• 1st Annual CSA Foundation Fundraising Auction
• CSA Member Communications Survey
• Data Deadline/Research Opportunity
• Genetic Evaluations Enhancements

• Registry and Member Services News
• Simmental Country Deadlines and Rates
• Lots of Interest in SMARTags!
• Industry/Member Liaison Contact
• Quote of the Month

One of our 40th anniversary initiatives was the formation of the Canadian Simmental Association (CSA) Foundation. The CSA Foundation is a fundraising entity that will administer funds raised for various Simmental projects, as well as support the Young Canadian Simmental Association (YCSA).

To assist in the delivery of the various CSA projects, and to allow our association to ensure continued participation in YCSA programs by as many youth as possible, we will be holding the 1st Annual CSA Foundation Fundraising Auction at the 40th Anniversary banquet in conjunction with the National Simmental Show and Sale at Edmonton Northlands, Farm Fair November 7th.

The items to be auctioned off are:

• A one-week stay at the Edelweiss Resort in Whitefish Montana (donated by M & J Farms)
• Four Blue Jays Tickets for any game except those in September 2008 (donated by Bar 5 Stock Farms Ltd.)
• Two tickets for two Calgary Flames games, 2nd row corner - dates: January 8th (Gretzky and Coyotes) and January 30th (Sharks) (donated by Bar 5 Stock Farms Ltd.)
• Two Edmonton Oilers tickets (donated by Lewis Farms)
• A specially-designed hand-made quilt (donated by Wendy Wildeman)
• An Embryo Flush (donated by Alta Embryo)
• A silver jewelry set (donated by High Country Cattle Services)
• An Arbonne gift basket (donated by Karen Skeels, Independent Arbonne Consultant)
• Six frozen embryos (donated by J Anchor Simmentals)
• An Embryo Flush (donated by Bova Tech Livestock Ltd.)
• A Waterton Weekend Get-a-way (donated by Remington Cattle Co.)
• Two 5 Litre jugs of Ivomec (donated by Merial)
• Five hours of graphic design time (donated by Kim Groeneveld)
• Two Edmonton Oilers tickets - date: December 15th (Vancouver) (donated by Porter Ranches Ltd.)
• Two Ottawa Senator tickets - date: March 22 (Toronto Maple Leafs) (donated by Wade Redden)
• Two nights stay for two with breakfast (donated by The Cove Country Inn, Westport-on-the-Rideau, Ontario)

The CSA has developed an on-line survey to get members' feedback on our current communication methods and your ideas for future planning.  We would greatly appreciate your feedback as soon as possible.  It takes about 5 minutes!

Click here to start the survey

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There have been several changes in the Fall 2007 genetic evaluation. Generally speaking these changes have resulted in minimal changes across the entire dataset, however individual animals may have undergone significant changes in their genetic evaluation.

Database
Historically the database was maintained at Cornell and was updated with new information prior to each evaluation. For the Fall 2007 evaluation, the database was re-established from the raw data files of the ASA and CSA. This resulted in several beneficial changes:

1. The removal of several duplicate sire entries

2. The removal of non twins with identical data

3. Improved cross reference file (added several sires with disconnected ASA/CSA identifications)

4. Corrected data where dams were incorrectly identified as male, and sires were incorrectly identified as female

5. Corrected several inconsistencies with birth date information on dams

6. Combined carcass and ultrasound into a single table resulting in the use of more records in the evaluation

Stayability
The stayability evaluation has seen several important improvements. These include:

1. Separation of contemporary groups by percentage Simmental 
   a.  This helps to better account for hybrid vigour and its’ impact on female longevity

2. Inclusion of 3, 4, and 5 year stayability as correlated traits in the evaluation of 6 year stayability
   a. This provides a more accurate evaluation through inclusion of all available data.
   b. The evaluation achieves accuracy much sooner than a straight 6 year stay definition

Carcass Evaluation

Ultrasound data from ET calves was included in the genetic evaluation for carcass merit. The carcass and ultrasound tables were also combined into a single data source and several ultrasound records that were previously edited out of the evaluation were included.

Connectedness Requirement
Previously a connectedness requirement was introduced into the evaluation that required a degree of relatedness between animals for inclusion in the genetic evaluation. This was originally done largely to conserve computing power requirements. This requirement was dropped in the Fall 2007 evaluation and results in more external EPD/EBV being included in the genetic evaluation and a better assessment of relative genetic merit, particularly for those cattle that do not have a lot of pedigree ties into the North American Simmental dataset.

Breed Averages
Click here

Information Package

By now you will have received a package from the CSA office mailed in early October that contains 2008 female enrolment forms for THE participants, online enrolment instructions for online Simmental.com users, and application for registration forms for non-THE members. Please remember the very important deadline of December 15, 2007 for THE participants to submit their 2008 female enrolments. If you have any questions, or have not received your package, please contact the office immediately.

If possible, when submitting paperwork to the office, please include a daytime phone number where you can be reached should we have questions to complete your work. Please also ensure that your address, email and other contact numbers are current on your account.

Online – Billing Details
Some of you may not be aware of a useful function that is on the home page of your Online website:  My Account, My Billing.  This details any transactions that you submit to our office or that we bill to your CSA account (e.g. registration requests, DNA kits, THE installments, etc). It is particularly useful for December-born calves that are born close to the next calf crop year. It enables you to alert us to the billing error prior to the invoices/credit cards being processed and released. It also will alert you to dams that you forgot to enroll as it would bill the Non-THE fee for those calf registrations ($40.28) – rather than the $0.00 fee.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call the office.

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“October's poplars are flaming torches lighting the way to winter.”  ~ Nova Bair

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