Meet Snowflake, a 2,400lbs Black Angus bull who, for six years, Douglas Moorhead called his pet.

“He was a nice bull, very tame,” recalls Moorhead. “If he was lying down in the field, you could go sit on him.” Snowflake, named this way because he was purchased during a snowstorm, even loved to be scratched around the ears and on the tail. “He would swing his rear around at you to get a scratch,” laughs Moorhead. “And he was big.”

But he was not always such a gentle giant. “He was aggressive when I got him,” explains Moorhead. “Snortin’ and blowin’ and pawin’. But I had him in the pen for about three months and he came around.”

Moorhead, who is the newest addition to the QFA Board of Directors, grew up in Claybank (now Arnprior), Ontario, near Ottawa. His father had Hereford cows and worked as a carpenter in the winter months. Early on, Moorhead did not have much interest in farming and worked at both the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa and at Boeing of Canada, in Arnprior before starting working at Bell Helicopter in Mirabel, where he met is wife, Pascale.

He worked in the helicopter assembly line as a repair specialist. If any damages occurred during the assembly process, it was Moorhead’s job to fix them right away. “If someone dropped a tool or something, it would make a hole and I would fix it,” he explains.

Although he can’t pin-point what changed his mind about farming, and although he sometimes thinks about going back to work on the assembly line, Moorhead does admit that he enjoys farming. “I’m happy, but I’m poor,” he laughs.

It was in 1991 that Moorhead and his wife purchased a farm in Mirabel that had been bought-out for the airport but was up for sale again. It had been vacant for many years and the farm house had been burned down. There was no house, no barns, no hydro, no fences, and the weeds in the fields were over the hood of truck. “We didn’t know what we were getting into,” he laughs, thinking back.

They began with crossbred cows but for the past 7 years they have been breeding a Black Angus herd which currently has 55 cows and is turning a lovely black colour.

Moorhead’s involvement with the QFA dates back to the late nineties when he began attending regional meetings, AGMs, and served as a QFA delegate to the UPA General Congress in 2003. He became a Board member in 2005.

“With the current QFA team in place, I see the knowledge and determination needed for the QFA to lead the English farming community into a prosperous future. But the QFA team can not do this without farmer participation and their financial support. Take the time to become a 2006 member and help give us the resources to work for you.”