Answers to Duff Sandness Questions

STATEMENT BY GARRICK BATTEN - CAPRINEX ENTERPRISES Ltd October 2008

I have been asked by the President to contribute to the Newsletter with answers to some questions from members about the opportunity to purchase new New Zealand Kiko genetics.

WHY DID WE DECIDE TO REGISTER OUR GOATS WITH AKGA?
Our motivation is to contribute to Kiko goat enhancement in USA that I perceived would be helpful following my visit to the 2007 Stillwater National Convention and visits with Kiko breeders to discuss and view their goats. It is a genetic fact that animals will breed back to the average standard of the population that they came from. One way to overcome this is to introduce new blood, and we are in the position of being able to supply that of 100% NZ animals. The cheapest and most efficient way to do this is with embryos and semen, and AKGA required us to register the donors.

BELIEF THAT THERE ARE NO MORE KIKO GOATS IN NEW ZEALAND.
I have no knowledge of or input into members’ understanding on this point prior to 2007. The comment at Stillwater reflected the situation as seen from NZ. When I started my talk, I specifically drew some comparisons to emphasise the differences between our two countries as a necessary introduction to explain the history of Kiko development. I was talking to an audience of USA AKGA members and owners of registered Kiko goats. If they were not so registered they were not Kiko goats in their terms. I appreciated that. Hence the statement that there were no Kikos (as defined by the audience) left in NZ. Further, the Kikos that had been purchased in 2003, after culling, had been renamed Kikonui in NZ. So they no longer carried the Kiko label.

THREATS OF LEGAL ACTION BY CULLIFORD
Firstly, use of the name “Goatex”. Goatex Group Ltd is a registered company in NZ. It has a perfect legal right to use its own name. Culliford’s objection to our use of that name can be questioned on legal grounds, but the point is not relevant as he has withdrawn his objection if our goats with a Goatex prefix name are reregistered with a different prefix. This is normal procedure to avoid confusion with registration of other animals such as racehorses following a country change. Caprinex applied for this name change and consequent reregistration on August 7 following an AKGA invitation of July 2 to do so.

Secondly, Culliford has no claim to Goatex Group Ltd company or its name, or grounds for legal challenge to it. The NZ Government Companies Office approved and registered this company in February 2008. It has no connection with Culliford.

The NZ Registry has operated since 2003 to facilitate commercial activities associated with the Kikonui Project, including exports to Australia, France, Phillipines and USA It has been operated by Goatex Group Ltd from 2008.The date of company registration of this company or its predecessor has nothing to do with the validity or integrity of the information in the current NZ Registry.

Finally, Culliford is restrained from having anything to do with Kiko registration matters and animal identification under the terms of the agreement for sale of the Registry. It remains a question of why the AKGA and its members should have any concerns about legal battles with him, other than for this breach of contract.

KIKO PARENTAGE RECORDS
Presumably it was the vendors of Kiko goats on USA in the 90s that are responsible for members’ impressions that sale of Goatex Group Ltd shares in 1994 included “all the records regarding every Kiko that had been bred before that date”. The agreement for the sale of the company specifies sale of tangible assets that were goats. Caprinex Enterprises Ltd as flockmaster for the Goatex Group Ltd, as one of the shareholders, and as the originator of Kikos supplied some parentage information on those animals to the new shareholders. The copyright ownership of that information which is intangible was and is with Caprinex. From that background it will be obvious that that information is more extensive than was provided at the time of sale.

That information held by Caprinex that forms the current NZ Kiko Registry has been held since the 1980s. It was consolidated in 2003 when we bought back the Kiko goats remaining in NZ. Goatex Group Ltd that now operates the Registry is owned by Caprinex. The information and its integrity is unchanged.

It seems strange to question the accuracy or integrity of information being supplied now by Caprinex compared with that supplied to Culliford in 1994 on which was based the AKGA Registry. In fact it is better information because it is based on more and better records, and the fact that Caprinex first, and then later as a shareholder and flockmaster of Goatex Group Ltd (not Goatex Group LLC) was the exclusive developer of Kiko goats in NZ.

BOER INFLUENCE
We completely refute the rumours that our Kiko goats have Boer blood. We have documentary evidence to back our statement. The photographs on our sale website should also confirm that point. Click here to view invoice from Hamish Steele for 2003 Kiko buyback.

DNA REQUIREMENTS
We followed the procedure set out by AKGA to us when we applied to register our goats as was required, which is why they are DNA Genotyped. We understand that the BOD has dispensation provisions regarding Verification status and that these were applied. Some of the parents of these animals are now dead.