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President’s Message & Breed Development Officer’s Report
Simmental Australia PRESIDENT’S REPORT
AAs I sit and reflect on the year 2022 I think of all our members and their contributions to our breed over the last 50 years. As a breed, Simmentals have been on a roller coaster ride over this time but with patience, knowledge and commitment we truly are being recognized in the industry as a serious player and our ability to change to the relevant markets set us above the rest and will continue to see the growth of our Breed into the foreseeable future. No other breed offers the flexibility that Simmental offers our Industry, whether you breed for the Domestic Vealer right up to the Heavy Export Markets, Simmental has a purebred or crossbred option that will suit your environment in the colour of your choice.
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I would firstly like to thank my fellow Board Members for their time and commitment they put towards developing our Breed. You can’t truly appreciate how much time our Board Members volunteer to promote and strengthen our breed and for that I personally want to say “Thank You”. The introductions of Sub Committees seem to be helping share the load evenly over the Board helping to relieve the pressure on one or two people. State Branches continue to work alongside the Federal Board to achieve beneficial outcomes at a State and regional level. To the members that make time to help with the State activities - the entire Federal board thanks you for your efforts and we hope that this relationship will continue to strengthen and grow into the future.
Our 50th Anniversary celebrations have gone off all over the country, including Feature Shows in Sydney, Brisbane, Launceston and Perth. Events also included the Sydney Gala Dinner, Melbourne’s Simmental Saturday and the Ekka After Show Celebrations; just a few of the events put together to have past and present members converge to celebrate 50 years of Simmentals in Australia. All have been very well-received and huge credit must go to the organizing committees.
Our bull and female sales have really been a highlight of 2022. Many sales on both sides of the country have set new records, along with increased number of offerings, really reinforcing the demand for Simmental Genetics. Commercial sales have also been setting records with Simmental cows setting an Auction Plus record for commercial cows earlier in the year and many weekly sale toppers at our regional saleyards, nationwide, proving the financial benefit of Simmentals.
Our Database and Performance recording trial with C-Gen and IGS continues with some interesting results. Our Technical Committee has been working hard in the comparison between the different systems and which platforms will suit Simmental Australia members moving forward into the future.
Our Youth program has gained momentum with many events coinciding with our 50th anniversary events and Qld’s “Beefing up the Next Generation” camp is set to be a record-breaker. Again, thank you to the organizers as these events would be null and void without their commitment.
I would like to thank Felicity for the work that goes on behind the scenes and the hours she puts in after the standard work week to help our breeders and committee function in a professional manner.
Lastly, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Let hope we continue to see the rise of the Simmental Breed and the seasons and weather are kind to us all for 2023.
Scott York
The 50th Anniversary year has certainly been a terrific year for Simmentals with fantastic sale results and interbreed wins in the Show ring.
Our Gala Dinner at Sydney Royal celebrated new life memberships and our long-standing memberships from 25 to 50 years. We thank those past and present members who made the time to attend and celebrate. The auction of our belt buckles went above and beyond our expectations and a donation heifer sold to kickstart the NSW Youth account.
The Youth program has had a significant boost this year with members from all our representative states getting on board to support the up-and-coming breeders and potential breeders, with paraders competitions in three states, youth bursaries, junior judging wins and more. We look forward to mentoring them over the coming years.
The Royal Show pages will highlight the interbreed successes we’ve had this year and we congratulate all exhibitors who’ve gone above and beyond to promote the breed in our anniversary year.
A contingent of members travelled to Austria for the World Simmental Fleckvieh Congress in September. Wonderful to see familiar and new faces after being delayed for two years. Very important networking for import and export opportunities. For myself, the ability to make contacts for the swapping of genotypes. Here’s hoping a worldwide pool can be put together in the future for all or relevant societies.
Our IGS trial is in full swing with a report on comparing the two providers to be completed by our November meeting. The Technical Committee have been working hard to make sure all the hard questions are asked and being answered for the future of the breed.
We must keep the momentum of our anniversary year going and look forward to capitialising on an increased market share for Simmental in 2023.
