This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Anton Voorhoeve wrote:
>
> Mike May told me that the 22 Fjords evaluated by Bob van Bon at our camp
> in May this year is not acceptable to the NFHR because (1)the evaluation
> was not sanctioned by the NFHR (I didn't know much about it then) and
> (2) the evaluation took place on our property.
Is prohibition number 2 above, cast in stone? The only Keuring (sp?)
I've ever attended was held in Massachusetts some years ago on the
property of a well-know local breeder, and it seemed to go off very
well, with no evidence of favoritism. It would seem that the
availability of an appropriate and free site for evaluations would
help reduce the cost. I can understand that there may be reluctance
based on the fact that the host's animals would be "at home", and
would not have had to be trailered, but what else is at the base of
this?
I would like to see more opportunities for stock evaluation, but
very likely will not be able or willing to move any significant
number of animals long distances to get to one. If the consensus is
that we should be doing more evaluation of breeding stock, doesn't it
make sense that we should have as many sites available, and as many
evaluation opportunbities as possible?
On the subject of Breeder-Evaluators, I recall our experience when
we were actively showing dairy goats. Understanding that an
evaluation and a show are different things in the horse world,
dairy goats shows are less about performance than they are about
conformational correctness and conformity to an ideal breed
(dairy) type.
At the time, MOST of the judges were also well-known
and successful breeders. Unfortunately, depending on the particular
"view" of the judge, we have had the same animals stand at the top of
the class, or at the bottom. This was because each judge, while
referring to the same standards, apparently had different ways of
viewing "spring of rib", "levelness of top line and rump", etc. Not
suprisingly, this view often appeared to be derived from the
conformation of animals in the breeder's particular herd.
Based on this experience, I would personnaly prefer a well trained
evaluator that was not a breeder, so that even the perception of
breeder's bias would not be a problem.
My $.02
