Murray Grey Newsbrief

December 2008

In this issue:

1. Dairy Index
2. Marketing Murray Grey Beef
3. Pending changes with Breedplan and ABRI
4. Council Elections
5. 2009 Beef Expo
6. Future Beef NZ
7. DNA Service Provision

Dairy Index

The Council has decided to adopt a Dairy Index in principle. A final decision will be made following a review of another run of index figures on known bulls.

The dairy industry is a very important market for Murray Grey bulls with some 90% or more of bulls going there. The adoption of such an index provides another tool in the selection and marketing of bulls to the dairy industry.

Considerable thought has been given to this development by the council given that it is another expense. However it is important that the Society provides the tools that are available for breeders to progress the breed.

As indicated previously the index is based on actual market information to provide a dollar index for each animal. New developments by ABRI are based on the use of Indexes which will allow further genetic analysis of individual stud progress compared to the breed average and other studs.

Marketing Murray Grey Beef

The use of a brand name for Murray Grey Beef is seen as an excellent idea in progressing the breed in the local market as a quality product. The registering of a brand name however is a significant expense for the Society and the Council has decided to put the registration on hold until the brand name will be used.

Pending changes with Breedplan and ABRI

The current contract with ABRI is now up for renegotiation; as it is for all the Breed Societies aligned with Performance Beef Breeders. The operating system for Breedplan is also being changed to a windows based system. This is along with additional upgrades within the system. The implication at present is that this will result in an additional one off cost to each of the breed societies.

Council Elections

As required under Rule 4(e) nominations will be called in February 2009 to elect the full council for a further three years. Nomination forms will be posted out to members in February.

The AGM will once again be held during
Beef Expo in Feilding on Tuesday 12th May 2009.

2009 Beef Expo

The dates have been set for the 2009 Beef Expo starting with the FBNZ Hoof & Hook on Saturday 9th / Sunday 10th & the morning of Monday 11th May.

The first breed show will be at 10.30am on Monday with the other breed shows and sales continuing on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Champion of Champions event will be held on Wednesday afternoon immediatly following the last sale. The cut off date for Murray Grey entries will be
Friday 20th February 2009.

Future Beef NZ

FBNZ is aiming to have 100 steers at the FBNZ Hoof & Hook competition in 2009. Entry forms for the Hoof & Hook competition will be available from the PBB office in the New Year.

DNA Service Provision

The PBBNZ Board is pleased to announce to the wider shareholding membership plans to provide DNA services early in the New Year.

PBBNZ will team up with Massey University’s Equine Parentage and Animal Genetics Services Centre to provide DNA profiles and parentage verification starting almost immediately. All samples will be sent to the PBB office in envelopes which PBB will provide along with all the relevant “best practice” collection information.

These will then be barcoded and recorded on our smart new CRM tracking system and then forwarded to the Massey Lab. Clients will be notified by email that their DNA samples have been received at PBB and at what stage the samples are at in the testing laboratory. A copy of the profile will be returned to the client and automatically recorded on BREEDPLAN by the relevant PBB registry staff member.

We expect that turnaround for results will generally be within a 14 day period for the Massey Lab once we get underway. Mannosidosis, Curly Calf, Red Factor and Myophosphorylase testing will also be handled by the Massey Lab. PBB General Manager, Murray Meads stated that “PBB is committed to improved efficiency and profitability by extending services that compliment core business.

This is an exciting extension to those services currently on offer at PBB. We see the collection and storage of good quality DNA information on behalf of the breed society clients as a major innovation for our business”. PBB has positioned itself to start receiving DNA (hair follicles) as of today.

Please contact the registry staff at PBB for further information.

Linda Rule: Registrar Angus, Simmental, Charolais, South Devon,
Murray Grey, Highland

Linda Shailer: Registrar Hereford, Shorthorn