First Angus forum to be held in NiZ.

Press, 25 March 1981, Page 11

First Angus forum to be held in NiZ.

For New Zealand’s Angus cattle breeders the staging of the fourth World Angus Forum in Christchurch this week is a very important occasion. For the first time breeders from all over the world are gathered to discuss the breed’s future and, during free time, evaluate the quality of the breed in New Zealand. i Between 800 and 1000 Angus breeders from Britain, Canada, the United States, South America/Australia and New Zealand are in Christchurch for a concentrated forum on a wide range of subjects of great and lasting importance to all Angus breeders. Topics which are likely to be discussed are type determination, genetical problems, the use of recording facilities, and the possibility of a world-wide sire evaluation scheme which could facilitate the sale of semen and transplanted ova between Angus breeders from any of the world’s associations. The overseas breeders at the conference will be representing the bulk of the world’s Angus farmers. An inspection of a few bare statistics released recently by the Angus breed societies in various countries indicates just how strongly represented Angus cattle are on the international beef scene. Australia has the Angus Society of Australia - with 1324 members — 813 of whom are stud breeders. There are about 30,000 Angus breeding cows.The Australian society estimates that about 7.5 per

cent of Australia's national herd (which totals nearly 27M head) are purebred and a further 10 per cent carry Angus blood. There are about 30,000 active Angus breeding cows on the society's computer records. The American Angus Association was organised in November, 1883. It has 27,000 active life members and 10,000 active junior members. In the 1979 fiscal year, the society registered 266,693 animals. It also transferred the registration papers for 155,547 animals — making the society the largest beef breed ■ association in the United States. Angus cattle are raised in 49 of the. 50 United States; only Alaska has no active Angus breeders. The A.A.S. was the first in the United States to offer its members a complete performance record programme. Officials of the A.A.S. report a great interest in this year’s world forum and are worried there may be too many Americans wanting to attend. The Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society, based in Perth, Scotland, also reports a great deal of interest in the forum from its members. The basis of beef production in Britain is the many herds of crossbreds and, obviously, the Angus studmen play an important role in' providing sires for these herds. Because of this it is impossible to determine exactly how many cattle with some Angus blood are on British farms.

The society membership totals about 1200 and roughly half of these are breeders. There are about 9000 purebred Angus breeding cows in Britain. In Uruguay, the Aberdeen Angus Society, based in Montevideo, has 150 members. The breed is the second strongest (numerically) beef breed in that country, ranking only behind the Herefords. About 7000 pure breeding cows are registered by the society. Angus cattle were first introduced to Uruguay in 1888 when several English bulls were imported. During the following 30 years stock from Britain, the United States, and Argentina were imported and the influence of Angus cattle rapidly grew. The Canadian Aberdeen Angus Association was incorporated in 1906 and has gone from strength to strength since then. In all, the association has 2200 members. Last year, 20,377 Angus were registered by the association and it estimates that association members run 100,000 registered cows. Herefords outnumber the Angus in Canada but the association says the gap is closing and Angus cattle are more predominant in exports. Angus cattle dominate the beef cattle scene in Argentina. In that country are 83 registered breeders who operate with 512,803 female cattle. The total beef herd in Argentina is about 64M and of these 32M are Angus.