President’s Report 2006

The highlight of 2006 was, without a doubt, our 41st Congress that was held in Bloemfontein at the University of the Free State from 3 to 6 April 2006. I experienced it as a watershed on our road to present day transformation and am very grateful to the organisers from the Free State Branch as well as to every attendee. 127 papers were presented and 65 posters. 238 delegates from all over the world attended including Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, USA etc.

Awards: The following medals were presented: Bronze – Dr Helet Lambrechts and Dean Backhouse. Silver – Dr Japie van der Westhuizen and Dr Louw Hoffman. Congratulations to these worthy recipients. The Presidents award went to Dr Schalk Cloete for his outstanding service and mentoring of the research community. The David Uys trophy for 2005 went to J van E Nolte and A.V. Ferreira for their published paper in the SA Journal for Animal Science volume 35 pages 162-171 entitled “The effect of rumen degradable protein level and source on the duodenal essential amino acid profile of sheep.”

Honorary Member: It was our privilege to bestow honorary membership on one of the stalwarts and real characters of our society (apart from the fact that he is a brilliant scientist), Professor Gert Erasmus.

Honorary President: Professor Norman Casey was elected by council as our honorary President for the period April 2006 to November 2008. It is a pleasure to honour a volunteer in this manner. Norman is also the President: Congress on the World Council for Animal Production and in this capacity heads up the organising committee for the November 2008 WORLD Congress on Animal Production to be held in Cape Town.

Your council for 2006 to 2008 were also elected at this event and they are: President – Paul Bevan; Vice-President – Eddie Webb; Members – Hannes de Villiers, Johan Greyling, Edward Nesamvuni, Elsje Pieterse, Machiel Scholtz and Luis Schwalbach.

We may have many ideas of what our society should be, but we can only bring our piece of the puzzle to the table through active participation. I sense that subsequent to this congress, many members do now understand some of the mechanics of the society and the need and opportunity for them to be involved.

Involvement starts at the branch level and I have been very encouraged to see and hear of the activities at branch level. I want to commend every branch chairman and there committees for their commitment to their members and the science and of course every member for their active participation. Without your interest and participation in the activities, as a member, there is nothing to speak of.

We remember those who we have lost or who have lost a loved one during this year. We received report of the following persons: Helena Theron lost her husband, Trevor Dugmore his mother, Oom Hannes Booysen (our previous secretary) his son, Elsje Pieterse lost her father and Este Koster her sister. Our sincere condolences are expressed.

Another watershed event occurred during August 2006. Council held a very successful meeting with the steering committee of the SA Association of Professional Animal Scientists (SAAPAS). It was agreed that our two organisations should merge under the banner of SASAS subsequent to the necessary changes in the constitution of SASAS. A committee was appointed to draft the necessary changes. It is very important for us to be as representative and encompassing as possible of everyone involved in animal science and production. This may mean an evolvement from a narrow focus as custodian of learnedness in animal science to a much broader mandate. The new constitution will be tabled at the Annual General Meeting of our members at the mini-congress planned for 2007.

Publications and website: The cover of the journal (SAJAS) has been redesigned. This has been a long standing issue which has now been finalised. The idea was to rather have an abstract design which is inclusive, lest we incur the wrath of a specific interest in animal science that feel they are not adequately represented in the design. This is the area of constant churning to keep momentum and I would like to congratulate our editor-in-chief, Jannes van Ryssen, for his continuous efforts in the success of our publications.

I want to thank our councillors for there ongoing efforts in the various aspects of our society as there are still projects in the pipeline awaiting completion. The effort by our secretary, Jannes van Ryssen, in the day to day running of the secretariat is commendable. Our finances seem to be on par thanks to a healthy injection from the 2006 Bloemfontein congress as well as the good performance of the markets as far as our investments are concerned. The financial sustainability of the society does, however, remain a concern to me as I would like to see us capitalising profitably on the potential income generating vehicles we have in our website and publications.

The excitement of the World Congress on Animal Production 2008 being hosted in South Africa is ever present. This is a once in a lifetime event. We are gearing our resources in support of this organisation, headed by Norman Casey. Every member’s participation is seen as important to the success of this event. It has come to Africa because you are here.

Thank you to every person for their involvement and participation in the affairs of our society.

God Bless

Paul Bevan (President)