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2004 Annual Council Meetings
President's Report
It is only six months since our very successful visit to South Africa and this was also interrupted by the festive season
as well as the summer holidays in the southern hemisphere. We had a wonderful 12 days in South Africa and once again we
must thank Jersey SA, it’s personnel as well as the many breeders involved in the excellent program and hospitality during
our stay. We were introduced to the full spectrum of the industry in this very fast developing nation. We not only saw the
Jersey performing extremely well under some diverse circumstances, but also the varied management and breeding methods
employed to make it the fastest growing dairy breed in SA. The positive attitude of the farmers towards the dairy industry
and the Jersey breed in particular was very visible during our visits to the different herds throughout the country.
During the course of the week we had some very positive and productive meetings with some exciting decisions made. At
present the officers of the Bureau consist of:
| Patron: | | Anne Perchard (Jersey) |
President: | | Johannes van Eeden (South Africa) |
Vice Presidents:| Africa | Poena van Niekerk (South Africa) |
| Asia/Oceana | Richard Gibson (New Zealand) |
| Europe | Gordon Hastie (United Kingdom) |
| Latin America | Dr Gonzalo Maldonado (Colombia) |
| North America | Russell Gammon (Canada) |
Secretary-Treasurer: | | Derrick Frigot (Jersey) |
Youth Exchange: | | Anne Corner (United Kingdom) |
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For improved and effective communications we also defined the following positions:
| Press Releases | Dr Cherie Bayer (United States) |
Web Site | Steve and Suzanne Le Feuvre (Jersey) |
Global Jersey (magazine) | Poena van Niekerk |
These people have already been active in their new responsibilities and hopefully we will soon have an effective and
user-friendly website running with up-to-date news about Jersey happenings around the world, as well as some to-the-point
information items.
Russell Gammon was elected to the post of Senior Vice President and he will serve in this position until the 2005
conference held in Canada. A regional report-back to council by the Vice Presidents was also initiated - this was very
well received and appreciated by all present. It was great to hear about the positive advances made by the breed in the
different parts of the world. Council also decided that we will embark on a worldwide Jersey census and at present the
Vice Presidents assisted by our member countries are busy with a worldwide survey of the Jersey and its breeders, as well
as getting vital contacts in each country.
We also discussed venues for the next years council meetings and decided as follows:
2004 Argentina with a post-meeting trip to Chile
2005 Canada (conference)
2006 Switzerland with possible visits to Austria/Germany
2007 Brazil with visits to Uruguay
2008 Jersey (conference)
I am also pleased to welcome Georgia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia as new National Affiliated Members of the WJCB. These are
either countries with new Jersey populations or where we are seeing some very exciting Jersey developments.
Financing the Bureau is still the single biggest challenge facing council, its members and member countries and a number of
strategic decisions were made to help in this effect.
As President I would like to use this opportunity to thank everybody involved for their hard work as well as their support
for our wonderful and unique organisation.
Respectfully submitted.
Johannes van Eeden
February 2004
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