May 2010
BEEF EXPO
The following is the programme for Beef Expo 2010.
If you are coming to the dinner then it is urgent that you fill out the attached form at the end and return it to the office as soon as possible please – This is most important.
Programme
Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th are Future Beef days. Once again this looks to be an exciting two days. See your Beef Expo catalogue for more details.
Monday 17th 8.00am – 9.30 am
Opening Cattleman’s Breakfast at Manfeild with Scott Champion as guest speaker. Scott is the new CEO for “Beef and Lamb” and is a very good motivational speaker who will inspire all. As some of the Simmental entries won’t be coming to Expo till the morning of the sale we are not holding an open day this year. There will be plenty of interest with the other breed programmes – see your catalogue for times. We will be holding the interviews for the Stud Starta programme on this day.
6.30pm Simmental Dinner
The Simmental dinner will be held at “Essence Cafe” in Manchester Street – just past the sale yards towards the clock tower. As this is a public cafe bar we need to know numbers to see whether we can have it closed off for a private function.
Tuesday 18th
8.00am Simmental Judging begins
9.30am All breeds parade. This promises to be quite a spectacle with the led cattle of all the breeds taking part.
10.00am The announcement of the PGG Wrightson Champion of Champions.
10.30am The Shorthorn sale will start with the other breeds following.
11.30am The Simmental sale should start about 11.30. Following the Simmental sale we will have the presentation of prizes upstairs at the Agri-Centre (where the sale is).
6.00pm Steak of Origin Judging and Cocktails.
7.30pm Steak of Origin Gala Dinner. See the enclosed material.
AGM, WORKSHOP AND WAI-ITI SIMMENTAL DISPERSAL SALE REPORT
The AGM held at the Copthorne in Masterton was well supported. The two resolutions that were put to the membership both passed so we now have a council of 6 and there is now $120,000 that is ring fenced for the future and can’t be whittled away for day to day use. The open forum after the AGM was beneficial to council and went some way to addressing concerns.
The following day was everything it promised to be – exciting, stimulating and a great day for Simmental. The address from Shane McManaway in the morning was worth hearing.
Some of the comments he made were:
- The power of the Brand – we have to have a strong brand name
- Have to create around that brand
- Have to have a common message and believe in it. What does Simmental stand for?
- Have to look at key attributes – What are Simmentals points of difference.
- Our message has to be consistent and repetitive so if members are asked the same question the response will be the same.
- We have to focus on money otherwise we are a club
It was a powerful and thought provoking address that gave council something to get their teeth into.
Wai – Iti Dispersal
This was the icing on the cake for the day
60 out of 74 lots offered sold for an overall average price of $2,100
The top price of $8,700 was paid for an eight month old bull calf Wai-iti Xpector X90 and purchased by the Sanson family from Te Karaka near Gisborne who have recently established the Gold Creek Simmental Stud. They were also volume female buyers at the sale, successfully purchasing 23 lots.
The feature female of the day was Wai-iti Unique L64, dam of Wai-iti Nutcracker. She sold to Brian Aldridge at Lincoln near Christchurch for $6,100. The heifer calf at foot on L64 was sold separately and purchased by Waterfront Simmental Stud from South Australia for $5,500 and they also purchased the top priced in-calf heifer Wai-iti Billow U14 for $5,100; she is carrying a pregnancy to the German polled bull Stienadler.
Live cattle exports to Australia are currently banned so the Australian purchases will be put into quarantine before being flushed for embryo export.
Peter and Sue McWilliam were delighted with the sale results particularly in these tough times. The after match function also lived up to its billing which some heads could testify to the following morning!!
Please read the enclosed carefully and remember to send in your dinner response a.s.a.p.
Alastair Miln
Project Manager