We anticipate that close to three hundred inspections will have to be completed by June, and we are extremely grateful that Mike Greyling has agreed to manage this process in conjunction with regional coordinators.

Breeders are again reminded of the importance of being properly prepared for their inspections. Where this is not the case, the privilege of an inspection may be forfeited, thereby requiring the breeder to apply for a costly special inspection. Such special inspections will only be approved where inspectors are available to undertake these.

Importation Policy

A formal policy has been drafted and accepted on the issue of importations. The most important point is that these are primarily governed by the Animal Improvement Act and the main implication is that the Society will only be involved in the importation of registered animals.

Training

Council discussed and approved in principle a training strategy which had been developed by the training subcommittee. This will now be fleshed out as a policy document for ratification by council at the next meeting. In essence, we are looking at a hierarchy of training initiatives ranging from basic information/induction for new members and breeders through to high level technical training for senior inspectors. At the various levels, we intend to plug in supplementary modules dealing with subjects such as animal health and genetics.

The importance of induction training for new, and for that matter, existing breeders, cannot be overstressed. Many of the unnecessary workload problems in our office stem from a lack of knowledge of stud administration procedures, breed standards, and the concept of direct dealing with SA Studbook. Studbook is compiling a generic breeders’ manual which we will be able to customise to suit our society’s needs. This should be available to us by the end of March, and will form an important resource for the purposes of induction training.

We intend to revise our approach to Junior Inspector training. The new methodology is in line with that employed by other breed societies, and provides for the concept of a “ candidate inspector” who accompanies senior and junior inspectors on inspections in order to acquire experience. This process embodies ongoing evaluation of the candidate culminating in a formal theory and practical evaluation, whereupon the successful candidate is appointed as a junior inspector. We hope that this approach will be more appealing to breeders who wish to become inspectors, and will result in improved resources within our inspectorate.

Communication

Council has approved a new communications policy which specifically focuses on modernizing our whole approach to communications. Whilst acknowledging practical constraints for some members (farm phone lines, lack of celphone reception etc) it is our intention to make use of electronic media as far as possible as this is undoubtedly cheaper, quicker and more efficient. For members whose preference remains the postal system, this will be accommodated as in the past. A questionnaire will shortly be circulated to members, requesting amongst other things, their communication preferences.

Our new website will go live during the coming week and may be accessed at www.ngunicattle.info . As previously mentioned, it will have a public domain and a secure members’ section. In time, all official documents of the society will be available on the site including policies as these are developed and signed off by Council. The secure section also includes a member database comprising of contact details, stud names, representative persons and herd designation marks. A “blog room” (bulletin board) is also available for the posting of messages and web based communication between members. You are invited to review the website, and we would welcome any criticisms or suggestions on how we can improve the site. These can be referred to Naledi or Barry via Yolanda at the office.

A significant policy shift concerns the use of language. We do not have the resources to translate all documents and communications into the other official languages of the country, which may well be the languages of choice for many of our members. Accordingly, after serious consideration, Council has decided that the official language medium for the compilation of society documents will be English. Of  course, members remain at liberty to communicate with Society in their language of choice, and submissions to the journal or club newsletters will be accepted in the language of the contributor. We hope that members who may feel inconvenienced by this decision, will understand the need to take this position.

Finance and Administration

Perhaps the most important issue arising out of  discussions on finance and administration is the realisation that we are in need of additional staffing resources in the office if we are to deliver effective services to our members. An analysis of our revenue circumstances reveals that this will probably necessitate an increase in the per capita fee. Hopefully this can be held off until the AGM meets in November.

Approval was also given for the remuneration of committee members at the rate of R500 per meeting attended as well as fair reimbursement for expenses incurred. In the case of Council, council members have jointly agreed to waive receipt of the meeting allowance, preferring rather to let the AGM decide on this matter later in the year.

In line with our commitment to member equity, we have adjusted the commission payable to the Society, for sales held under it’s auspices, to 0.5% across the board.

Promotions and Marketing

Good progress is being made with the journal, which looks set to contain a number of well-researched articles. We hope to post the journal by the second week in April 2007.

With regard to next year’s calendar, Naledi and her team have come up with a great idea to make the calendar more interesting and more inclusive in representing a greater number of breeder cattle. Attached  please see what’s required in order to get your herd photo onto the calendar.

Other Issues Discussed
Clubs

The important roles and functions of clubs was again confirmed, particularly in respect of training and breed promotion, as well as the mentoring of new breeders. Also discussed was the potential role that clubs could play in assisting emerging farmers, and giving support to the projects aimed at reintroducing Nguni cattle into the communal farming herds.

We intend to hold a “bosberaad” in September to work through, with club representatives, what the interface between the society and the clubs should be, with a view to optimizing the interdependence between these two levels of our Nguni community.

Finally we believe that the broader inclusion of studbook representatives in Society’s council and subcommittee structures will serve to enhance the interface between the two organizations, and will equally serve to avoid some of the problems experienced in the past.

Well that’s the news for now – best wishes to all of you, and hopefully for those of you who need it, you’ll get some decent rain before the winter sets in.