Hello to you all
This is my first Presidents comment in a Society publication so I thought I should at least introduce myself to those of you reading this, who I have not met personally.
Diane and I are very much part time farmers and have been so for 23 years of our 32 years married life. Both of us are Bankers by profession, however 3 years ago I stepped out of the finance industry completely to run and work in the local mowing franchise that we purchased, which has also meant that I have been able to get a better balance to life running the farm.
We started breeding Murray Grey cattle in 2009, formed Willow Gully Murray Grey Stud in 2011 and have been breeding between 20 and 25 calves annually off the 60 acres we farm in Waimauku, which is 38 Kilometers northwest of Auckland.
I have lived in Waimauku all my life, so it is amazing to see the changes that have occurred, and how we have gone from being considered “in the sticks”when I was a kid to now being very definitely a suburb of Auckland city.
I have served on the Society Council for 3 years, the last 2 of which in the position of Treasurer.
I am honored to be President of the Society and I thank my fellow Councilors Michael Gray, Vice President, Peter Stachurski, Treasurer, and Councilors Zarah Blackwell, Caitlin Brook, Carolyn Mcintosh and our immediate Past President George Climo for putting themselves forward to lead the Society.
Personally, I am very pleased with the mix of personalities, male/female balance and experience that our Council has, and I know I speak for the whole council when I say we intend to be your dedicated breed and breeder advocates and please do not be shy about making contact with any of us to discuss issues related to the breed and the society.
Hope you enjoy reading this edition of the Newsletter.
Tony Powell
General
I hope all Murray Grey breeders have now received all the items celebrating 50 years of Murray Greys which have been posted out over the last three weeks. If any members would like to purchase more coffee mugs these are on sale for $20 each. Contact me on ggclimo@farmside.co.nz.
Annual General Meeting
I would like to thank all members who were able to attend the A.G.M. in Christchurch in May. From all the positive feedback we received this was a very successful and informative A.G.M.
A big thank you to Ross Hayes who organized a great day viewing the Canterbury Water Plains Scheme. It was a very eye opening visit with the scheme looking into the future and very well managed.
Barry Macdonald gave a very entertaining speech at lunch before we visited the Xcell breeding Centre. Thank you Barry.
At the A.G.M. dinner it was a great honour to award Trevor and Sue Clarke a Life Membership award. Trevor and Sue have spent many years working for the Murray Grey Society with Sue still working on the facebook page and working with PBB on our website. Their dedication is greatly appreciated.
Two other awards were also presented. These were service awards and were awarded to Wayne Allerby and Mervyn Mitchell.
On the Friday morning some members spent the day in Christchurch and a few of us visited Sarah Rodie’s farm near Amberley. Thank you Sarah for showing us around.
Thank you to all of those who attended, it was great to catch up.
George Climo
Upcoming Bull Sales
Mangaotea (Blackwells)
16th September
Murray Downs (Sarah Rodie)
22nd September this is a bidr sale online
Torrisdale (Barry MacDonald)
13th October
Silver Fern (McIntosh)
18th October
Also the well known Newhall Stud of the Hayes are downsizing and have up to 60 females for sale. These range from in-calf heifers to mixed age cows.
For further enquiries ring Ross Hayes on 03 318 1707.
