if nothing else the conferance has stirred a few up to do something, with regards to Maurice's speach and i haven't read full article so with limited knowledge i make comment we are all commercial breeders whether registered or not! few of us milk cows for something to do a luxury i haven't managed yet the fault i find in the registered breeder is total lack of promotion of the breed outside of the Guernsey circle non more than the WGCF web page that at times has gone 14 straight months without finding anything positive to print. 2nd point the genetist would say we could make far greater strides in genetic gain and they are correct how ever the problem is too greater use of home bred bulls out of one off good cows RATHER THAN DECENT COW FAMILIES instead of the higher GMI bulls available whether provern or not ,some of the bulls to come through the scheme have had lower predicted GMI than provern bulls available but that is a breeding council problem and as a breeder i want to use the best so will use past sires if the next group of young ones aren't any better In the Neterlands they have a policy of all 2nd calvers have to be bred back to young sires i would go one futher and all maiden hfrs should be bred to young sires not the home bred bull that would have been better going in the freezer. If any breeder is serious about rapid genetic increase serve all maiden hfrs at 15 mths and shoot the crap in the bull pen he's costing you money