February 2010 (Click Here To Download Newsletter)

President’s comments.

Some of you may have had a delay with getting paperwork from our office.  This is because our fragile aging printer and computer monitor having not only been playing up, but have now completely failed.  This was the risk which Kevin Fletcher brought to Council’s attention last year.  At present we have been able to hook another old printer to the system, and have borrowed an old monitor which has been stored in Robyn’s garage.  It is all rather shaky, but hopefully will get us through to March end.  If our ‘cobbled’ together system gives up, we will be forced to wait until we change over to PBB to get reports and certificates printed.
We are in constant contact with both ABRI and PBB to ensure a smooth changeover at the end of March.  This fits in well with our end of financial year.  Thank you to everyone who has been sending your calving sheets in, we do need to have all the records up to date before the changeover to the new system.  Robyn will continue to process information until 20th March, at which time we will be taking the information to transfer to the new system.

Planning is well underway for the next Association field day, which will be in Taranaki.  I am pleased to advise that Russell Priest is again going to facilitate the day.  His talk is informative and very high quality.
I am in regular contact with the Presidents of both the Australian and UK Red Devon Assn.  Like us, they are grappling with how to increase membership, changes to ABRI (UK), maintaining standard of excellence in the breed, and with the need to increase exposure of the breed by promotion.  This has meant increases in membership fees have hit everyone.  The UK Assoc has had a strong response to their proposed mini tour, and it is pleasing to report that a number of people from NZ are attending.

Over the last few months I have been in contact with quite a number of you, and I have appreciated the feedback from you.  It is challenging rolling out the new direction which was voted on by members at the last AGM, and your comments indicate we are heading in the right direction.  A number of members having been giving me feedback on our promotional strategy.  Over the coming year we have I believe a good strategy and focus.  A scattergun approach can use up a lot of money with little return, so Council has been putting in a lot of effort in this area.

I hope to see many of you at the next field day.  Don’t forget these are for you, the members, but are also open to the public.  (Read More)

Christmas 2009  (Click Here to Download Newsletter) 

President’s comments

I don’t know where the year has gone.  Council have signed contracts with both ABRI and PBB.  Our focus has now turned to planning a timeline with PBB on how the transition will happen.  We are pleased to report that the final costing is below the estimate which was put to members at the AGM.
We have also been putting in a lot of work on a promotion strategy.  Like many members I am aware that one of the regular comments at the AGM meetings is around having a promotion budget.  Council spent a lot of time during our meeting in November going through a draft promotion strategy.  Technology has changed the way many people promote and sell.  Equally the cost of promotion is expensive and we must ensure we get value for any dollar spent.  We are not in a position to have an unlimited promotional budget.
This brings me to another important subject, annual fees.  Council is aware that for the last two years our Association n has been in a loss situation.  We have been in a fortunate situation where we have funds on term deposit which have cushioned the loss.  Although in reality having the funds in term deposit has also meant we have not faced the problem.  Both the previous president and our secretary have commented over the last two years that we cannot continue to use our capital to pay for our operating costs.  Over the last few months a number of options have been developed with Kevin putting in a lot of work.  In November Council assessed the options and agreed that the fee structure will be changed and increased in the new financial year.  This is unfortunate but necessary.  Please see the article further in the newsletter.
Christmas is with us again, and on behalf of your Council I hope you have a happy and safe time.
Also on behalf of everyone a special Christmas wish to Robyn, in her final year with the Association. (Read more)

August 2009  (Click Here To Download Newsletter)

President's comments.

I must acknowledge the council members who have all been working hard on aspects of the Association. We are all aware of the responsibility we are facing implementing the vote made at the AGM to change our recording and secretariat systems. As in any major change not everything will be to everyone's liking. Our challenge is to try to accommodate the needs of all our members.

You will see an article on the increasing traffic on our web page. I was surprised at the amount of hits to our site. It brought home how our society is changing in the way they look for information and buy.

Requests have come in to provide information / articles on weaning, commercial crossbred stock, conformation training days, and polled sires. We have a number of very experienced members who have a lot of knowledge in these areas. I would encourage you to put your hand up and write an article. The strength of our Association is in the sharing of this type of information.

Thank you to those members who have given us feedback. We appreciate hearing your views and will be working on a number of the suggestions going forward. To those who have requested the newsletter as an e-mail we have done so this time. If that is your preferred method of receiving the newsletter please let us know. Colour photos yes we looking at this for next time as well.

Council has recognised we need to be in touch with members more. Expect to hear from a council member at least a couple of times during the year. They will keep you up to date with what is happening. We are keen to hear what you would like in field days. How can we have these be of value to you?
Meanwhile I hope your grass is growing, and you are having a successful year.  (Read more )

Regards
Karen Schumacher