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February 2012 - Santa Gertrudis, yet another Society to join
BREEDLAN® Southern Africa
The Santa Gertrudis Society unanimously decided to adopt the
BREEDLAN® system at their AGM held on the 26th of January. In doing
this they have allowed their producers to be part of the modern
breeding era and be part of the solution to the challenges the
country and the beef industry face. Mr. Koos Louwrens, Chairman of
the Society, said there is an unprecedented spirit of optimism among
the councillors and producers whom are enthusiastic about the new
challenges and opportunities that the new developments will have in
store for them. Mr. Johan Malan, breed director of the Santa Society
said the decision was unanimous and the news that the ARC with its
expertise, infrastructure and support of the Government will support
BREEDPLAN is an added bonus.
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February 2012 - The Holsteins acceptance of a world class Dairy
Recording system now makes the Society a leader in the information
era in dairy farming.
Approximately 82% of the world's dairy cows are Holsteins. It is
therefore not surprising that this South African society
continuously strives to adapt the latest technology and research on
aspects such breeding, production and management. It is for this
reason that the Society has now rolled out its Dairy Express Dairy
recording system (www.dairyexp.co.za). All dairy producers in
Southern Africa have access to the system and can be assured of a
high level of service, a quick and seamless turnaround time and the
very latest in production reports. It is also based on the Internet
Solutions system that is already familiar to many dairy producers in
Southern Africa.
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January 2012 - Breeders successfully convert to HerdMASTER 4
Since the beginning of the year over eight hundred users have
upgraded to the new HerdMASTER 4. It's been a massive undertaking
and the HerdMASTER team has so far held over 20 courses to ensure a
smooth transition and to get users up and running.
Me Charlotte Schuite, from Heelbo Boerdery uses the new HerdMASTER 4
for her Braford, Hereford and SA Mutton Merino studs. She says:
"HerdMASTER has become an essential tool in the management of our
stud and commercial herds. The program is very user-friendly and
once the data is accumulated various reports can be generated in
order to simplify decisions regarding the selection of animals.
HerdMASTER also proved to be successful in the management of
crossbred animals.
The program is 100%
compatible with the Breedplan system and therefore saves us a lot of
time when it comes to capturing data. One of the greatest
attributes of the program is the fact that we can accommodate 3
different herds (databases) in one program. Bulk changes and bulk
addition of animals can be done and various other new features have
made this program a pleasure to work with. It saves time and money;
a precious commodity these days!!"
Dr Michael Bradfield, Agricultural Business South Africa and
HerdMASTER CEO says that the program is ideally suited for capturing
information for Breedplan's reproduction trait called "Days to
Calving". He adds: "The whole layout has changed and new births are
recorded out of mating's, thus ensuring the mating group remains
intact. Preg test results are included and the mating information is
sent to the Society with a click of a button."
More commentary
"Farming is a business, and time is a scarce resource. This is
exactly where HerdMASTER comes in." (Diethelm & Katja Metzger,
Simbra breeders,Namibia)
"HerdMASTER's reports help you make informed decisions." (John
Devonport, Limousin breeder).
"I do everything with the program." (Ferdie Naude, Brangus breeder)
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November 2011 -
Stockman School another huge success
2011
Stockman School Press Release: Dr. Michael Bradfield.
The 2011
Aldam Stockman School brought together role
players from the whole Southern African beef industry. Over two
hundred delegates attended the three day workshops.
Participants included Southern Africa’s leading commercial beef
producers, stud producers, representatives from the feedlot sector and
also the retail sector.
Lee
Leachman, one of America’s largest cattle seed stock producers gave a
general overview of the world beef industry. As the oil price
increases he gave evidence that over 50% of global corn will be used
for the production of ethanol. However, this will create even bigger
demand for protein and will keep a lot of countries out of the
lucrative grain fed markets. We will thus see fewer Americans or South
African’s eating steak because they simply won’t be able to afford it.
At the same time the highly populated eastern regions are becoming
wealthier and they will undoubtedly be the new consumers for high
value proteins thus exacerbating the global demand.
Beef
prices will thus continue to remain high and beef will remain a
lucrative and sought after commodity. The feedlot sector will continue
to prosper in these high value markets.
Continuing with a very positive theme for the beef industry in South
Africa, Mr J.P. Landman, a political and economic analyst, showed how
the investment into the infrastructure of South Africa has increased
from 4% to 8.4% since the year 2000. A lot of money has been spent on
roads and the railway infrastructure in the last few years compared to
the previous 20 years. We have strong private sector institutions
compared to many other developing economies (for e.g. Russia) and can
expect our economy to continue to grow. Threats remain social and
human issues such as the tensions created by transition.
South
Africa will have less, but more productive commercial farmers in the
future and more development farmers whom will need to increase their
farm sizes to remain competitive. He also showed how the national
gross product of agricultural commodities has almost doubled in the
last 50 years at an almost linear rate.
Mr.
Donavan Heyns from Pick n Pay showed the importance of the retailer to
the consumer and vice versa. A lot has changed in the last ten years
with retailers now working closely with producers in meat quality and
production. The four retailers now sell 60% of all meat in South
Africa and this trend is set to continue. Meat quality is being taken
very seriously by the retailers and Mr.Heyns showed various examples
of the new branded beef cuts.
In his
other talks Mr. Leachman emphasised the fact that cow numbers are set
to remain stable. The cows that we currently have thus need to become
more efficient. Measuring feed efficiency will become very important
in future recording schemes. However, the whole contemporary group of
bulls will have to be measured or the results will be of very little
value. He also emphasised the value of selecting animals using an
Index (i.e. combination of EBVs based on economic importance). An
example that is used by the Simmentaler/Simbra in South Africa or the
Namibian Grass fed Index.
Also
important is the economic value of crossbreeding.
Ms.
Estelle van Reenen from “Sparta Beef” gave an overview of early
compared to late maturing animals. Crossbred types (Indicus and
Taurus) still remain the most popular animals in the feedlot. There is
a push towards heavier carcasses that will probably favour the larger
frame animals in the future.
A talk
that was also very well received was that by Dr Langa Simela, CEO of
NERPO. The emerging red meat producer is already making a significant
contribution towards the red meat industry. Nearly 40% of all cattle
numbers are in the hands of the emerging sector. The difficulties
experienced by the commercial sector are very similar to the emerging
sector. We need to work towards a common goal.
In the
break-away sessions producers were also able to hear from experts
regarding feeding, breeding, cattle evaluation, veld management and
financial planning. These break away sessions have become very popular
as they allow interactive discussions between producers and the
lectures.
The next
Stockman school will be held from the 24th -
26th of October 2012. Amongst others, Dr. Steve Millar (CEO
of the centre for Genetic Improvement of Livestock, Animal and Poultry
Science in Guelph, Canada) has already confirmed his attendance.
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July 2011 -
2011 Stockman School
The 2011
Stockman School again promises to be an event in the beef calendar
that should not be missed. We have already confirmed two of the
world leading authorities in the beef business to be guest speakers.
With 19 local speakers you will not get another event of this
caliber in the world. It has taken three years to convince Lee
Leachman, probably the world largest Stud breeder to be a guest
speaker at this year’s school. Lee comes with a wealth of experience
in the cattle breeding business.
www.stockmanschool.co.za
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April 2011 -
The Zimbabwean Herdbook (ZHB), chooses BREEDPLAN
Zimbabwe
Herd Book maintains breed society registers and in April 2009, a
study of electronic data recording and genetic analysis systems in
South Africa was commissioned. Any meaningful genetic analysis
requires pooling of data and it makes sense to investigate the
potential of combining data with South Africa and Namibia, given the
similar production environment and, more importantly, the strong
genetic links with South African and Namibian studs.
The two systems
reviewed were INTERGIS and BREEDPLAN.
The Zimbabwean Herd
Book implemented BREEDPLAN for the following reasons:
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The server and
data would be based in our offices;
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BREEDPLAN is well
represented throughout the world with systems in Australia, New
Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, Hungary, Thailand, Malaysia and
South Africa.
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The Namibian
studbook has a similar set-up to Zimbabwe and BREEDPLAN has been
successfully implemented there.
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BREEDPLAN has a
phenomenal and unparalleled animal breeding research and software
development team.
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