Summary of March AJCA, NAJ Board Meetings

The winter meetings of the American Jersey Cattle Association and National All-Jersey Inc. Boards of Directors were held March 12-14, 2020, at the Embassy Suites–Airport, Columbus, Ohio. Actions taken are summarized.

AJCA-NAJ-AJSC Finances Unaudited financial reports through December 31, 2019, were reviewed, showing: • AJCA revenues of $3,681,167 and expenditures of $3,760,494, for net loss from operations of ($79,327), before unrealized gains on investments of $212,490; • NAJ revenues of $933,516 and expenditures of $815,056, for net income from operations of $118,460 before unrealized gains on investments of $85,888; and • All-Jersey Sales Corporation (Jersey Marketing Service) revenues of $175,551 and expenditures of $304,378 for a net loss from operations of ($128,827). The 2019 investment summary and unaudited Research, Scholarship and Special Funds summary were approved. Market value of all investments at December 31 was $6,352,025.

Financial statements through February 28, 2020, were approved, reporting net income for all companies of $130,927.

Appropriated funds were approved by the AJCA and NAJ boards to continue financial support of genomic testing for the National Heifer Sale and Pot O’Gold Sales for 2020.

2020 Research Grants The AJCC Research Foundation received nine proposals for 2020 competitive grant awards. Four (4) projects were selected for funding, as follows:

Adkins, P.R.F. and S.E. Poock, (University of Missouri). Prevalence of non-aureus staphylococcal species causing intramammary infections in Jersey herds, $8,000; Kirkpatrick, B., (University of WisconsinMadison). Improving Jersey reproduction by selection against deleterious structural variants. $10,043; Kononoff, P. and D. Morris, (University of Nebraska). Updating our knowledge and understanding of the maintenance energy requirements of Jersey cows, $8,000; Maltecca, C., (North Carolina State). Minimizing the accumulation of recent homozygosity as a strategy to ensure long term selection gains and preventing the accumulation of deleterious mutations in Jersey cattle, $9,000;

Jersey Performance Index 2020 Updates to Jersey Performance Index TM were approved, adding new Jersey health traits to the index and adjusting weights for previously included traits. The revised JPI 2020 will be implemented with the April 2020 genetic evaluations along with a base change. (Editor’s note: See page 25 for details.)

Reports in the Green Book will reflect the new Jersey health traits in complete reports on the Green Book website.

Type Appraisal Program The report of the AJCA Type Advisory Committee, which met February 4-5, was approved. The committee received a comprehensive analysis of 2019 activity. A total of 112,337 final scores were assigned in 2019, with 89% of cows in their first and second lactations.

Communications The new USJerseyJournal.com website was reviewed. In the first four months online the site has been viewed more than 14,000 times by over 6,000 different visitors.

Cooperative Effort The AJCA will pursue a potential joint effort with AgriTech Analytics to capture production data from robotic/automatic milk recording systems with herds that are not on official DHI test.

The All American Show & Sale Recommendations of The All American Show & Sale planning committees were reviewed and approved. (Editor’s note: Complete report begins page 32.)

Recognitions The following awards will be made at the 2020 AJCA-NAJ Annual Meetings: • Master Breeder: Don and Desi Josi, Wilsonview Dairy, Tillamook, Ore.; • Distinguished Service Award: Clint Collins III, Sylacauga, Ala.; • Young Jersey Breeder Awards: Jason Chamberlain, Vale, Ore.; Julian and Nicole Cowan, Nehalem, Ore.; Kevin Krejci and Lisa Demmer, Ellsworth, Wis.; Walter Graves, Dundas, Ill.; and Derrick and Kaycee Josi, Tillamook, Ore.; • AJCA-NAJ Award for Meritorious Service: Dr. Cherie L. Bayer, Columbus, Ohio.

All American Jersey Sale Commission for the All American Jersey Sale has been restructured. The tiered platform is as follows: for the first $1 to $10,000 the commission will be 20%; for sales over $10,001 to $25,000 commission will be 15%; and for sales more than $25,001 commission will be set at 10%.

National All-Jersey Inc. Directors of National All-Jersey Inc. received in-depth briefings about Federal Order activity, research, and a range of issues before Congress.

Clinical trials in the A2 milk research project at Purdue University are nearly complete. Results of the study may be available by the June meeting.

Unaudited financial statements for the year 2019 and also February 2020 were reviewed and approved. There were 936 Equity participants at the end of February. Gross value of animals, embryos and semen marketed by Jersey Marketing Service was $4,313,013 for 2019. Public auction sales accounted for 60% of sales; private treaty sales were at 40%. The spring sale calendar was reviewed through the 63 rd National Heifer Sale on June 27 in Dayton, Ore.

Annual Meetings The 152 nd Annual Meeting of the American Jersey Cattle Association will be held Saturday, June 27, at the DoubleTree Hotel, Portland, Ore. The 62 nd Annual Meeting of National All-Jersey Inc. will be held Friday morning, June 26.

The AJCA Board of Directors will meet June 23 and 24 at the DoubleTree Hotel, Portland. The NAJ Board will meet at the same location on June 23.

The nomination petition deadline is April 23 for the AJCA elections. A President and four Directors from the Second, Sixth, Eighth and Eleventh districts will be elected. Nomination petitions for NAJ Director #5 must be filed not later than April 29.