NORTHLAND NEWS

Hi Folks,

It has been quite a while since our last newsletter. I must take most of the responsibility for this, don't ask me where the time has gone, it has just flown by. It does not seem that long ago we were at the Dargaville Field Days. Thanks to those members who helped with our stand and promotion. It was a little different having Bev with her Wiltshire Rams on site with us. Our site attracted a steady stream of visitors with a good response to the sale of raffle tickets and weight guessing. We did have some raffle tickets left unfortunately.
What a difference a year makes. Last year drought - this year grass bolting out of control. Some paddocks made into silage 3 times this autumn. This should get us through winter comfortably.
Last weekend we had the Association AGM at the Lighthouse, Dargaville on Saturday and a visit to Dreadon's on Sunday. The North was well represented at both days. Thanks to you all who attended. At the AGM both Tuppy and I were voted on to the council. We accepted these positions and hope we will be able to assist our President, Colin Nash to further promote and push the Devon breed forward.
Tuppy and I have been given the job of spending the promotion budget. Quite simple I thought, all the usual, Docility, Easy Calving, their ability to put condition on and hold their condition through the winter or drought.
I was to overhear a discussion on the Sunday and one of the points raised was that other cow breeds did not have as much condition on going into winter and were not as heavy as the Devons on wet hills. Are our Devons getting too big?
If you have any ideas on Promotion we would like to hear about them --- PLEASE.
Arthur (Read more)

Breedplan Australia

In 2001 there were a group of NZ Breeders joined the Australian Breedplan recording scheme. These were the Rotokawa, Te Maewa, Te Wai-iti, Woodlands and our own Tapuwae herd.
In August 2002 we had our first group analysis done. Our herd had 80 cows, 45 heifer calves and 34 bull calves analysed. Because we had in the past used common AI sires the accuracy of EBV's were reasonably high at 60 to 70 % Even with this accuracy there has been movements in EBV's as the accuracy % has increased. You also get a printout of the average for the breed and your herd on the traits analysed, birth, 200 day milk, 200 day growth, 400 day growth, and 600 day growth.
After our day with Russell Priest on 29th November 2009, I have found these averaging figures far more useful than before. Not only does this tell you where your herd compares to the rest of the Australian Herd but is a useful tool for future use.
As an example - Breed average birth weight 2008 was 1.7. If I were to mate a bull and cow with a birth weight EBV of 1.7 you could expect the offspring to be average weight at birth. Any increase in the EBV for birth you would expect to compromise our easy calving claims. 200 & 400 day weights are an indicator of the animal to grow at an early age. These are also very important for our breed as an indicator of early maturity.
600 day weight is also an indicator of early growth but also has a relationship to the animal's mature size. This EBV would be of more importance if you wish to breed Terminal Sires, than if you are breeding a Maternal Dam Herd. (Read more)

Old News Letters

August 2009 Newsletter