Page 10 - NZ Hereford Magazine 2023

From the

general manager

As for every society, 2022 was a challenging year for NZ Herefords.
Planned events were once again postponed, with the Allflex Coast to
Coast Herd Tour organising committee certainly not expecting to be
involved for three years! The youth development weekend was also
postponed; however we did hold a successful leadership day, where we
invited a dozen 18- to 30-year-old members to attend a communication
session. By sitting a psychometric test, they had a great insight into
their personal strengths and from that they learnt the importance of
tailoring their communication skills. We plan to continue to work with this
membership cohort in the coming years, as the board has identified its
responsibility to educate our future leaders.
At the end of 2022 we hosted the inaugural ‘Milk the Meat’ field day,
targeted at dairy farmers to encourage them to use high genetic worth
beef bulls. Thank you to Willy Muir, Colin Corney and Suzanne Kennedy
who put this together in my absence, and particularly to our hosts and
members Ethan and Sarah Koch (read about it on page 38).
We also had a change in our team with Suzanne Kennedy swooping in
at the busy time of the year to pick up the office manager role. Youth
coordinator Rebecca Paterson finished at the end of 2022, after building
up the youth membership and planning and implementing the excellent
youth event at the World Hereford Conference. Our social media
consultant Ani Leggett moved to a full-time job with Allflex.
Although the national sale and breed dinner were sadly cancelled, the
autumn private bull sales one month later did go ahead. There was a
tie at the top of the leaderboard in the autumn sales and a highest-ever
average for a Hereford spring yearling bull sale of $4540 by Mahuta
Herefords (see page 70).
It has continued to be a challenging year for beef breeders, with the New
Zealand government further implementing environmental targets to be
met. However, as Herefords have proven they are structurally suited to
rugged country, and with the ability to mature between 400 days and 600
days, there is confidence our members – encouraged by the use of SNP
DNA results enabling better selection decisions at an earlier stage of their
breeding programme – can efficiently meet future market demands.
One of this year’s highlights for me and Gray Pannett was to attend the
European tour in France and then to be invited to the Hereford Cattle
Society Autumn Show and sale in Shrewsbury, as well as the society dinner.
I think everyone present loved watching Gray judge and give his New
Zealand perspective as to how the UK cattle would fit into our breeding
programme. Surprisingly, we both found the type of Herefords similar to
those currently being bred in New Zealand. Gray was particularly impressed
with the strong lineup of heifers and said during the presentation of prizes
that he would willingly use any one of them at his Limehills stud.
Catching up with and exchanging ideas with other general managers in
France was professionally valuable. It’s always interesting to hear, despite
the similarities of the breed societies, how we operate with differing rules
and have variance in the management of the board meetings.
I enjoyed spending time with UK Hereford director of operations Paul
Sneyd and Irish Hereford secretary Louise Callan, and it was invaluable
to sit beside Stacy Sanders, director of records for the American
Hereford Association, and hear about their projects, as well as building
relationships for the future. With the tumultuous year, it was refreshing
and educating to be with people in similar roles and sharing our
experiences.
I hope 2023 will be a year where I get to reconnect with loyal breeders
who are focused on breeding the next curve bender and meet new
breeders who have seen the merits of breeding registered Herefords and
want to be part of the team to select the beef genetics for the future.
Posy Moody

NZ HEREFORDS HEREFORD PRIME NZ
PRESIDENT Gray Pannett ........................................pannetts@xtra.co.nz CHAIRMAN Laurie Paterson..........................paterson@farmside.co.nz
VICE PRESIDENT Robert Peacock ........................... robert@orarigorge.co.nz VICE CHAIRMAN Geof Brown .............................locharburn@farmside.co.nz
TREASURER Colin Corney ......................colraine.herefords@xtra.co.nz TREASURER Chris Douglas ..................................monymusk@xtra.co.nz
GENERAL MANAGER Posy Moody .......................................posy@herefords.co.nz BRAND MANAGER Natalie Campbell ..................herefordprime@pbbnz.com
8 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2023