Hello, my name is Reed Rigney and I am the new President of the Alberta Blonde Association. Our family goes back a long ways in the Blonde breed. My grandfather, Hugh, started his Blonde herd as Willow Springs Stock Farm in the mid seventies (prefix HAR then WSS), and dispersed his herd in 1991. I had my own herd from then until 2001 when I sold out as well.

We now have a small PB Red Angus herd, but in recent years I have been AI’ing some of the bottom end cows Blonde, and putting in a few embryos. I have been gathering up some of the available semen and embryos from some of the older genetics (including old WSS breeding) to see what I would get. We AI’ed some of the cows to Fantome  (R9) this past year, and I eagerly await the calves. This past spring I also bought a small package of cows from George & Karen Gray (Southview Blondes).

So what’s new with the association?

Your directors for 2008 are; Reed Rigney (president), Sharon Breitkreuz (vice-president), Shirley Jackson (sec/treas), Shelley Alstad, Matthew Jacobsen, Ken Mackenzie and Roger Paulgaard.

We are currently planning a breeders directory (see advertising info below). This is an excellent opportunity to market your bulls to commercial and PB buyers as they will be distributed to Auction Marts, given out at Bull Congress’s, at Livestock Shows and where ever cattlemen can pick them up. Make sure to have some good pictures for the advertising, they go a long way to getting people interested. If you would like to advertise please let me know ASAP so that we can have the directory ready for the spring bull season.

Advertising Rates for the Alberta Breeders Directory

Outside back cover (colour)……….....$500

Inside front cover (colour)…………….  400

1 page Colour........................................ 300

½ page Colour....................................... 200

1 page Black & White.........................   180

½ page Black & White........................   100

Business Card Black and White...........    50

+ GST on all adds

2008 Fall Female Sale

We would like to have a female sale in the fall of 2008. The plans are in the works for a sale in mid-November to early December, and either at Clyde or Olds, details will be firmed up if there is interest among breeders. It is going to be a select sale with a small selection committee visiting farms of interested parties. The Cream of the Crop sale in Ontario as adopted this format, and the cattle have been strong with the prices following suit. The hope is that all breeders in the province (the sale will also be open to those outside the province) will be able to contribute a few animals thereby keeping quality high. Remember that a select sale doesn’t mean that you have to sell your very best animal (unless you want to), but one or two of better animals. The goal is to prevent the sale from being a cull sale.

The approximate cost will be 7% + $6000-$8000 fixed costs. As an example if we have 40 head averaging $1500 = gross of $60,000 your sales cost would be 7% plus 10% ($6000 divided by $60,000). 17% sounds high, but it is pretty standard across the industry with only the highest grossing sales being lower. The sale is also an opportunity to market your program to old and new breeders as well as market the breed to other players in the livestock industry (thus the need for high quality animals). The breed must be seen if we are to move forward and remain competitive. Each contributor will be asked to submit a $400 farm selection fee by June 1^st. This money, minus selection expenses (we anticipate less than $100), will be returned if the animal(s) are sold at the sale. We are also looking into the possibility of having the sale broadcast over the internet so that producers from across the country can tune in.

Although we have listed June 1^st as the entry deadline please let us know ASAP if you are interested because we will also be soliciting entries from out of province.

2008 Summer Gathering

It has been almost ten years since the last summer gathering (or so I’m told). I always enjoyed getting together in the summer, meeting new breeders, visiting old friends and seeing some cattle. We are going to get this going again for 2008, as Art & Sharon Breitkreuz have volunteered to host the event. Watch for more info to come, and I hope we’ll see you there.

Well that’s all for now. Any questions, concerns, comments please don’t hesitate to call or email.

Reed Rigney

Box 5959

Westlock, AB

T7P 2P7

home # (780) 348-5308

cell #    (780) 307-2702

Welcome |  Breed Information  | Breeder Members | News and Features l Coming Events

A Little History l Board of Directors | Steer-a-Year

 Classified Ads | Commercial | Links l

Alberta Blonde d'Aquitaine Association,

Reed Rigney ,President  (780)348-5308