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| The Zimbabwe Herd Book Team wishes you all an excellent, productive year in 2025 |
| To access Member and Animal Search via the Livestock Registering Foundation: use this quick link below: |
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| https://www.lrf.co.za/zimbabwe/ | |
| To access the Goat Breeders Association of Zimbabwe (GBAZ) web page, click logo at right: |
| ZHB Beef School took place from 17 to 19 September 2024, and was booked to capacity, with 160 delegates and 16 sponsoring companies.
It was a great success in every way! |
The 56th NATIONAL BREED SALE |
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| Pedigree livestock - also known as stud animals - are the seed stock of the livestock industry and is the basis of stud breeding. The Zimbabwe Herd Book was established by an Act of Parliament in 1980 to oversee the registration of pedigree livestock. Stud breeding involves the controlled mating of livestock and detailed birth notifications of progeny with parents are recorded with the Herd Book. In addition, stud breeders record the fertility, survival and growth performance.
Livestock production depends on three pillars: genetics, health and husbandry. Stud Breeding - genetics - is the cornerstone of commercial livestock production. A strong commercial industry is dependent on a healthy and vibrant stud industry to offer stud/breeding stock that meet requirements in a range of production environments and market scenarios. At its annual National Sales, all animals on offer have undergone veterinary examination and inspection so that the livestock industry is offered a wide range of top quality genetics. Stud breeding is a long-term passion where breeders strive to breed the ‘best’ animal. Breeders apply modern breeding technologies to carefully select animals to be parents of the next generation and in so doing, improve the genetic merit of future generations. Breeders also select parent material from outside the country in the form of live imports, semen and embryos. Stud breeding also requires the meticulous recording of parentage (pedigree) as well as specific performance data that measures reproduction, survival and growth. These performance figures, together with the parentage information, are used to select the best animals to be parents of the next generation. Genetic improvement is therefore passed on from generation to generation and from the stud herd to the commercial herd. ZHB has implemented BreedPlan, the leading performance evaluation software from Australia. The industry can now avail itself of the latest technologies that provide both breeders and commercial producers with accurate genetic assessment of animals that are selected for breeding purposes. A wide range of genetic material is also available for commercial producers who want to select the best breeds and breed combinations to meet their particular production environments. It is more economical to select the right breed for a particular production environment than adapt the environment to meet the requirements of the breed.
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Links to LRF Newsletters: | Links to LRF Technical Services Newsletters: |
| Tips for Upgrading to HerdMaster5
1. If you already use HerdMaster, create backups of each of your databases. • First try and run the Bundled Installer Package (Online) https://tinyurl.com/herdmaster5setup 3. Run the downloaded file 7. On the registration screen: 8. If you have an active HERDMaster licence then put your CRN into the existing HerdMaster5 user field, otherwise put your details in and register for free trial 9. On the screen asking if you are a new user, if you have already been using a. Restore database 10. Otherwise, select 'I am new to HerdMaster' and create a new database |
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| Links to useful documents and templates for ZHB Members: Summary of ZHB Breeders Requirements ZHB Birth Notifications Excel template ZHB Breeder Requirements Course Notes 2022 PowerPoint file BREEDPLAN BreedCodes ZHB Template |
Useful website links for ZHB Members:
Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) https://abriweb.une.edu.au/databases/ https://abriweb.une.edu.au/breedplan/ Livestock Registering Federation |
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| Breed Associations and Societies:
Constitutions To ensure alignment of breed societies constitutions, follow links to relevant documents below. The ZHB Office will gladly assist with the provision of a boardroom and facilitate setting up of online meetings via Google Meets. Contact the office for further information: Tel: 024 - 2756 600 / 2777 391 / 2772 915 / 0774 122 660 - or email: [email protected] Registration of Pedigree Farm Livestock Act
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Please be advised that the Department of Veterinary Services has suspended issuance of permits for imports of cloven-hooved animals from FMD-infected SADC countries:
for the period 1st September to 31st December 2024. The suspension is due to the high risk of spread of FMD SAT 1, 2 and 3 and type O infections from these countries into Zimbabwe. Download the DVS memo PDF HERE Please contact Permits Officer to clarify status of permits you have to hand. Please also advise us by email of breeding stock you are in the process of acquiring and importing which is affected by this suspension at this address: |
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| Notice to ZHB Breeders
Are you, as a Member, compliant, with the Rules and Regulations of Zimbabwe Herd Book and of your Breed Society? To strengthen the integrity of ZHB, its Breed Societies and database, members are cordially requested to ensure their records are up-to-date at ZHB, all outstanding queries have been attended to and resolved, and all annual levies have been remitted. Contact ZHB at [email protected] or your Breed Society or fellow breeders for further clarification and assistance. You can download the ZHB Members Guide, ZHB Breeder Requirements documents and templates using the links, above left on this page. |
Did you miss this FREE LRF course?
Then FOLLOW THIS LINK for the recording. Take advantage of this, to enhance your understanding of data quality in genetic improvement; at your own pace.
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| Our own Dr Mario Beffa was recently interviewed by Agribusiness. You will really enjoy watching this informative interview!
CFU Farming Oscar goes to our own Dr Mario Beffa! We are very proud to announce that Dr Mario Beffa was on 13 November awarded the 2023 Commercial Farmers Union Farming Oscar. |
The Livestock Registering Federation (LRF) Technical Services Newsletter is a biannual publication for members of the LRF in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. This is packed with insightful articles, exciting updates, and valuable resources. Stay informed, inspired, and connected. Enjoy the March 2024 issue of LRF-TS newsletter with its wealth of information on technical issues relating to livestock improvement, and news from LRF's member societies and office. Click here or magazine cover below, to read the March 2024 Issue:
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| Setting Up Calving Year in BreedPlan
In the instance where a breeder has not defined a ‘Calving Year’ in BreedPlan, animals are treated as distinct groups within a Calendar Year, for example: 2022 born calves, and ident of all calves starts with year of birth, i.e. ‘22’. This typically applies to year-round calving. For breeders with a calving season that extends over the calendar year, for example, calving from September to March, provision can be made in BreedPlan to identify these animals as being in the same calving contemporary group. This avoids splitting the contemporary group in genetic analyses according to calendar year. To cater for this, we firstly require you to confirm your Calving Year. For example, with a calving season extending from September to March, then a Calving Year can be defined as April to March. Then all calves born from 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023 will be given the same Year of Birth in their Ident, that is 21-NNNNHDL. To advise ZHB of your Calving Year so we can make necessary edits to BreedPlan to cater for your calving seasons, email [email protected] |
