I am pleased to be able to report that the August EGCS Council meeting endorsed the decision of the Executive Committee made in June to re-appoint me as Field Officer/Consultant to EGCS.
I shall be doing most of my former duties but on a reduced scale and will endeavour to visit all herd owners this autumn, in particular to discuss the bulls with Semen available, and to provide information about potential bull mothers to the Future of the Breed committee, who are meeting on the Thursday following the Dairy Show at Shepton Mallett, which will allow the Guernsey Island delegates to spend a day at what has become the best Guernsey show of the season.
I have already managed to visit most of those herds that had fallen behind with registrations and have sent details of over 300 animals to the office, which given the current value of youngstock will all be needed in the future.
I hope to be able to regain access to NMR Herd Companion information to which most pedigree herd owners subscribe as there is a wealth of “management” information contained within that system to allow herd owners to compare their herds against other Guernsey herds.
In addition one or two herd owners have asked if it is possible to have specific breeding plans developed for their herds, a service that is available for other breeds from the semen companies, I am happy to do this as the basic tools already exist within the CDI. There is at present a problem with third party access to the HUK database, but hopefully that will soon be resolved.