National Sale Beaufort Wes

CMW won the Tender to do the Beaufort Wes National Auction (18 August 2011). The Sale entry forms was send out yesterday and the closing date will be 17 June 2011. There once was a saying I heard, "if you build it, they will come". I want to say: "If the BIG GUNS bring their animals to the auction they (buyers) will come".

Upcomming events

Early April and the Winter will soon be upon us. Latest news: Tenders for next years National Show were send out to Clubs and Show Society's. Veld Ram project: next weight 12 April Inspectors and Judges day will take place on 31 May and 1 June at De Aar. Please remember that all sales applications for next year should reach us by 5 June 2011. All motions for the AGM should also reach us by 5 June. The Office will be close from 22 April to 27 April (Public holidays).

Judges Exams 22 -23 March 2011

The Judges Exams were held in Kenhardt on 22&23 March 2011. Only 8 people attended the Exam and 5 people passed. As you all know that this is one of the most difficult exams and I want to congratulate everyone that passed and also thank the 3 people who did not make it. I would also like to thank the 3 Examiners (Inspectors). The feedback from everybody was that this was a huge success and it was well presented. We hope that the candidates will use the knowledge that they gained for the benefit of the Society. Look out for the next Judges exam that should take place in October 2011.

National Veldram Project

I attended the weighing of the National Veldram project on the 15th of March and I am happy to report that the Rams are doing very well! Some of the rams gained more than 22kg since October and most of them are looking great. The Veldram committee also had a meeting and discussions with the role players. I am very confident that we will be able to sort some of the problems we had last year. We are currently busy getting people and sponsors on board to make this year sale a great one.

INTERGIS - PRETORIA

2011-03-24 PRETORIA More than 200 delegates attended a meeting where the Department of Agriculture, ARC, Registrar, NERPO, STAMBOEK, and various other authorities and Society's were present. The aim of the meeting was to share an innovative strategy to improve the quality and manner of service delivery for the National Animal Recording and Improvement Schemes and thus enhance the productivity of our livestock in South Africa. Some interesting aspects were discussed and it seems that the ARC wants to take control of the INTERGIS system again. We will have to sit back and wait on the outcome of the LOGFRAME discussions that took place during the meeting. A committee was form where all the relevant role players using INTERGIS will make suggestions on the way forward for the National Schemes. I will keep you posted.

Beaufort West Nasional Sale

After numerous request from our breeders that the National Sale at Beaufort Wes must still be held on 18 August 2011, it was decided to ask Auctioneers to tender for the Sale.

I think that we all should put in a major effort to make the National sale a huge success. I will keep you posted.

On a personal note: On my way to Cape Town today to do the Cape Argus Cycle tour. It was a long season (more that 3000km since September) and I'm looking forward to put the bicycle away for a couple of months.

Back from Bloemfontein

I'm back from Bloemfontein (council meeting). Looking forward to spend a long time at the office and not driving around that much. Its amazing how much admin awaits you, although you were only out of office for 2 days.
I'm crossing fingers that the National Auction in Bloemfontein will be a good one, because we had a lot of animals withdrawn from the auction due to various reasons.

I'll give feedback on the auction when I receive all the figures.

The Dorper News 2011 will be available in a few days and we are looking at sending it to our members sometime next week.
I'll include a circular letter with the Dorper News that will include council decisions etc.

Council meeting Bloemfontein and Nasional Auction

I am out of office for a couple of days (Council meeting and National Auction Bloemfontein).

Will give feedback when I return.

Dorperland Meeting and visit

I attended the meeting of Dorperland in Upington on 23 February 2011. Everyone made me feel welcome and I want to thank all the members of the Club for the wonderful treatment I received and a well planed auction. The sale on 24 February went very well and the rams on auction was sold for more than R6400 on average.

Out of Office

I'll be out of office for a couple of days, visiting the Dorperland Club in Upington and also attending their meeting.

Broadcasting time and Date - Agri TV

The Dorper segment will be broadcast on SABC 2 (on Agri TV) on Tuesday 22 February 2011 @ 05:30

Nasionale Veldram Projek - Comments

I received a couple of interesting questions with regard to our National Veld Ram Project.
I believe that by discussing it and getting feedback from our members, we can better the project and get more breeders involved.
The intake dates might not suite everyone or we can advertise it ourselves earlier as soon as the last Indexes of the rams are available etc.

You may post your comments by clicking on the comment link at the bottom of this post. You need not sign in as a registered user, but can do so anonymously (last option at the drop down menu when posting the comment).

Please keep it positive and comment on issues that can benefit this very important project.

Auctions - Advertising

I receive numerous inquiries about auctions from buyers and members on a daily basis.

I need some input on this, so please comment on this post.

We currently don't have a "auction link" on the www.dorpersa.co.za web page.

Should we have such a link where anybody can advertise their dorper auction or should we only publish those under the protection of the Dorper Society?

I'm also thinking to use bulk sms to remind people of upcoming auctions.

About us - 2011-02-16

Updated the www.dorpersa.co.za/about webpage, for those of you who wants to put a face

behind the voice when you speak to people at the Dorper office.

A week without telephones - 2011-02-15

What a strange week last week proved to be. We had lots of rain to the extent that a fibre optic cable was washed away/ damaged and Middelburg was without any land line or cellphone reception for more that 3 days. It was both nice and frustrating without any telephones, but when our Internet connection and emails also stop working it became only frustrating. No way to communicate with our members.
We were without electricity for a while too.
It gave us time to finish Pedigree certificates, Agenda's for meetings, import / export permits, general enquiries etc. but there was no way to actually send these documents to the relevant people.

On Friday 11 February I was invited to attend a Gala evening at Grootfontein College in celebration of their centenary year. What a surprise when I saw so many people wearing our Dorper tie. Presidents from other small stock breeds asked me if I had to bribe people wearing the Dorper tie? "We all know that the Dorpers is the breed to associate with and nobody needs to be bribed to show it", was my response.

Look out for some photos in the Landbouweekblad and you just might spot someone proudly wearing the Dorper tie!