Canadian Dexter Cattle Association
Minutes of 2015 Annual General Meeting
August 8, 2015
The 2015 Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Dexter Cattle Association was held at the home of Ian Payne, Chesterville, Ontario on August 8, 2015.
1. Call to Order: President Adrian Hykaway called the meeting to order. There was no objection to the meeting being taped.
2. Identification of members: Adrian Hykaway welcomed those in attendance.
Members present were: Jackie Ehninger-Cuervo, Adrian & Rita Hykaway, Mike Lafortune and Evelyn Trask, Ian Payne, Denise Pankhurst and Mark West, Nick and Janice Woodhouse and Dean and Tanya Yeo.
Members participating by telephone were: Marion Clements, Cathy Heinzelman, Allyn Nelson, Brenda Pollard and Becky Williams.
Also present were CDCA Recording Secretary Ron Black and Elwood Quinn of Rare Breeds Canada.
3. Minutes: Moved by Cathy Heinzelman, seconded by Brenda Pollard, that the minutes of the 2014 Annual Meeting be adopted as circulated. Carried.
There was no business arising from the minutes.
4. Reports:
a) President: Adrian Hykaway presented the following report:
“It’s been an interesting year, almost to the date since the last AGM. At the last AGM it was decided after a good discussion that the CDCA would become a member of the CBBC in 2015. I had a meeting with Tom Lynch Staunton to acquire information about SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) DNA testing. He suggested I should have a meeting with Michelle Miller, as she was the Director of operations at Delta Genomics in Edmonton.
After that meeting I have been communicating with Jim Washer, CLRC General Manager, so the CDCA can use the SNP DNA testing for parentage and in the future more extensive testing if the CDCA wants to get involved in different projects.
I along with my wife attended the CBBC AGM in March as a CDCA member rep, rather than just a guest. There is a lot to learn about the breed associations; in a conversation with the Angus Association manager I learned that there are 28,000 bulls registered and sold, but only 23,000 transferred, things like that. Angus CBBC membership fee is over $15,000 a year while CDCA is $500.
Rita & I and Ian Payne attended the CLRC AGM in Ottawa; Ian was the CDCA Rep. There was some discussion of the progress being made of the transition from Microsatellite to SNP DNA testing.
When it came time to elect CLRC board members the chairman didn’t let his name stand as he felt there should be new blood and after the first vote that resulted in a tie of several names, another board member withdrew her name, so there is now some new blood on the CLRC board.
There was a CBBC Niche Breeds meeting in Calgary in May and the main topic was that if the Niche Breeds were to gain greater recognition in the beef industry, that each association should get involved in the EPD program. There was a request that each breed association submit 3-5 goals that they would like to see accomplished in the future and from these the committee could form a core group to work on it. I submitted 7 goals after interacting with the rest of the CDCA board.
On June 23 CLRC had a meeting with associations interested in switching to SNP. Jim Washer has set the date as the end of Sept. for full implementation of the SNP DNA data to be received by CLRC from Delta Genomics. The result of this meeting is Delta wants all the breed associations to identify their breed prominent bulls to be SNP DNA tested.
These are some of the highlights that I have been involved in this last year. There are other items I’d like to get involved with in the next year, my last year on the board, the constitution, and more information for the information package, for instance.”
b) Secretary: Ron Black reported that he is continuing to provide services as Secretary-Treasurer of the CDCA on behalf of Canadian Livestock Records Corporation (CLRC) even though he has retired from CLRC. He had participated as usual in the directors’ conference calls and prepared and distributed the minutes of those meetings, usually as enclosures with the Newsletter, as well as maintaining the CDCA financial records. The Herd Book had not been published this year as there were less than 100 registrations in 2014. The Herd Book that will be published in 2016 will include all registrations from 2014 and 2015. In 2014, there were 85 Dexters registered and 104 animals transferred. The CDCA had 107 paid members in 2014.
c) Financial Report (enclosed): Ron Black presented the financial report for 2014. He explained that the financial review had again been done by Allan and Partners LLP in Perth Ontario. The report showed total assets of $12,039 and liabilities of $3,444 for net assets at yearend of $8,595. For the year, revenue totaled $11,563 and expenditures were $14,781 for a deficit of $3,218.
Moved by Allyn Nelson, seconded by Ian Payne, that the financial statements for 2014 be adopted as presented. Carried.
For 2015 to date, revenue has totaled $7,711 and expenses $6,659, for a surplus to date of $1,052.
d) Committee Reports:
a) 4-H: Adrian Hykaway noted that in 2014 there had been 3 members in Ontario who used Dexters as their 4-H project. He reported that he had heard of an incident in Alberta where a 4-H member had been told to purchase a standard beef breed animal for use as a project rather than using a Dexter. He is trying to get further information on that situation. As usual, fair recognition of Dexters is always a challenge.
ii) Promotional Items: Cathy Heinzelman reported that sales have been minimal. A new supply of magnets has been purchased. She also indicated that her personal means of promotion is that when she sells an animal to a new Dexter owner, she purchases a membership for that buyer. Other members indicated that they do this also.
iii) Website: Becky Williams reported that she works with Simone Benjamin to keep the website updated. She indicated that she will be reviewing the website in the near future to determine if there is outdated material. Ideas for content on the site are always welcome.
iv) Newsletter: Brenda Pollard reported that she always needs pictures and submissions for the Newsletter. Adrian Hykaway encouraged those present to tell about themselves and their Dexters in the Newsletter. With the last issue, Brenda had conducted a survey to see how quickly the mailed Newsletters were received by members. This had resulted in 7 more members opting to receive the Newsletter by e-mail, meaning that about 25% of members now receive the Newsletter by e-mail. Brenda stated that she will continue to produce the Newsletter even though she will no longer be on the Board of Directors. This was received with appreciation by those present.
v) Membership: Adrian Hykaway reported that he had not been in as much contact with new members and owners as he would like to have been.
There was considerable discussion on the reasons that members do not renew, as it has been noted that the membership does not grow in spite of new members every year. Possible reasons include the fee and what benefits are received for the fee, and the aging of current members. It was asked whether the CDCA has ever considered a mechanism to bring unregistered animals into the registry. It was pointed out that the genetic testing requirements in the by-laws are limiting how many animals get registered, and thus limiting the gene pool. It was noted that there are many Dexter owners in Canada who simply are not interested in membership or in registration of their animals.
vi) CLRC Meetings: Adrian Hykaway reported that he and Rita and Ian Payne had attended the CLRC Annual Meeting in Ottawa. The CLRC Board is working on a strategic plan and had presented the preliminary work on it. There were two new members elected to the CLRC Board replacing two directors who stepped aside. Adrian had also participated in a conference call organized by CLRC and involving breed association representatives, and staff from Delta Genomics, CLRC, and the Canadian Beef Breeds Council regarding the transition from microsatellites to SNP for DNA testing, and the change of service provider from Genserve Laboratories Inc. to Delta Genomics. CLRC and Delta are working on setting up the necessary data exchange, application forms, fees, etc. The goal is to have the changes in place by the end of September 2015.
vii) CBBC Meeting: Adrian Hykaway reported that he had also attended both the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Beef Breeds Council and the Niche Breeds Committee meeting. As a result of the Niche Breeds meeting, the CDCA Board had submitted a list of projects that the CDCA would be interested in having the CBBC provide funding for. This list included feed efficiency testing, an Expected Progeny Difference (EPD) program, including an extensive information package, ultra sounding, classification, grass fed scoring, and marketing. Adrian provided an explanation of what is involved in obtaining EPD’s for animals.
Business Arising from Reports:
a) Website: Marion Clements inquired about ads on the website for animals for sale that have been there for a long time, with the animals having been sold in most cases. This makes it frustrating for people looking for animals to find that animals listed are no longer available and a disincentive to advertise on the site. Becky Williams stated that she would contact the advertisers who currently have ads on the site and remove ads accordingly and also monitor the time frame of future ads. Becky expressed her opinion that ads on the website should be free for members as a benefit of CDCA membership, given the number of other websites where free ads can be placed. Several present were in agreement with this suggestion. There was also discussion on removing ads automatically after a certain time period unless the advertiser requests renewal. It was further suggested that Dexters wanted ads be free for non-members, and that it be required that the advertiser indicate where they are located.
Moved by Becky Williams, seconded by Cathy Heinzelman, that advertising on the CDCA website be free to members, that ads be removed from the website after 60 days unless they are renewed, using a utility on the website if possible, and that ads placed by non-members wanting to purchase Dexters also be free. Carried.
5. Counting of Ballots and Announcement of New Directors: It was agreed that Rita Hykaway and Evelyn Trask act as scrutineers to count the ballots. The results were:
Mike Lafortune – 20 votes
Nick Woodhouse – 16 votes
Neal Wilson – 15 votes
Mike Lafortune and Nick Woodhouse were declared elected as directors and were congratulated.
Moved by Cathy Heinzelman, seconded by Allyn Nelson, that the ballots be destroyed. Carried.
6. Correspondence: Two pieces of e-mail correspondence had been received from Marion Clements. The first concerned the private Legacy website operated by one individual in the United States that is posting Herd Book and DNA information from Canada and other countries. Marion had inquired as to whether the CDCA Herd Books are copyrighted. There was consensus that they are not. It was agreed that the CDCA Board will monitor the situation.
The second item was news that a new Breed Assignment Test that Patti Adams had had carried out at the UC Davis lab in the United States had concluded that the polled bull Saltaire Platinum did not show any detectable contribution from any of the other breeds in the test in his genetic make-up so the conclusion is that he is a purebred Dexter and that the polling is a natural mutation. Marion suggested that Patti Adams should be recognized in some way by the CDCA for having had this test performed. Marion agreed to submit an article on this for the Newsletter.
7. New Business:
a) By-law Review Committee: Adrian Hykaway explained that the Board of Directors feels there is a need to review the by-laws of the CDCA and formulate changes that need to be made to better meet the needs of the members. There was consensus that the new Board of Directors establish such a committee.
b) Transition to SNP Technology: This topic had been covered extensively under Reports. Adrian Hykaway reported that, as part of the transition, Delta Genomics and CBBC are looking for associations to denote prominent bulls within the breed on which SNP testing could be done at the outset of the transition project, to assist with working out the procedures and costs for the transition to the new type of testing and a new laboratory. Adrian Hykaway asked Marion Clements if she would be willing to research the herd books and compile the list of prominent bulls for Dexter, and she agreed.
8. Adjournment:
Moved by Allyn Nelson the meeting be adjourned.
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