Invited the second time by the Boran Society of Kenya to judge the show cattle and fat stock in Nairobi 2016, was a great pleasure and honour and I would like to thank the Society of inviting us and making it possible to come to Kenya again.
The cattle represented at the show were of high standard. Being back after 10 years I could see a lot of improvement. The atmosphere between the breeders granting each other the different prices was outstanding!
I want to make a few points and suggestions to the show committee:
The breeders should have a look at the hoofs of their cattle as they started growing from too much feed and the scrotum size decreased, which was a strong point of the Boran in the past.
1. Group classes should be judged prior the single classes.
2. Group of two offspring of one dam
3. Progeny group of two males and two females of one sire
4. Progeny group of two or three females of one sire
5. Progeny group of two or three males of one sire
6. A price for the best handler during the whole show to get them more involved and attentive.
7. Females two-and-half to three years should have a pregnancy certificate
My suggestion to the Boran Breeders is to get seriously involved into Breed plan, to collect as much as possible data to be competitive against other breeds. The leading breeds are far ahead with their database and the Boran breed should start as soon as possible if they want to be part in future. The future of breeding lies in the performance testing but without any
data we can’t compare the Boran against different breeds. Dr. M. Bradfield is a suitable person to be invited, as he can point out the importance of performance testing and data collection, being the head of Breed Plan South Africa.
For us it is very important to work together in different countries and to compare the Boran Breed in the whole of Southern Africa as we all have the same aim: to promote and to improve the Boran cattle which can make a big impact in the beef industrie in Africa.
Many thanks to all breeders for their time and hospitality after the show, when being invited to different farms. We saw outstanding commercial as well as stud cattle. We are looking forward, that the veterinary Import regulations will be more open again for Namibia to get some of these excellent genetics we saw – to our country!
Regards
Kaspar Günzel – Namibia
***
