24 September 2008

Dear Brown Swiss Member:

As notified in the June 2008 Brown Swiss Digest, BSCBA Inc. has engaged the services of Holstein Australia as our registrar and classifier. On behalf of the Board and Staff of Holstein Australia and the National Council of Brown Swiss Cattle Breeders of Australia, Inc, we would like to say how pleased we are to be working together. We look forward to providing Brown Swiss members with the same great service provided to Holstein members and to work together to improve those services going forward.

The transition period may take a little while, so please be patient and bear with us. We have had a trial run and so far so good. We have registered about 100 animals and transferred a few more. A joint classification workshop has been run and we have made some slight alterations to suit the Brown Swiss breed.

We believe that you will see much improvement in registration services with electronic, online, telephonic and postal registrations. The usual turn around is two business days and members of staff are available to discuss any enquiries that you may have. We have included a description of the various methods of registration, including a spread sheet that you can fill in and email to the office if you do not have access to Easy Dairy or Mistro. Please use these online services as much as possible as it is the quickest way to have your certificates returned to you.

As of the date of this letter we are ready to accept registrations in all the ways noted in the attached flier. Transfers will be processed when you send through your signed registration certificate with the buyer’s details noted on the back. Classification is well underway in many areas outside of the south-east.

Classification will be carried out twice per year, and we urge you to use this very important tool to gain insight into where your breeding is headed. It also provides a benefit to the breed as a whole. We need data on the Brown Swiss Breed in Australia, and without you as breeders using this service, the breed will not get the recognition it deserves.

The classification schedule is available on the HA website, www.holstein.com.au. If you are interested in classifying, please let Julie Filippetto in the HA office know so she can make sure you receive a call when the classifiers are coming. You will receive one call from the office, about a month in advance of a tour to check if you want to classify that tour and then a scheduling call about two weeks later to set a firm date. The classifiers should have all your animals on the handheld, but they will need a calving date and a lactation number for all animals. They will also need a physical identifier to use to identify the animal properly. This is generally a freeze brand or ear tag. They will print out your reports for you before they leave the property and we would ask you to fill out the evaluation form to help us provide the best service possible.

Holstein Australia will invoice you for all the services you use on a monthly basis. HA do not require payment in advance and offer you multiple payment methods, including cheque, credit card, BPay, and direct deposit. However, HA have strict 30-day payment terms for all clients. There will be a GST component to your invoice since Holstein Australia is the service provider in this case and you should be able to claim this expense through your BAS. The fees have been set by the BSCBA, but Holstein Australia will be collecting them on behalf of the National Council.

Brown Swiss members will be treated the same as Holstein members. All services available to HA members will be available to you. Together, our two societies will be able to keep making service improvements for the Registered Sector of the Dairy Industry.

Please contact any of the undersigned if you have any queries.

Regards,

Rod Huth National President, BSCBA, Inc.	Susan Brown National BSCBA Council CEO
Adrian Dee President, Holstein Australia	Matthew R. Shaffer, Ph.D. CEO, Holstein Australia
Holstein Australia 24-36 Camberwell Road Hawthorn East, Vic 3122 Phone: 03 9835 7600 Fax: 03 9835 7699 Registration: 1 300 788 188 Website: www.holstein.com.au Email: enquiry@holstein.com.au	BSCBA Inc. RMB 2155 Boundary Road Finley, NSW 2713 Phone: 03 5883 9470 Mobile: 0409 710 182 Website: www.brownswissaustralia.com Email: brownswiss1@bigpond.com