National Angus association prepares for industry growth

Thursday, October 2, 2014

by JIM ALGIE

After years of slowly declining membership, the 2,750-member Canadian Angus Association has begun preparing for a surge as the country’s cattle industry responds to new market opportunities here and abroad, association officials say.

Except for a sharp drop in registrations of purebred Angus stock in 2004 during the immediate aftermath of BSE-related disruptions, the herd has essentially held its own, CEO Rob Smith said recently in an interview from recently-built, member-owned, association headquarters in Rocky View County, just north of Calgary.

An eight per cent drop in Angus registrations in 2004 responded directly to chaotic market conditions at the time and represented “the most significant drop in registrations we’ve seen for two decades,” he said. While registration numbers resumed growth in 2005 to a steady rate of about 60,000 new registrations annually, the association’s membership has consistently declined over the same period at an annual rate of between one and two per cent. Even so, new memberships have begun to rise during the past two years and the association has launched a push to streamline service and better understand the needs of new breeders.

“We’re trying to make everything work as efficiently as possible but also to say ‘How can we get ourselves set up so that we’re still the number one breed in 2015 and 2020 and 2025?’” first vice-president Tammi Ribey said in an interview, Friday. “What do we have to do as a board to satisfy our members and to convince people to become part of our purebred industry?” said Ribey, a veterinarian who also farms near Paisley, Ont.

At their September board meeting, association directors charged Smith with researching new membership needs and clearing up administrative delays in the cattle registration process. They adopted new objectives for office work, including a 12-day turnaround on routine procedures and a three-day response time for member inquiries.

The membership service plan includes improved education about DNA sample submissions in order to cut down on incomplete registration applications. DNA samples – typically tail hairs with attached follicles – have been required since 2006 to ensure pedigree integrity. A membership survey seeking insight into the background and evolving needs of Angus breeders is to be distributed this fall.

“While we’re seeing two per cent decreases in membership or flat line, we’re actually seeing more new members and we’re very excited about that,” Smith said. “We want to take a new look at the demographics of those people: why they’re coming to the Angus Association; are they making an entrance to agriculture or just diversifying into purebred breed stock – and what is the age of them?”

Actual Angus registrations dropped by two per cent in 2012 after a six per cent increase the previous year. Smith figures 2014 registrations are “basically on track with last year.”

However, rising prices for purebred stock in each of the past three years combined with the booming market for commercial cattle and relatively-low, population of beef cattle worldwide signal a period of potential expansion ahead, Smith said. Bull sale prices in the range of $4,200 to $4,800 this year represent a “dramatic” increase over the post-BSE pattern, he said.  

“I think what the board is challenging us with is being prepared for expansion,” Smith said. “We’re trying to get everybody prepared for that expansion phase and recognize that we have got all programs in place with growth commercially nationwide.”

Tammi and Brian Ribey farm on 400 acres near Paisley with cash crops and a 40-cow, purebred, Black Angus herd. She expects new record prices this fall.

“Everybody is talking huge prices and hopefully some expansion in the cow herd,” she said. “I think the beef business is back in business,” Ribey said.

Black and Red Angus animals represent 52 per cent of all registered purebred, beef stock in Canada and have dominated the purebred industry in recent years, Smith said, citing annual, Agriculture Canada data on the subject. Purebred cattle numbers did not fall to the same extent as commercial numbers during the rough years following BSE-related trade restrictions.

Since the resumption of trade and Canada’s hosting of the 2009 World Angus Forum, things have begun to pick up, Smith said. He cites particularly, new market opportunities for Canadian genetics in the United States, Mexico and Kazakhstan.

“If the commercial sector moves into its period of expansion, which people keep putting off in terms of their forecasts, we kind of expect that to start happening through the later part of this year and into 2015. We’re hoping that we will be able to attract a net increase of members to the association and Angus seed stock producers nationwide,” Smith said. BF