Association executive director. We had many people inter ested in the position, including many of our own regional members. As a Board, we decided we wanted someone in this position who was very familiar with cattle and the cattle industry, but who was not involved in the Aberdeen breed or owned Aberdeen cattle. We felt it was too big of a conflict of interest. Some of Chance’s duties will include membership on boarding, welcoming, billing and communication; website content development and maintenance; supervising and Midwest Aberdeen Association BY TODD BOHLMEYER, BOARD MEMBER

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