SA Studbook

SA Stud Book

The Animal Improvement Act (No 62, 1998) stipulates that a breeders’ society must have a registered registering authority, and there may be only one registering authority per breed in South Africa. A breeders’ society may apply to act as its own registering authority, but most of them prefer to delegate this function to an established registering authority, that is structured to ensure that international standards are not compromised.

SABBS appointed SA Stud Book, registered as Registering Authority in terms of section 29(3)(a) of the AIA, as its registering authority. SA Stud Book was founded in 1905, and does registrations for 64 of 73 registered animal breeders’ societies in South Africa, as well as a number of others abroad. In addition to the Boerboel, SA Stud Book already registers the following dog breeds: Boxers, Greyhound and the Boerwindhond. SA Stud Book may only register the dogs of breeders in South Africa who are SABBS members.

Members of SABBS do not ‘join’ SA Stud Book. SABBS is the member, and with the other animal breeders’ societies, it manages SA Stud Book and its assets. The societies are entitled to one representative (member) per 100 or part of 100 members to represent them at the AGM. These representatives nominate a Council of eight, who must approve the SA Stud Book budget and fees for services.

SA Stud Book does not prescribe how SABBS should run its affairs (e.g. in respect of breed standards and registration requirements), as long as the Society meets the legal and constitutional requirements. The breeders’ societies determine their annual member fees and fees for society-specific services independently.

SABBS members must pay a once-off joining fee to partake in SA Stud Book’s services, which includes access to Logix – the Internet-based programme offering 24-hour access for birth recordings, cancellations, data, comprehensive reports and consultants. SA Stud Book also submits the compulsory applications for the registration of unique prefixes (stud/kennel names) to the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) on behalf of SABBS breeder members.