Bureau charges vary based on services

01-11-2002 | Not Specified

Charges made by bureaus linked to Sheep Improvement Ltd (SIL) vary based on different services and client demands.

There are eight bureaus in New Zealand, three in Manawatu, three in Canterbury, one in South Canterbury and another in Invercargill.

The New Zealand Animal Breeding Trust (NZABT) based at Massey University invoices the SIL charges separately so that breeders know exactly what the SIL component of their recording costs is. For a 500-ewe flock with 200% lambs born (dead and alive) SIL charges $430 plus gst.

NZABT general manager Clare Callow says trust charges vary from breeder to breeder because its service is customised to meet the individual needs.

“We have no such thing as an average client.”

She says the NZABT, which is virtually a breeder co-operative, has never entered into the price war fought among other bureaus.

“We have never claimed to be the cheapest but we are the best and the biggest by a long way. Our experience makes the difference.”

Callow says the NZABT’s service is quite different from the other bureaus. For example, as well as being tailored to the individual breeder it provides technical advice as an integral part of the service. The trust exists for its beneficiaries (the livestock industries of New Zealand). Benefits accrue back to the breeder members in improved products and services.

Invercargill-based Genetic Gains Ltd charges an annual flock fee of $60 plus $1.40 per lamb born per year for breeders sending all their data in on paper to be entered manually. Breeders sending their data using GeneCapture (the company’s hand held data logger and software programme) are charged $60 per flock plus $1.12 per lamb per year. For other means of electronic transfer the rate is somewhere between these two rates. The flock fee diminishes if the breeder has multiple flocks.

New Zealand Performance Recording Services Ltd (NZPRS) in Christchurch charges range from a $35 administration charge, if a breeder is using the company’s software (plus the SIL fee), to $1.30 per ewe for a full bureau service (plus SIL charges).

NZPRS director and Studfax manager Ken Moore says clients using the Studfax livestock recording programme on their own computers are charged just $35+gst annual administration fee. Studfax users who send their data over the Internet to NZPRS for checking, and ordering reports, pay $75+gst in administrative charges.

People who use the full bureau service, sending data in on pre-printed lists pay $1.20/ewe (terminal breeds) and $1.30/ewe dual purpose breeds (plus the base SIL charges on a per lamb and per flock basis). A discount is given where data is sent in electronic form (eg an electronic weighing file).

A 500-dual purpose ewe flock (200% lambing) will cost $465 ($430 to SIL, $35 to NZPRS) or if full service $1080 ($430 to SIL and $650 to NZPRS). All charges are exclusive of gst.

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