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SAHPA 2016 Year Book Page 4
We must thank Paul Springett for the many hundreds of hours he has devoted to this project
and continues to devote, without Paul’s vision and commitment we would not have the new
transporter. I also thank Geoff Clare who made the phone calls to the Geraldy foreman, Hugo
Kipp and Tony Perkins for driving the truck back and forwards to Aldoms, the local company
that did much of the battery and electrical fit out and made sure the vehicles passed as
Australian compliant.
Animal welfare is of prime importance and our investment in this new unit with sophisticated
ventilation systems, feeding and watering troughs further complements the initiatives which
the SAHPA is constantly demonstrating. Over the last decade we have introduced the code of
practice, elected release panels who monitor weather conditions and change race days or
release points where appropriate, we have compulsory vaccinations of our birds, provide
pigeon fancier education through seminars with leading pigeon fanciers and veterinarians, we
provide two vehicles for training so that pigeons can be well prepared for racing and
maintaining their fitness.
Last year saw the formation of the Australian National Racing Pigeon Board ANRPB which
was established in response to the Australian Federal Government’s decision to update
animal welfare codes and convert them into the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and
Guidelines. It was very important that the racing pigeon fraternity had a voice on this
committee which meet in Canberra. Stephen Nuske was instrumental in getting the ANRPB
off the ground and spent many hours assembling representatives in each state, another ex SA
flyer, who is also on our Wall of Fame, Grant Paterson played a very important role attending
the Committee meetings in Canberra and was appointed Treasurer. Our state has been well
represented by initially Mr. David Buxton and for the last year Mr. Greg Kakoschke has been
a very integral part of the ANRPB Board taking on many of the boards responsibilities and
also working on the national code of practice.
Other SAHPA Committee initiatives have been to introduce a Social Media Policy and also
demonstrate greater action to encourage respect and reduce conflict between members.
Tim Fawcett has generously run two on-line pigeon auctions for the SAHPA to help raise
funds and most of our members that finished in the Top 30 in the Aggregate Points have
provided top quality birds. We really must thank these members and the members who
bought birds.
One of our major aims is to keep the cost of racing down and the new transporter will make a
big impact over the coming years as compared to the previous semi trailer unit where we
needed to subcontract a prime mover. At the AGM we will present a spreadsheet showing the
cost of running the new transporter compared to the prime mover and semi trailer. In
summary we saved over $22,000 this season on our transport costs. For example, comparison
for the Marla race using our new truck, fuel, driver ($1,101) whereas the subcontractor
standard rate of $2.20 plus GST ($5,029), resulting in a saving of $3,928 for this one race.
For the 13 races we used the new units for in 2016, we saved $29,009 (registration $1450,
insurance $4506, service and repairs $830), total saving - $22,653.
We have new challenges to tackle in 2017 with the outbreak of the Rotavirus and the fact that
a new vaccine will need to be developed over the next 12 months. When times are tough we
need the greatest support from our members, we have fixed costs of over $60,000 to run the
association, which does not include racing costs, I call on members to still pay up their
membership fee to support the SAHPA even if they choose not to race next year due to the
vaccine not being available for the virus. We still need to pay Honorariums, Council rates,
insurances, SA Water, electricity, security, Emergency Service Levy, waste removal,
telephones, audit fees, etc We have made a $5,000 donation to the ANRPB Disease
Management Fund on behalf of the members to help fund the vaccine trials. The SAHPA