MEXICO ILC REPORT
The 19th International Limousin Congress, held 4th – 9th October in Mexico, was attended by 65 overseas visitors from 12 countries. Representing the UK were BLCS Chairman, Jim Bloom, and his wife Margaret together with Eurolim and World Limousin President, Aled Edwards.
Shorter than usual, the Congress included visits to three Limousin ranches and two feedlots in addition to a Technical Conference which was opened by the newly installed Governor of the State of Zacatecas. A National Limousin Show
was held at Guadalajara and comprised 211 Limousin entries, generally combining North American and French genetics with the French sire On-Dit being the sire of both the Male & Female Champions.
The program for the Technical Conference included the history and evolution of the Limousin breed in Mexico which reported on the first introduction of Limousin cattle from the USA and Canada in the early 1980s through to the present-day 3000 pedigree registrations covering 125 members based in 10 of the 31 Mexican states. Other presentations focused on the performance of Limousin cattle in hoof and hook competitions as well as the development of genetric evaluation. Similar to the UK’s BLUP model, it is a single trait analysis and has been done for the last five years and includes about 10,000 birth weights, 10,000 weaning weights and about 6000 yearling weights.
At the ILC AGM, Aled Edwards was re-elected as President with Iain Kerr, BLCS CEO, continuing his role on the Executive. The 2012 Congress will be held in Denmark, with the venue of the 2014 event likely to be Argentina and then Ireland in 2016.
