Originally Posted by
Rob Nalder
Mango,
First up this is about a debate & not about giving it to one another. I do understand and respect the right of others having an opinion, however one needs to fully understand all the information around the issue, prior to going out and saying something that is just not on the mark.
Let me try and respond to each one of your points.
To my knowledge it ( funds from import fees) was never going into fillies & mares races. The subject of Fillies & Mares Races in a separate issue / debate that we can get into latter.
HRA told each State that the funds derived from Import fees was to be used on Breeding assistance to breeders generally. HRNSW has tied several things to this end.
Your opinion on weather or not the Colonial Stallion incentive is worth anything needs to be based around some form of factual information. Let me make a point that needs to be made, CB fee structure was decided upon well in advance of the Colonial incentive from HRNSW Being made public. Once we found out about what HRNSW was doing we tried to help further by paying for the Foals Rego fee. In other words we endeavoured to match a positive with another positive. So the big winner is the Breeder on both counts from HRNSW & The Blaster team. Further more we instigated / organised to undertake a full survey by contacting each Breeder via electronic media and asked a raft of questions that ended up totalling 20 pages. This was carried out after the yearling sales had been completed. These finding / results was then made available to the interested parties. To say it did or did not help the Blaster I could not answer, as we had nothing factually to compare him to. Next year / this coming session we should have a better understanding of same. What I can tell you is that all existing Stallions that qualified under the Colonial Stallion assistance system, all covered more mares than at any time over the previous 2 - 3 years. This to me reflects a positive trend that needs to be followed up.
All our planning was based on CB covering 100 + mares in his 1st year, and this he did. We could have been somewhat bullish in our assessment but you need to aim for a target & go for it.
Anything that helps and assists Breeders in anyway in my mind is great for the industry.
Now on to your next points.
HRNSW have been trying a range of things that all help the Breeder. For instance, they have lowered the cost of Breeders Challenge eligibility by around $90 + Another $90.00 saving if you go into the Breeders Challenge you no longer have to pay any Naming fees. Both of these savings to Breeders & Owners, have taken up all, everything from what HRA has given to HRNSW to put back into Breeding, in my opinion. The spend on both of these two items alone is massively over what the Stallion Incentive System has given back to the Breeders. But once again it is about trying to cover as many people as you can.
I know our foal numbers are declining Nationally & internationally also. This is a World Wide trend. But one very major positive that we all need to understand, NSW with everything HRNSW are doing & have done over recent years has resulted in this State showing the least percentage decline against all other States & NZ. Furthermore if you go back just a couple of years ago and look at 2011 & 2012 Breeding results NSW had in fact shown two consecutive breeding years of growth in foal numbers. So it can be done.
That of reversing the trends.
What we need to understand is that it is not about you & I, it is about HRNSW looking after as many of us as can be done, so everyone has a bit of what they feel is important to them.
Finally if you have anything positive you feel that "The Blaster" should be doing to help with foal numbers please let us know.
All the Best.
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