June 2021 NZHCS Newsletter

NEWSLETTER - JUNE 2021

COUNCIL CORNER - AGM The Annual General Meeting of the Society was held in Clevedon on Saturday 29 May. We started with a fantastic lunch where everyone raved about Cass’s soup! This was our first year going live on Facebook so that those who could not make the AGM in person could join us remotely. Two new Council members were elected, a warm welcome to Sheldon Reddie and James Brown!

RUMINATING REMINDERS

JUNE

• Order Society and NAIT tags for this season’s calves • New letter for tagging starts. It is J • Submit articles/pictures for the newsletter to editor@ highlandcattle.org.nz • Submit photos for Photo competition and calendar to editor@highlandcattle.org.nz. Last day for calendar submissions 15 July.

Last day for Winter photo competition submissions 9 September.

JULY

• Order your highland semen ready for mating in Spring.

• Consider purchasing your semen this year from the Society. Applications close 16 July.

AUGUST

• Bull Assessment – October Round. Contact Registrar to request a Bull Assessment Form or download from the web site. Cost $60. Send to: The Registrar, Cynthia Christie, 145 Somerton Rd, RD 2, Ashburton 7772, registrar@highlandcattle.org.nz. Last day 1 September • Show season starts in October. Have you applied for your animal passports? Contact The Registrar – Cynthia Christie on the details above.

The remit was passed meaning that we will introduce an Appendix B for the registration of Highland Cattle that were not previously eligible. The constitution requires two thirds of 20% of the paid up full/life members for a remit to pass. Ninety two members were eligible to vote. We therefore needed nineteen members to vote, and thirteen of those needed to be in favor of the remit. Thirty one votes were received, the majority via email. Thirty votes were in favor and one had a query about the remit and voted against unless that query was satisfied. The remit was overwhelmingly approved by members. The Council will consider the query that the member raised and respond accordingly.

Cynthia Christie shared a very interesting behind the scenes view of how she manages and updates our Herd Book, the new online herd return, and the great improvements to the herd database overall.

Doug McLean then shared ‘My Farm’ a new online management programme that interested Society members may like to trial. Get in touch with Doug if you are interested in further information about this great new technology he is creating for us!

After AGM closure, many ‘retired’ to Cass and Martin’s for light refreshments before we all reconvened at John Hill Estate for Dinner that evening.

SEPTEMBER

• Return Bull Assessment forms with payment by 1 September. The Registrar, Cynthia Christie, 145 Somerton Rd, RD 2, Ashburton 7772, registrar@highlandcattle.org. nz • Mating will shortly be underway. Get organized. Keep mating records. Get AI certificates from technician. Gather bull lease forms.

• Tag calves as they are born • Send items/notices for web alerts and news to: editor@ highlandcattle.org.nz

www.highlandcattle.org.nz

APPENDIX B The Council has been doing a lot of work behind the scenes around an Appendix B that was originally discussed at last years AGM and passed at this years AGM . The approved changes will provide a mechanism to recover breeding bloodlines for the many female animals whose ownership, over time may have resulted in the loss of their full breeding records. You will now start to see changes being made to Registration processes and the Herd Book rules on the Society website.

SPRINGHILL FOLD A kilometre south of Larnach Castle on the Otago Peninsula sits Springhill Fold lovingly owned by Lynn Samuels. Lynn currently has 3 breeding cows, a yearling heifer and 2 steers.

Springhill got their first cows in 2005 after seeing them at the Taieri Showgrounds. Lynn says that she had always liked the breed and that she wonders if it was in her blood seeing as she was born in Edinburgh.

Lynn started showing Highland cattle after buying Aime of Pottidoon from Grant and Kathy Watts.

Aime was a white heifer that was hand reared, so a good one to start with. She wasn’t the best cow in the show ring, but she loved the public, and when asked to lead the Grand Parade at the Portobello Show she strutted around behind the piper acknowledging the crowd.

FOLD SIGNAGE (CAPTURE SIGNS) As a way of jointly promoting your fold and the New Zealand Highland Cattle Society these signs are available to members for $40 incl. GST (that is half the cost of production) plus courier and packaging costs of $25 incl. GST. -

Size 1220 mm long, 350mm high

-

Digitally printed with UV resistant laminate

- Mounted on ACM (Aluminium Composite Material has a polyethylene core sandwiched between 2 thin aluminum panels) You can order on line at www.highlandcattle.org.nz or email info@highlandcattle.org.nz We will place orders for production in batches of 10 signs, so get in early.

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Lynn says that “Joining the Highland Cattle society and showing cattle has enabled me to meet people I would not have had the opportunity to do otherwise, and to learn new skills”. One of those skills is bull assessing which according to Lynn, “makes you look at your own stock differently”.

A few years ago, Lynn had an amusing phone call from a neighbour who was working at Larnach Castle. Apparently one of his colleagues had just arrived rather shaken. Two of the steers were in a paddock waiting for the butcher when they decided to jump out. The Larnach Castle employee was going past on his little Vespa scooter, so they decided to follow him down the road. The scooter was going as fast as possible with these 2 steers trotting along behind, finding him quite interesting for a while until they decided to come back home.

Lynn closes by commenting that “Highland Cattle are a heritage breed and need to be valued as such. They are slower growing, so commercially they are not viable, but if they are good enough for the Queen to have to eat, that’s good enough for me!”

www.highlandcattle.org.nz

2022 CALENDAR We are now taking photo submissions for the 2022 calendar.

• Photos must be landscape and at least 2MB in size.

• Your Highland Cattle must not be standing in a body of water in the photo • You can enter up to 5 submissions per Fold • There must not be any people in your photo Please email your photo’s to: editor@highlandcattle.org.nz by 15 July 2022. Note that photo’s submitted for the continuing photo competition’s will also be included in the selection panel for the Calendar if they meet the Calendar criteria.

TIPS FROM A PROFESSIONAL LIVESTOCK PHOTOGRAPHER Don’t carry a sack of feed or hay with you to take your pictures.

What you’ll get for the next hour are cattle with their heads down eating. Instead, just ease into the pasture and wait until the cattle get used to you. Move slowly so you don’t spook them.

Take your photos early or late in the day, never in the middle of the day. It just doesn’t work. Hazy or cloudy days work better than bright clear days. Keep the sun behind you. Stand where your shadow does not fall into the picture. Use your flash to help eliminate shadows.

Get another person to help you. The best pictures have the ears forward with the head up looking at a 45° angle. The best way to accomplish this is to have the other person stand in front of the animal and do something to get their attention, wave their arms, whistle or do whatever necessary get the cow to look at him.

Fill as much of the frame as possible with the animal. Have room to back up if necessary. Do not cut off any of the head or feet; get the whole animal in the photo. Have the cow going uphill. Cattle photograph much better when their front legs are higher than their back legs. Professional photographers even build a mound for the front legs to stand on. Standing on

level ground is not good but going downhill is terrible. Cattle generally photograph best if you aim directly at their side, standing neither in front nor behind them. Get them to stand with their back leg that is closest to you back so you can see their udder or testicles. It is best for the camera to be lower than the center of the cow. Get down on the ground if necessary.

Never take a picture with the camera higher than the cow. It makes them look small.

The background of your picture is important! Make sure you don’t get a shot with your pickup, hayracks, junk piles or other cows in the picture. Don’t have a fence post or telephone post sticking up out of the back of the animal. A cow standing in a green pasture with some spring flowers blooming makes a great picture. Try not to have them standing next to a fence.

The best way to avoid fences is to string a thin single strand of electric fence wire. If the cattle are used to electric fencing it doesn’t even need to be hot. As a rule of thumb try to get a dark coloured background for light coloured cattle and a lighter coloured background for dark cattle. It is much harder to get a good picture of a dark cow. Try to take your pictures in the spring or early summer after they have shed their winter hair and are in good condition. A good time is after a rain has cleaned them up.

JUNE THEME: WINTER DELIGHTS PRIZE: $100 voucher for a Rural Trading store of your choice, and a Cattle Comb – kindly sponsored by Martin McLeod Email your competition entries to editor@highlandcattle.org.nz by Friday 10 September 2021.

PHOTO COMPETITION Congratulations to Gail Simons who won the ‘Summer Fun’ photo competition advertised in the last newsletter!

www.highlandcattle.org.nz

Every Newsletter will advertise the theme for the next three months.

We will have a guest judge pick a winner, and that photo will be published in the following newsletter.

• Photos must be landscape and at least 2MB in size.

• Your Highland Cattle must not be standing in a body of water in the photo • You can enter up to 5 submissions for each competition • By entering the competition, you consent to your photo being used on our website, the NZHCS Facebook page, within the newsletter and entered into the pool for selection for the annual Calendar.

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SEMEN FOR SALE

NAIT AND TAGGING OBLIGATIONS

NZHCS has purchased 74 straws of a range of Highland Bulls comprising both international and NZ genetics. The purchase was made to prevent disposal and loss of some older but well proven bloodlines. These are available for purchase for $15 per straw via a ballot process to enable members to have an equal opportunity to take advantage of this offer.

There is a NZHCS rule which outlines how all cattle should be identified. The requirement is for both a primary and secondary tag. The primary tag is the NAIT tag, with the secondary tag containing the NZHCS information.

Applications to purchase close on 16 July 2021. Where the purchase requests for any specific bull is oversubscribed a ballot will be conducted and purchasers notified by 30 July 2021.

Successful purchasers may either take up; Option A: transfer semen to their ownership upon purchase – a one off transfer fee ($30 + GST) and storage fees ($65+ GST pa for up to 100 straws) and subsequent dispatch costs are the purchaser’s responsibility.

Or Option B: Purchasers may request via the NZHCS a dispatch to their AI technician when required. All dispatch and shipment fees will be on charged to the purchaser at cost.

Purchasers will be invoiced for the straws on completion of any ballot and must nominate whether they utilise Options A or B for storage/shipment.

Please apply to the Registrar with the name of bull and the number of straws you wish to purchase. Complete the form below then scan or photograph and email to registrar@ highlandcattle.org.nz

The NAIT tag will have visual information including your NAIT number and unique animal ID and have the unique 15-digit number specific to your animal.

The secondary (management) tag will display the following: your herd code, the year letter and unique animal number. So, Arcadia Fold secondary tags would be ARCJ21-1 for the first calf born, ARCJ21-2 for the second calf born etc.

If selling cattle to non members of the Society please prompt them to not remove the secondary tag from their cattle. This ear tag needs to remain on for the life span of the cattle. Equally if your cattle have lost their secondary ear tag, please re-tag them and notify the Registrar of the new details. It is imperative that both ear tags are present and current.

If the tagging is not correct, the Registrar is unable to complete the registration. You will be contacted with a request to rectify any issues.

Please ensure you include a DNA hair sample in a paper envelope with all heifer registrations. The hair sample should be the thickness of a pencil. Hair should be free of dung and please ensure you do not touch the hair follicles that contain the DNA.

J

While all due care has been taken with storage NZHCS cannot guarantee the quality of individual straws. Genetics Australia NZ are storing stores on behalf of NZHCS.

JUNE 2021 MAY 2022

Member Name: SIRE NAME

Country of Herdbook Number Origin

ANGUS 8TH OF DUNVEGAN DUBOISE LECOQ

FLASH GORDON OF MACLANANAE

HAMISH OF CRANNOQ RHU

No. of STRAWS

UK

UK MDC040063

1

Canada

C 12293

4

Australia

A 5784

2

Australia

A 2346

9

LORD MONTAGU OF OLD GREENLAW

UK

UK DHO950002

10

LORD RANNOCH OF LUCIES

UK

UK LUC960002

2

NZ

NZ 2354

1

Australia

A 1326

4

BRACO WHITE LIGTNING JAMES OF CRUACHEN BLACKWATCH EMMETT

FINGAL OF AUCHNACRAIG

USA

US 38623

7

UK

UK KLA94AF34

4

PHILIP 1ST OF HI-ARROW

Canada

C 9609

1

RUSHMORE BRACKEN

UK

UK GRC907582

9

NZ

NZ 5806

2

DUKE OF GLENCAIRN

COIRNEAL OF TRELISSICK

ARKLE OF OUSDALE BLACK PRINCE 2ND OF RIGG

GILLEASBUIG 1ST OF CLEMLAWRIE SCF BLACK SHADOW BRACO RED BARON HAMISH OF CRANNOQ RHU

NZ

NZ 1040

1

UK

UK WEO91OC12

1

UK

UK HOR91ORC2

10

UK

UK CCL980009

1

USA

US 30164

2

NZ

NZ 2768

1

Australia

A 2346

2

Please indicate sire and number of straws

Please circle one option Option A

4

Option B

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