I can hardly believe Christmas is almost upon us and that 2014 is almost at an end. One thing I will say for Canada is that with all the snow we get it does feel very festive this time of year.

However, said festive feeling does disappear rather rapidly when your car is stuck in a 6ft snow drift on the side of the road in -30C weather. Thankfully this has never happened to me but I have been part of the rescue operation once or twice coming across stricken cars and irate drivers. Passers-by really rally around with shovels and tow-ropes to fish vehicles out of the ditches (hopefully with bumpers intact) in situations like these and it is quite the sight to see. I just hope never to be on the receiving end of the tow!

I have been out and about across the country in the last few weeks attending national and provincial beef and forage industry meetings which are in full swing now that the field season is over and before calving begins. These meetings have taken me to rural Manitoba, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Alberta so it is chance to meet producers and other industry stakeholders (and brush up on my terrible French in the case of Quebec).

I have been lucky enough to attend some of these events due to my participation in a new national researcher mentorship program established by the Beef Cattle Research Council which is Canada’s national industry-led funding agency for beef research and a division of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. This programme is designed to provide new researchers with the opportunity meet key industry stakeholders, facilitate collaborations and garner knowledge of industry issues to aid in the development of pertinent, applied research programs. Participants are mentored by prominent members of the beef industry and I have the great fortune of being mentored by Janice Bruynooghe and Sandy Russell from the neighboring province of Saskatchewan. This has been a fantastic experience thus far and I look forward to the exciting opportunities in store in 2015.

With that, I sign off for 2014 and look forward to the welcoming arrivals gate at Dublin airport. There really is no better feeling than to be going home for Christmas to see everyone again (and getting used to driving on the other side of the road again). It has a crazy year but thankfully never a dull moment and I look forward dusting off my skis to round it off with a trip out west with great friends in Alberta for New Year’s.