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19 March 2021

AGM reports 2021

Please take a few minutes to read the reports from the 2021 AGM, the treasurers report is to follow, due to personal circumstances. The secretaries report, is incoroporated within chair/website reports (contain the same information).

The minutes from the meeting will be available in the near future. If you have any questions please email info@berkshirepigs.org.uk.

Regards

Julie

Berkshire Pig Breeders Club

Presidents Report 17th March 2021


Welcome to the AGM of the Berkshire Pig Breeders Club.

I would like to congratulate the committee for all the hard work they have put in, in the last 12 months.

Which is no mean feat in a pandemic.

12 months have passed by and we need to elect a new committee.

12 months is a short time for a working committee to achieve their goals, therefor I would like to propose the committee looking at making the roles a 3 year term as the BPA do.

This would be a nominee proposed by 2 breeders by post and ballet papers sent out is necessary.

I believe this would make for a more effective club.

I have enjoyed being your president and look forward to the following 12 months.

Ron Fieldhouse

 

Chairman’s report AGM 17th March 2021

Via Zoom 7pm

Berkshire Pig Breeders Club


Firstly can I thank members and committee for their support during the year, this has helped move the club forward, with the club now going from strength to strength.

This has been a strange year for everybody, both in terms of lockdown and leaving the EU, we are yet to see the full impact of both on the market for pigs. Although there appears to be a high demand for Berkshires, with most breeders seeing an increase in demand for breeding stock.

For those members who are part of the show circuit, it has been difficult, with the loss of all shows in 2020 and some in 2021. Alongside missing out on meeting up with other breeders, it has not been easy in deciding whether to keep a show team. We need to look forward to the few shows that may go ahead this year and support them wherever possible. The loss of shows has had a knock on affect with Club competitions, which we hope will return in 2022.

Looking back at my first year as the club chairman, I am pleased with how the club has moved forward and my role within this. The committee has worked together, and the club is stronger, with more involvement from members.

Committee meetings

Lockdown had a positive effect, with the club introducing regular committee meetings every 4 – 6wks via Zoom, this has enabled the committee to move the club forward and come together as a team. I would like to thank the committee for embracing this new approach. The committee has a WhatsApp group, which enables information to be shared more quickly, which speeds up decision making, and generates liaison between meetings. It also keeps the committee in touch, which can be difficult with the geographical spread of committee members.

Membership

There has been a steady increase in numbers this year, up from 50 to 65 Paid up members and 7 awaiting confirmation, this includes member from Scotland and Northern Ireland. Membership (including those pending) is up by 22 on last year, an increase of over 30%. The increase is due to several things, including the join us form on the website, timely following up of emails and messages and inviting breeders/keepers to join when buying pigs. Using the BPA breeder numbers the club has 68% of breeders as members of the club, I have a target of 80% by the next AGM.

New Website

I am pleased to say the website gets lots of positive feedback and does seem to be generating interest in the club. The new members only area contains club information, including ear notching app.

The website is almost self-funding, through the homepage advert, £400 sponsorship and increase in member numbers. This income also supports the maintenance and updating of the website on an annual basis.

I would like to thank Bill Tyrer (Millgate herd) for his kind donation of £400 towards the website, Thomas Beckingham (Littlemorton herd) £250 for his sponsorship of the website homepage with his advertisement.

Thank you to Julie Johnson, for the many hours spent putting the information together for the website, and liaising with the web designer, Russ (who was in lockdown in Brazil), who has put together a brilliant website for the club and given on-going support in making it work.

Members WhatsApp group

This is very popular with members, who regularly exchange information and share advice, it is a safe forum for questions to be asked, especially in times of emergency. New Berkshire breeders/keepers can seek advice and clarification on issues specifically for Berkshires, to date this has covered everything from serving to farrowing and all manor of things in-between. Although not originally intended for the sale of pigs, it has proved useful to members, in this respect.  At present there are 35 members in the group, with numbers increasing weekly.

The next 12 months

I would like to

  • Set up a small working group to record growth rate of the different boar bloodlines i.e. days to 65 kilos and P2 backfat measurement. The group will report back to the committee and members
  • Working group to move bloodlines around the country, encouraging members to swap or take on a new bloodline, using the BPA kinship to identify suitable matches of boars/sows, to get a more diverse range of pigs
  • Revisit the club constitution and update as/if required

Onwards and upwards

Chris Hudson

Chairman


Report for AGM March 2021

Website & Facebook

This year has seen the launch of the new club website, this incorporates a range of sections, including a members only area, which has 58 members with live accounts.

The create account form, has been amended to make all sections required fields, as many members were just adding their name, hopefully payment details can be added to the form. I plan to amend the for sale/wanted form to ensure all sections have information completed. The PayPal payment should be up and running in the next couple of weeks, as it was more appropriate to await the change of treasurer.

The for sale adverts are restricted to members only posting, but are accessible by all visitors to the site, the wanted adverts can be placed by any website user, all adverts are signposted from the Facebook page & this appears to be working well.

Regular “News” updates are created on the homepage of the website, which helps to keep the website up to date.

Emails – committee members have their own club email address, I receive an email when new adverts, accounts etc are generated and require approval. There is also a club email which can be accessed via the website.

Facebook – this is being well used by committee, members, and site visitors, big thank you to Jack, for the successful Berkshire week on Pedigree pigs

Julie Johnson

Website editor