Member Services Matters
Not sure if people feel the same way, but sometimes you wonder where the year has gone.
We have moved well into the Winter season with some temperature readings reminding us of how cold it can get, especially in the New England Region of NSW (-8.7 recently in Glen Innes).
A lot has been happening within the Member Services Department, a noticeable increase in DNA services, registrations and new members coming on board, which is exciting.
Changes within the MSO Team and how we are supporting our members
You may recall an announcement that was made by our CEO Scott Wright earlier this year when he stepped into his new role regarding the Member Services staff being allocated members. This was to help our members in managing their registers, animal registrations, angus.tech support, and DNA services, just to name a few!
We have been quietly working towards this change since this announcement was made and want to assure our members the team are well on the way in upskilling themselves in some aspects of the services we provide
to you.
We also welcome a new Member Services Officer, Katie Carlon, to our team. Katie has a background in the rural sector, having worked on farms and stations around the New England and across the Top End. Welcome to Katie.
Genomic and DNA Services
As you may appreciate, the MSO team work diligently to process DNA samples as they are sent in to the Angus Australia office, and we take pride in being able to process them in a timely manner.
To help our team achieve a quick turnaround, we ask that members please provide our team with the necessary paperwork, filled out correctly, and where possible, the samples are collated in an order that matches your paperwork.
We are currently experiencing some delays in getting results back from the labs, and if we can reduce any extra time taken to process DNA, it can only help in the service to our members. We appreciate your understanding and are always available to answer any questions you have.
We also recommend that when posting your DNA samples, please use the Australia Post Tracking system to keep track of your DNA.
We have on occasion received samples where the packaging (mainly envelopes) are damaged, and the sample lost. We highly recommend using more secure methods, such as using a cutout piece of cardboard to line the envelope on both sides, and some sticky tape to assist in avoiding
such instances
Reminder
Additional DNA Requirements for animal registration when parents are born after January 1st 2018.
This information was made available to members when these changes came via various communications channels both in print and online, including the Autumn 2020 Bulletin and since that time ongoing communication has occurred.
It is timely to remind members again of this requirement.
For those members who have been registering calves using sires born after 01/01/2018 that don’t have a DNA Profile, you will recall seeing these requirements in the pending reports you receive:
If the sire of the animal being registered is born after 01/01/2018,
- a DNA profile must be recorded with Angus Australia for the sire with > 5000 SNPs
- and the animal being registered was bred by AI or ET, the sire must also be tested for the genetic conditions monitored by the Society.
If the animal being registered was bred by ET, and the donor dam is born after 01/01/2018, a DNA Profile must be recorded for the donor dam with > 5000 SNPs
Please refer to the Angus Australia Regulations (6) – REGISTRATION OF ANIMALS for more details on these requirements.
Privacy Settings In angus.tech – Another Reminder Worth Noting
For those members who want to have their contact information displayed on MemberSELECT, especially when holding on farm sales and wanting to market their business, will need to update their privacy settings to allow this to happen. Please contact our team if you require further information regarding this.
angus.tech is where you can manage this yourself, and we encourage you to review your details from time to time and update them as you see fit.
Pending Registration Reports
When members submit calf record forms and files to register animals they will receive at least one report with the animals registered, and then may get another Pending Report if animals have not been able to be registered. This report will include the reason/s why.
We strongly recommend that you review your reports and come back to the team with updated information so we can get these animals registered for you. Please do not hesitate in contacting the Member Services team to assist you with this process.
Contact
If you require any information, help or assistance, please do not hesitate and contact the Member Services team at Angus Australia on (02) 6773 4600 or email office@angusaustralia.com.au
For registrations email: regos@angusaustralia.com.au
For DNA services email: dna@angusaustralia.com.au
For membership enquiries: office@angusaustralia.com.au
For catalogue services: catalogues@angusaustralia.com.au
For TACE information to be entered into the database: tace@angusaustralia.com.au
If you want to discuss any other matters, concerns, suggestions for improvement, and any compliments about the team, please contact myself, Bernard Beatty – Member Services Manager on 02 6773 4646 or bernard.beatty@angusaustralia.com.au
By Bernard Beatty, Member Services Manager
