JERSEY BREEDERS' HOLD ANNUAL MEETING

Otaki Mail, 19 June 1939, Page 1

JERSEY BREEDERS' HOLD ANNUAL MEETING

T « ! STRONG POSITION OF ASSOCIATION | : i There was an attendance of 40 at the 37th. annual meeting of the New Zealand Jersey Cattle Breeders' Association, which was held in Palmersto n| North Thursday. In the absence of the president (Mr. G. H. Bell), Mr. C. J. L. Dernier, the vice-president, was in tite chair. "I am very pleased indeed as Mayor to extend a very warm welcome to visiting members of the association, particularly when we remember the large part played by dairying in the growth of this city and the large part it is still destined to play in the future of this city and this Dominion," stated the Mayor (Mr. A. E. Mansford) in addressing the meeting. "Looking at your balance-sheet," he proceeded, "it must be very gratifying to your members to see the sound financial position your association is in, and I do congratulate those responsible for the sound policy pursued, but one, of course, would not expect an association such as yours to be in any other position, because I am one of those who believe the Jersey to bo a veritable goldmine if given the proper attention, "Your accumulated funds stand today at £27,514 2s lid, all soundly invested. This is a remarkable position when you consider that the assocaition was formed in 1902 and there were nine members present at this meeting. In 1903 you had 39 members and to-day 2000 In 1903 you had 294 animals registered and to-day 251,900— wTiat phenomenal growth! "I am told it is the largest dairy breeders' association in the southern hemisphere and the second largest in the world—a truly wonderful performance and certainly in keeping with tho record established in 193 S by the New Zealand Jersey Woodlands Felicie, of 12201 b of butterfat in one year, which was then a world's record for Jerseys. "When I mentioned that memorable meeting of 1902. of those present at that meeting there is only one ahvo to-day, Mr. G. G. C. Dormer, and 1 understand that it is the 50th. anniversary of his stud, and we extend to him our very best wishes and many happy returns of the day. "I congratulate your association on ) what it lias accomplished in such a short space of time and I hope the future holds the same measure of prosperity," the Mayor concluded. "I think we "can congratulate ourselves on having had a reasonably good year," stated the chairman in moving the adoption of the annual report, as already published, and the balancesheet " "The balance-sheet disclose! a profit for the year of £319, which shows that we are spending most of the money which is coming into this association. As far as the operations of the assoc.i»«°» "' u concerned, they have been kept up to par. Our transfers for Jersev bulls are just about the same as last year, which shows that the demand for Jersey cattle has not deteriorated in any way, although times have not been particularly good. The transfers ,jf bulls have exceeded those of last year, which shows that the Jersey breed "is being wanted more and more as years "As regards C.O.R. testing, Mr. Dermer continued, "I can only regret that it has not been taken more advantage of, for we have in our hands one of°the best systems of testing in the world and as "an advertising medium it is one of the finest things wo have for Showing what Jersey cattle can do." ', Mr. Dermer congratulated Mr. E. J. Clough and J. and G. W. Dobson on performances established by two of their cows under the C.O.R. 365-day test. The council, he continued, would do all it could with a view to improve tho breed. "We know there are some cows which arc not a credit to us, but until we can work out a scheme we will not be able to eliminate those cows from the bottom. "Regarding classification, we have had a few letters objecting to certain classifiers going to certain farms. The ' classifiers do their work honestly and { well, and I don't think it would be, I possible to allow the breeder to nominate his own classifier. We change the j classifiers as much as possible, so that breeders don't get the same men in the! same district every year." Announcing that the council had. added three names to the list of classi- j fiers on Wednesday—Messrs. S. G. Morgan (Eltham), Harold J. Lancaster (Levin), and Jack Moreland (Cambridge) —Mr. Dermer said that the prae- j iice of the past would be followed and j -*i»t the new classifiers would be sent, 'brond with two of the older member* j for the first year, so that the same stan- j dards would be maintained. ilr. T. Ranford congratulated the, council on its work during the past year. Speaking in regard to the 305j day test, he said he was wondering ! whether ever3-thing possible had been j done to encourage.it in any way similar I to 365-day testing. • I The chairman: We have not given as much in the way of medals, because j there have not been sufficient cows to \ encourage it. Sometimes there are only : I three or four or five cows in a class. ; The report and balance-sheet were ; adopted. i Following the ballot held for the election of three members of the council, it 1 was announced that the following had t been returned: South Auckland district, - Messrs. W. H. Miers and H. Moreland; Taranaki district, Mr. S. G. Morgan. All three gentlemen returned thanks -' for their election. • | It was decided to place on record I appreciation of the woik done by Mr. G, , H.Bell, who was defeated in the ballot 3 by Mr. Morgan. The chairman, in paying tribute to Mr. Bell's work, said that he had been i elected to the council in - 192 S and had t been president from 1935 to date. He - had been a hard and active worker and e had put his heart and soul into his efforts for the Jersey breed. Mr. N. I. Nielsen was re-appointed • auditor. j After considerable discussion, the ' meeting adopted, by a majority vote, a remit moved by Mr. J. A. Stevens that the classification committee should consist of three examiners and that all

classification should be made by a majority decision. A recommendation to the council that classification should be made compulsory was defeated. | The meeting endorsed a recommendation by tho council that a scheme shouTu be introduced restricting in future the ' registration or transfer of bulls from J untested dams, provided that, in view of the great impetus which would consequently follow in testing as a result of such a scheme and also the benefit which would accrue not only to the fcreed but also to the dairying industry in general, the Government were to contine under the same conditions appertaining as at present to the C.O.R. and Government official herd testing systems conducted under the jurisdiction of the Dairy Division. The chairman explained that the above recommendation had been made as a result of consideration that had been given to the matter by the Breeds Federation, which had appointed Mr. H. Johnston and himself to wait on the Government to see whether any assurance on these lines could be given. Some universal system of testing was necessary ,and if the Government could be persuaded to do this work it would not bo inflicting any great hardship on any breeder provided he was given facilities to get thrs testing done. "It would be a great thing if we could say that every bull that was registered was out of a tested dam," Mr. Dermer added. In reply to a question by Mr. EL C. Sampson, the chairman said there would undoubtedly have to be an alteration made to the rules to permit of the above being carried out. There was no Idea of bringing the scheme into forco before 1940 or 1941. A proposal by Mr. M. Murray that the 365-day test should be struck out in favour of the 305-day test was withdrawn after the chairman had suggested that it would be almost suicide to put the idea into operation. The meeting had just passed a resolution asking the Government to carry on the C.O.R. and Government O.H.T. tests, and now it was being suggested that the C.O.R. test should bo cut out. Mr. Stevens suggested that the judges' list should now be cut out as with the growth of clubs they were looked on to provide judges. The chairman was of the opinion that I tho association wns better off with a judges' list than without one. Put to the meeting as a motion, Mr. Stevens' proposal was defeated. On the motion of Mr. J. A. Russell it was decided to ask the council to review the subsidies given to the various clubs for show purposes. I In reply to a suggestion by Mr. i Stevens that the bulls from overseas should be selected by a representative !of the association, the chairman pro 1 mised that the council would look into it. Mr. Stevens stated than an unsntisi factory sire could easily cost a breeder 1 £2OO o'r £3OO. I On the motion of Mr. A. C. Lovelock, ■ the meeting passed a resolution congratulating the chairman on the attainment of the diamond jubilee of the Waipiko stud.