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ZHB and Breed Society Compliance

Many members are not compliant with the Rules and Regulations of Zimbabwe Herd Book as well as those of their Breed Societies.

To strengthen the integrity of ZHB, its Breed Societies and database, all members should ensure their records are up-to-date at ZHB, all outstanding queries have been attended to and resolved and that all annual levies have been remitted. Follow links below for a summary of Breeder requirements and detailed notes in the Members Guide for your review and information.

Contact ZHB at [email protected] or your Breed Society or fellow breeders for further clarification and assistance.

ZHB Members Guide

Summary of ZHB Breeders Requirements

Links to useful ZHB documents and templates

BREEDPLAN BreedCodes ZHB Template

ZHB DNA Sample Card

ZHB Birth Notifications Excel template file

ZHB Mating List and Days to Calving Excel template file

ZHB Weights and Cancellations Excel template file

ZHB Breeder Requirements Course Notes 2022 PowerPoint file

'Control and treatment of Theileriosis to reduce cattle deaths' Prof John Lawrence (published in Livestock Today Dec 2021).

Setting Up Calving Year in BreedPlan

In the instance where a breeder has not defined a ‘Calving Year’ in BreedPlan, animals are treated as distinct groups within a Calendar Year, e.g. 2021 born calves, and ident of all calves starts with year of birth, i.e. ‘21’. This typically applies to year-round calving.

For breeders with a calving season that extends over the calendar year, for example, calving from September to March, provision can be made in BreedPlan to identify these animals as being in the same calving contemporary group.

This will avoid splitting the contemporary group in genetic analyses according to calendar year. To cater for this, we firstly require you to confirm your Calving Year. For example, with a calving season extending from September to March, then a Calving Year can be defined as April to March. Then all calves born from 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022 will be given the same Year of Birth in their Ident, that is 21-NNNNHDL.

Kindly advise your Calving Year so that we can make necessary edits to BreedPlan to cater for your calving seasons. To do so, email: [email protected]

Internet Solutions

Internet Solutions is a web based service developed by the
Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI).

It enables breeders to access detailed information instantly, about registered animals, sale and semen catalogues, and to exchange information with their Breed Society and access a suite of BREEDPLAN-related tools and services.
Click here to find out more

Click HERE to access BreedPlan Reports Online

Scroll right down to find country 'ZIM' then select your Breed. Contact the ZHB office if you need your ID and Password. Click Animal Enquiry for your Breed; Click Download Files; Input your Member ID and Password in the appropriate fields (If this is your first time accessing the service you will be asked to go back and create a new password); Once you’ve signed in, you can download reports generated from BreedPlan such as EBVs, Levy Lists. See also our BREEDS page for more info.

HerdMASTER Users - Importing EBVs to your on-farm Software

After downloading the GROUPEBV.DAT file from your society’s database, you can import it to your own HerdMaster database. NB Before making any major changes to your data, prepare a backup! In HerdMaster, go to Utilities>Import>ABRI Imports>EBVS; Select the downloaded GROUPEBV.DAT file and click open; Wait for the import to finish. A report of which EBVs failed to be imported will be generated after the import.

LRF Real-time Ultrasound (RTU) scanning services

See what your live animals look like under their hides!

Email [email protected] or call ZHB on +263 77 412 2660 if you are interested in future RTU scanning exercises in Zimbabwe.

Why do RTU scanning? Click here to see a video demo and find out more

Reasons to do RTU:

  • Assess the carcass merit of an individual animal whilst still alive, as opposed to the collection of carcass data post-slaughter;
  • RTU scanning results are highly correlated to carcass traits.

Traits measured:

  • Eye-muscle area: Indication of overall muscling (saleable meat yield) of the animal;
  • Rib-and Rump fat: Measures of fat cover which is also an indication of onset of puberty and may be correlated with female fertility;
  • Intramuscular fat: Indication of meat quality (tenderness, flavour and juiciness);
  • Results included in carcass trait EBVs;
  • Carcass traits are medium to highly heritable, thus easy to select for and improve in your herd.

Click HERE for more details from the LRF website.

Costs are based on number of animals, plus travel and accommodation costs
R100 for 10 animals, R80 for 11-50, R70 for 51-100, R60 for over 100 animals

Click HERE to download the LRF Tech Services Newsletter March 2023

Click HERE to download March 2023 edition of LRF-Breedplan Magazine

Click HERE to download the ZHB Chairman's Newsletter Feb 2023

Click HERE to download the Breed Society Reports Feb 2023

Click HERE to download the ZHB December 2022 Newsletter

Announcement by Dept of Veterinary Services 14 April 2022
The Department of Veterinary Services in Zimbabwe announced on 14 April 2022, the immediate suspension of importation of live cloven-hoofed animals and related products from South Africa, due to several outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease in South Africa. Click HERE for full statement.

Click HERE to download the Dec 2022 ZFU Magazine

Click HERE to download the Oct 2022 LRF-BREEDPLAN Newsletter

Click HERE to download the Livestock Registering Federation (LRF) Technical Services News July 2022

Click HERE to download the Feb 2022 Breed Society Reports

Links to 2022 Beef School Papers

Rotational Grazing Systems that suit your environment - Prof Kevin Kirkman

Disease Update - Dr Josphat Nyika

Beef Value Chain Efficiencies and Delivering Value to Consumers - Blessing Ndoro

Invasive Vegetation Management Products to Improve Grass Pastures - Ray Young

Local perspective on using Limpopo 200GG to improve carrying capacity of natural pastures - Ferdie Jordaan

Invasive Vegetation Management Products to Improve Grass Pastures - Polachem

Live Animal and Carcass Classification and Grading Systems Beef Cattle Goats Sheep in Zimbabwe: SLIDES -
Dr Patrick Tawonezvi

Live Animal and Carcass Classification and Grading Systems Beef Cattle Goats Sheep in Zimbabwe: FULL PAPER - Dr Patrick Tawonezvi

Supplementation Feeding Backgrounding Animals Ready For Feedlot - Anna-Marie Verhoef

Better Animal Selection with BREEDPLAN - Catriona Millen

The science behind the Venter-Drewes grazing system for sourveld grasslands - Dr Richard Fynn

Matching Cow Size to Environment to Maximise Fertility - Dr Mario Beffa

Body Condition Scoring - Dr Doug Bruce

Budgets and Cashflow for cattle production: Accessing loans for beef farming enterprises - Erasmus Bhunu NMB

E-Livestock Global: LLC-A Blockchain Powered Global Traceability Platform for Healthy Livestock - Chris Light

Cattle Auctioneering in Zimbabwe - Charles Rundle

What I Learned from Years of Research in Grazing Management - Prof Kevin Kirkman

Diagnosis and Treatment of Theileriosis - Dr Nick Mchardy and Dr Oswin Choga

Farm Biosecurity - Dr Doug Bruce

Links to 2023 Beef School Papers

Rinderpest in Zimbabwe 1896-98 - John Lawrence

Biosecurity - Philip Reed

Acaricides and Acaricide Resistance - Christopher Magona

Acaricides and Acaricide Resistance - Munyaradzi Dzvene

Anti quality Factors in Veld Plants & Planted Pastures - Dr Jan Myburgh

Setting Breeding Objectives - Kobus Bester

Live Animal Ultrasound Scanning - Nandi Kruger

Cattle Handling - John Crawford

Fanning the Flames - Prof Kevin Kirkman

Herding for Health Model - Jacques van Rooyen

Fattening Cattle on Pastures - Francis Yeatman

Zimbabwe Beef Producers' Society Presentation 2023 - George Chiunda

Financial & Production Performance Analysis for Beef Enterprises - Jaco Erasmus

Cattle Disease Update - Dr Josphat Nyika

Is there an Association between Soil and Cattle Health? Dr Jan Myburgh

Strategies for Effective Grassland & Savanna Management - Prof Kevin Kirkman

EBVs as a Tool - Kobus Bester

Green Manures, Cover Crops and Soil Health - Francis Yeatman

Tick Resistance and Disease - John Lawrence

Beef School 2021 Papers and Presentations

ZHB Awards Beef School 2021

Bob Weaber - Ideal Cow Size

Doug Bruce - A New Calf Killer on the Horizon

Doug Follwell - Practical Cattle and Veld Experiences

Japie Jackson and Jesse Steele - Wabai Poisoning

John Lawrence - Theilerias and their control

Josphat Nyika - Current status of cattle diseases and their control in Zimbabwe

ZHB Beef School 2021 Sponsors and Exhibitor List

Beef School 2019 Papers and Presentations

Charles Waghorn - Zimbabwe a Veterinary History

Steve Miller - Improved Productivity through Genomics

Ajs Kirk - Bush Dairy

Doug Bruce - Senkobo Disease

Ferdi Jordaan - Bush Control

Hugh Nivison - The Australian Experience

Izaan du Plooy - Beef Genomics Project

Johan Mouton - Heifer Rearing

Johan Mouton - Veld Management Principals

John Lawrence - Theileriosis Today

Kim Matthews - Beef Breeding Developments

Kim Matthews - The European Experience

Steve Miller - The USA Angus Experience

Wilmot Chikurunhe - Compartmentalisation

Beef School 2018 Papers and Presentations

ZHB and LMAC Update Presentation Beef School 2018

Cliff Lamb - Applied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle

Brad Crook - Developments in International Genetic Evaluations

Michael McGowan - Building a Fertile Herd

Reuben Mapletoft - Applied Reproductive Strategies in Livestock in Canada

Llewellyn Angus - Practicalities of Selection for Fertility

Cliff Lamb - Alternative Measures of Fertility

Michael McGowan - Superovulation of Cattle

Reuben Mapletoft - In-Vitro Embryo Production in Calves

Bobby Lawrence - Innovations with Forage Preservation

Brad Crook - Making Use of Genomics in Beef Cattle Breeding

Michael McGowan - Economics of Fixed Time AI

Cliff Lamb - Utilising Reproductive Management