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Angus Newsletter Autumn 2010

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Sample Articles from the Autumn 2010 edition:

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Bruce Alexander.
President,
Angus New Zealand Inc.

What a marvellous Ward Tour we all had in Northland. Thank you to Chris Biddles and Robin France and their team for the great time we all had, everything seem to go without a hitch due I imagine to all the work that had been put in over the preceding months.

It was a very friendly tour of a round 100 participants and a lot of fun was had with Gordy probably having the loudest laugh. Although the region was very dry and the odd line of cattle were showing signs of the drought we also saw some very good lines of cows and calves, and a line of two year old heifers with their calves at foot that were especially pleasing. Well done to the team for including the Landcorp herd in the tour, they certainly opened a few eyes.

Yes Chris, Omapere was a lovely spot, wonderfully set off on arrival by a beautiful evening. I thought the AGM was very well attended.

This is your AGM and is an opportunity for members to have their say on issues that are troubling them, while there was some discussion this year, I would like members to use this forum for a much fuller and wide ranging discussion on the way forward for Angus NZ. The board does hear during the year lots of “stuff” that would indicate that you think procedures or items could be dealt with a lot better by the Board than what they are, but come an open forum where these ideas should be brought up, they seem to disappear.

Guy Sargent being honoured with AngusNZ Honorary Life Membership was also a highlight and was just reward for the passion and commitment to Angus that Guy has given to the Breed over many years.

National Sale:

We have 42 Bulls entered in the National sale, which is a little above last year’s entry. We now need the support of our members to make this sale a successful one if it is to continue in its present form. You will well remember it was member pressure that persuaded the Board to reverse the decision taken last year to mothball this event.

Thanks to those members who have put entries in and to Grant Crawshaw and Peter McWilliam for the time and effort they put into the inspection of all the Expo entries, a big job considering it covered 10 days, 5 breeds for which they were away from their own enterprises. It would be great to see you at the dinner on the Monday night before the sale at Guy Sargents restaurant, “Aberdeen”, in Palmerston North.

The Angus breed prize giving will be held at this function, so please make the effort to be there. Don’t forget either, the Future Beef Hoof and Hook competition on the Saturday and Sunday prior to National. To see approximately 70 young people parading their animals for judging and then trying their own skills at judging is really pleasing and is quite a sight. It bodes well for the future of our industry, make an effort to be there in support.

Steak of Origin

With a record 400 entries this year the competition is obviously going to be tough.

Thank you to those of you who have entered. Good luck to you all, it would be marvellous to pull it off again.

Agonline

To those of you who are unsure what this is, it is an online Auction service run by PGGWrightsons. They have agreed to run several dedicated Angus sales during the year, the first of which should be held during the month of May.

Any type of Angus is eligible, steers, heifers, cows, bulls, calves, commercial, pedigree, any age. Watch out for more details in this newsletter and on our website; www.angusnz.co.nz but be aware this is coming up.

I would suggest you register with Agonline now so that you are familiar with the format when these sales are up and running.

World Forum

Planning for this event in 2013 is progressing well with a meeting held in Rotorua recently. Although final decisions on the programme are someway off, thinking at the moment is for there to be a pre-forum tour in the South Island for five days consisting of visiting major studs and top tourist spots. Flying to Rotorua for the three day Forum and then having a choice of two post Forum tours in the North Island. Mark and Charlotte Stevens are working on an exciting program for the young ones. You will be kept in touch as we firm up the program. According to the 2013 World Forum website there is still 1276 days to go.

Governance

This issue is still lying on the Board table and will be progressed with some urgency by the new Rules and Constitution sub committee. It will be part of a total revamp of the Rules and Constitution which upon review by our lawyers have been found to be ambiguous and out of date.

Communication

As you will see on page 11 of this Newsletter we are keen to get as many of you as possible onto this form of communication, please read this carefully and make every effort to ‘get connected’. Things have changed since you tried to get a reasonable internet connection via dial-up. We now have satellite and wireless providers and you will find them alot more convenient and faster, and you can be on the phone and the internet at the same time. Those of you who are not on e-mail may get a phone call from your board member to encourage you to do so.

The 2010 /11 Board

At the AGM in Omapere some changes occurred in Board personal with Dougal Stringer and Alistair Sharpe retiring as they had been Board members for ten years. Thank you to the two of you for your work during that time, we will miss you both. We welcome Neil Sanderson from the Southern Ward and Roger Matthews from the South Auckland / Waikato / Bay of Plenty Ward and hope that they enjoy their time on the Board.

There are also some portfolio changes within the Board as you will see from the list listed under ‘From Council’, if you have a problem in a specific area these are the people to ring, all are experts in their fields.

The chairman also is always willing to take your calls at any time. Finally with the Bull selling season coming upon us, can I wish you all the very best with your sales this season and hope that you are well satisfied with the results at the conclusion of them.

Bruce Alexander. President, Angus New Zealand Inc.

FROM COUNCIL

ANGUS NZ Board Committees 2010

If members have problems or want to discuss directly with Board members about any specific subject, these are the people to talk to. For futrue reference, this list also appears on the Committess Responsibility page.

New Councillors

The full councillor list appears on the Councillor page, along with their contact details

Breedplan enquiries:

All enquiries for Breedplan matters are to be directed through the office please, not direct.

AngusPure ‘A’:

Members are very welcome to use the AngusPure logo ‘A’ for promotional purposes, but not for use in individual logos or prefixes where an ‘A’ is found. This is a registered brand and only for use in the promotion of the AngusPure product. Please ring the office if in doubt for clarification.

 

Angus Feature breed at the 2011 Auckland Easter Show

Angus Feature breed at the 2011 Auckland Easter Show: AngusNZ has been invited to be the feature breed at the Auckland Easter Show in 2011.

We want to take up this offer but to do so we require the help of breeders in the regions around Auckland. So if you are one who does show cattle at these events and are likely to be at the AES next year.

Please contact the office.

We will be creating visual material to compliment our presence as well. Please cntact Rob and let him know if you will think you will be partaking in this event next year so we are properly co-ordinated.

 

ANGUS NZ GENETIC TRENDS

These are always interesting and give a chance to see where (as an average) the traits in the Angus breed in New Zealand are heading.

For all 19 genetic Trend graphs please visit the Genetics - Trends page

 

New recipient, Guy Sargent being congratulated by Tim Brittain who proposed Guy’s elevation to Honorary Life Member of Angus New Zealand at the 2010 AGM held on the Northland Ward Tour in March this year. This is an appropriate year to celebrate this occasion with Guy, as it is this year, 10 years on, that he was instrumental in the development and birth of the AngusPure brand. Guy was one of the leading personalities along with Tim and John Turner in creating an ‘Angus’ brand, developed to distinguish Angus New Zealand’s quality grass fed beef from others in the market. Since its inception Guy has held the role of CEO for AngusPure and been the driving force in the early days of seeing this dream become a reality. Today AngusPure is found domestically in restaurants in all parts of the country, in New World and Pak ‘N’ Save supermarkets in all towns and cities and in all of the many McDonald’s family restaurants throughout New Zealand. It is also exporting through McDonalds to the USA, and through Silver Fern Farms Ltd and Wilson Hellabys Ltd to a number of key markets in the world. A remarkable effort in such a short period of time. Congratulations to you from us all Guy on receiving this highly regarded award from the breeders of Angus New Zealand.