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First Jersey World Classification Harmonization Meeting - March 2006
L-R: Gary Bowers (Canada), Paul Vestergaard (Denmark), Tim Sneddon (New Zealand), John Gribbon (UK),
David Harvey (Zambia), Johan Jooste (South Africa), Johns Nyrongo (Zambia), Poena van Niekerk (South Africa)
The cow is Maluti S Maniix Rienie - sired by: Glynton Mannix Spartan (Mannix X Berretta) - owner: Omikron Jerseys,
Brandfort....... she was placed 3rd for cows 26 - 30 months at the Northern Championships on 15th March 2006.
The event took place in Bloemfontein, South Africa from 14th to 18th March 2006.
The first World Harmonisation Meeting for Jersey Classifiers was held in Bloemfontein, South Africa from 14th to 18th March
2006 as part of the National Jersey Week. Participants from seven countries attended the meeting, with the USA
representative sending her contribution by DVD because she was unable to attend.
The Jersey breed is rapidly becoming one of the fastest growing dairy populaitons in the world. It is therfore important
to ensure that the type of cow that is supplied by breeders, is the correct type that the commerical dairy farmer is
looking for. It is for this exact purpose that the World Jersey Harmonisation Group came into being, so that classifiers
in the various countries in the world use the same classificaiton criteria when looking at type traits for Jersey cows.
The international participant were Poena van Niekerk (Manager of Jersey SA), who co-ordinated the meeting, John
Gribbon (Chief classifier of UK Holstein), Poul Vestergaard (Chief classifier of Denmark), Wade Pringle
(CEO of World Wide Sires SA), Tim Sneddon (Vice President of Jersey New Zealand), David Harvey (Dairy
Development program manager for Land O'Lakes in Zambia), Gary Bowers from Canada, and Dr Johan Jooste
(of South Africa).
The idea of trying to harmonise the way in which classifiers of different countries judge the type traits of Jersey cattle
originated in Denmark when a classifier workshop was conducted in June 1996, which was attended by classifiers from the
USA, UK, Jersey, Canada, South Africa and Denmark. This was followed by a meeting in South Africa in 1997, which coincided
with the annual WJCB Council meeting (World Jersey Cattle Breeders).
In November 1998, this was followed by a meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, USA where the main discussion point was the
MACE (Multiple Across Country Evaluation) analysis for type traits in the Jersey breed. After this meeting INTERBULL
started to supply MACE values on type data.
In 2002 and 2005 smaller meetings were held in Denmark and Canada. It was in Canada that the decision was taken to form
an official harmonisaton group for Jerseys. The Bloemfontein meeting was therefore the first meeting of the formal Jersey
Harmonisation Group.
On the agenda was issues such as progress made with the Holstien Harmonisation Programme, classificaiton variations in
the various Jersey breeding countries, the inclusion of locomotion an udder balance in the excisting classificaiton
system, the economic importance of linear traits, which linear traits are sought after by farmers, important traits for
pasture farmers and the ideal cow for Africa.
The first day was spent on the paper side of type classification. The above mentioned matters were discussed.
The second day was spent on the practical side of classification. The day was started by classifing one of the champions
from the recent Bloem show. The biggest discusion was on the measurement of rear udder width and body depth. The
discussion was not that serious on this champion cow, but it got more serious when the group of two year old cows were
classified. Each participant classified each cow and then a discussion followed on the traits where the most differences
occur. The differences were less than initially thought. The decision was taken that each country should start to collect
exact measurements on some traits and that that should be put forward at the next meeting.
The discussion and practical demonstration on locomation was the highlight of the day. The two experts on this, Poul
Vetergaard and John Gribbon, gave the group a practical demonstration on how to evaluate this trait. Actual foot prints
were evaluated and compared between cows. It turned out to be one of the most accurate measurable traits.
The meeting was concluded on Saturday morning and the following decisions were taken:
1. Poul Vestergaard be apointed as the official Jersey representative at INTERBULL for the type traits
2. The next meeting to be held in New Zealand in December 2007
3. Effort put into the possibility of getting Australia and the US involved in the next meeting
4. The list of traits evaluated by INTERBULL be obtained and definite definition work out for discussion in New
Zealand.
5. Locomotion be included in the list of traits that will be classified by all countries. A motivation must go to
INTERBULL to include this trait as an official type trait.
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