Editorial

New Zealand Society of Animal Production The next conference at Waikato is shaping up well. An enthusiastic organizing committee headed by Steve Davis are planning an exciting programme of social activities to complement the conference itself. One hundred and twenty six abstracts have been received, comprising 109 oral or poster presentations (of which eleven indicated they were eligible for the young members award), and a further 17 contract papers. The conference itself is being held at Waikato University, from Monday 12th February and Thursday the 15th of February. Immediately preceding the conference, Steve Davis will be holding a workshop on Lactational Physiology (see section in this issue for further details).

Following last year, the 1996 conference will feature a specific session at the beginning of the conference on Monday afternoon, where the six finalists for the young members award will present their papers. This is a keynote session and is scheduled immediately after the Presidentís opening address. The management committee commend all those who were not chosen for the final session. Their papers will be presented in the body of the conference.

The conference includes a Meat Quality Contract and other meat related papers on Tuesday afternoon, appropriately followed by a Barbeque. Wednesday starts with the new Livestock Improvement Lecture by Michel Georges followed by a contract session featuring Recent Advances in Dairy Cattle Genetics and Reproduction. Thursday morning features a late start, following the Annual Dinner, for those with nocturnal tendencies. The conference will finish early on Thursday afternoon to allow conference participants to catch their planes home. Due to intricate planning, only one concurrent session has been required this year and this will allow those attending the conference to attend the majority of the presentations.

"Mini-poster" presentations have again been well supported with a separate session held on Thursday morning of the conference. We remind all those attending that they should remember to read the miniposter handouts which will be in their Conference satchel, prior to attending. Presenters remember, to get the camera ready "mini-posters" to Steve Davis at Ruakura by Friday January 12th 1996.

The abstract booklet containing the conference registration forms has been posted with this newsletter.

See you at the conference.

John McEwan