Page 9 - Hereford Magazine 2022

From the
president

Welcome to the annual NZ Herefords magazine. A lot of hard work has
gone in to creating this edition and I’m sure you will find it useful and a
great way to recognise the value of Herefords in New Zealand.
As I write this, we have the red glow of the traffic light system over
New Zealand. This is challenging for everyone, but I want to particularly
acknowledge those of you who live in the Northland, Auckland, or
Waikato areas. The past 12 months have been difficult for you. You
certainly have been doing the mahi for us all. We hope the situation will
improve both domestically and internationally in the next 12 months.
Unfortunately the difficult decision has been made to postpone
the 2022 herd tour. We feel for organisers: it’s a bit like training for a
marathon without the race – they sure will be fit for 2023 and we all
look forward to it.
May 2021 saw the first National Seed Stock Sale run under the new
format of a helmsman auction system. This proved to be successful.
Our review has given us some ideas for improvement, and we are well
underway with planning for this year’s event on 10 May.
A recent highlight has been the B+LNZ Genetics Beef Progeny Test. NZ
Herefords continues to support both beef and dairy trials and as breeders
we should be proud of our performance. There have been outstanding
results with leaders for productive traits in both – outperforming all
breeds in some cases.
We have had a phenomenal five-fold increase in the uptake of SNP
testing in three years. This will continue to enhance the breed accuracy
improvements we have made. The more information we gather, the
greater our ability to further improve our breed, which ultimately results
in our commercial farmers being able to make quick gains due to greater
accuracy, particularly in the traits that can’t be seen.
In the everchanging world of technology, I acknowledge the work
of Robert Peacock and the technical committee who introduced the
changes to our indexes. This was a huge task that took a lot of time and
effort, and means we now have a greatly enhanced and more relevant
index system.
We also recognise the significant contribution of Rebecca Patterson
keeping up the momentum for Hereford Youth in these Covid times. A
highlight was the online heifer judging contest during lockdown. We
continue to be committed to the development of our youth as future
leaders in our breed and the wider agricultural sector. There is plenty of
planned activity in this space.
I have a few people to thank. As always, we are grateful to our
sponsorship partners for their ongoing support. We appreciate you.
Megan, Samantha, Harry, and the team at PBB, we appreciate constant
changes in technology can make life challenging at times. Thank you for
your assistance.
As many of you know, Christine has made the decision to finish her role
at NZ Herefords. She has been a valued employee and we will miss her
and wish her all the best.
To our general manager, Posy Moody, thank you for all that you do and
the way that you do it. We acknowledge your enthusiasm for our breed,
and your commitment and drive.
Thank you to my fellow council members; we have managed to
continue to operate effectively despite the lack of face-to-face meetings.
We have adapted to the new Zoom norm, although we do appreciate
being able to meet in person and look forward to more of that as
allowed.
As part of the agricultural sector and as Hereford breeders, we will
continue to face environmental and commercial challenges. As your
council, we look forward to working with you to face and overcome
challenges, and celebrate our breed and member successes.

Gray Pannett
President