Link proposed for L.I.A.s

Press, 4 May 1984, Page 9

Link proposed for L.I.A.s

A national council to control and co-ordinate dairy herd improvement is planned by the Dairy Board.

The board’s acting chairman, Mr A. E. Cooper, said the new organisation would oversee the work now done by the board’s farm production division and six farmerrun livestock improvement associations.

The directors of these associations supported the planned restructuring and members would vote on the changes at annual meetings this year, Mr Cooper said. The annual meeting of the

South Island association will be in July. He said the provision of effective herd improvement services was a vital part of the board’s support of the dairy industry. The new council would allow greater efficiency and bring greater benefits to farmers, he said. Mr Cooper said the Dairy Board would soon call for nominations for the new council, which would control herd improvement policy formation, implementation and management. The council’s major regional responsbilities would

be delegated to the livestock improvement associations, who would become regional boards but would retain their legal entities as co-operatives of farmers. The chairman of the Federation of Livestock Improvement Associations, Mr David Bay, said directors of five of the associations had already pledged their support to the new council. The sixth, WellingtonHawkes Bay, has yet to declare itself in favour of the move. The planned council was also welcomed by the acting chairman of the Herd Im-

provement Council, Mr J. L. Murray, who said in a statement' it would benefit farmers by being able to respond more quickly to market needs. Mr Murray said the restructuring was instigated by the farmer co-operative livestock improvement associations who, in 1981, requested the Dairy Board to review the operation of the herd improvement plan. “It is important to remember that the proposed new organisation will retain its user co-operative base,” he said. “The regional boards will have a vital role to play. As field servicing arms working under contract to a central council in the interests of farmers, the boards will provide an essential two-way link between the council, senior executives and farmers.” Mr Murray said farmers would be able to affect and influence national herd improvement policy in a number of ways through their regional boards.