Studbook information for foreign KFPS-members

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BIJZONDERE ZAKENRypke 321 service fraudEarlier this year, KFPS published a press release on their website concerning Rypke 321. A routinerandom DNA test had shown that part of the foals registered as Rypke 321’s had not actually been siredby this stallion. These foals’ actual sires have since been established.Text: Marjet Bosma • Photo: Jacob MelissenIn 2009, a random DNA test showedtwo foals registered as Rypke 321offspring were not actually by thisstallion. On the basis of this test KFPSdecided to test all Rypke offspringborn in 2008, 2009 and 2010. As the2008 batch showed several inconsistencies,the 2007 batch is tested aswell. If this batch proves to be (partly)registered incorrectly, further batchesare tested as well. The majority of the2008 and 2009 batches have nowbeen tested. Not one foal proved to bean actual Rypke. Two foals from the2007 batch did prove to be sired byRypke. Earlier random testing ofbatches preceding 2007 showed fortyoffspring by Rypke.OfferKFPS Executive Director Ids Hellinga:‘Rypke services naturally. His ownerRomke Annema admits to having usedstand-in stallions over the past threeyears. For the sake of our investigationwe will go as far back as necessary.’KFPS handed over the case to theDisciplinary Committee. ‘It’s importantfor the Disciplinary Committee toknow the scope of this case. With theongoing DNA tests we will gain a clearinsight into this.’ Hellinga spoke toAnnema alone as well as accompaniedby his laywer, Jaap van der Meulen.‘He has admitted to the mistake. Theoffer they made the victims I feel isthe correct way to deal with this.’ Theoffer consists of the differencebetween the evaluation of theassumed Rypke offspring and of atrue Rypke offspring from the samemare, plus costs, if any.Duped membersMeanwhile Hellinga met with ownersof assumed Rypke offspring in hisoffice twice. ‘The first time 35 peopleattended, the second time fifteen. Itshows that the need for deliberationis decreasing somewhat. We organisedthe meetings so the duped memberscould tell their stories. Legallyspeaking our studbook is not a partyto the conflict and the settlementbetween the stallion owner and thevictims. However, as a studbook wenaturally regret our members beingduped in a service fraud. Our responsibilitieswith regard to the stallionowner lie in a different area. TheDisciplinary Committee will eventuallydecide on the sanctions. Oursecond reason for inviting themembers involved was informingthem on the status of the assumedRypke offspring, such as registrationin a Bijboek. Horses in a Bijboek canalso enter inspections and acquirepredicates.’It is now known which Veulenboekstallions were used instead of Rypke.‘We’re dealing with an Aan 416 xReitse 272, Onne 376 x Rypke 321 andUlke 338 x Diedert 288. Veulenboekstallion Mintse ut ’e Mieden (by Aan416) has serviced the majority of themares.’RecommendedMister Harkema had Rypke service hisJasper mare Miranda H. Miranda is bya Ster mare. The grandmother is Stamboekand the great-grandmother isSter Preferent. She did not conceiveinstantly. Harkema: ‘Miranda was atAnnema’s for five, six weeks. WhenMiranda wasn’t pregnant after thefirst attempt, we decided to bring herin heat. Eventually, when we pickedup Miranda, she was pregnant. June2009, when Doutschen was born, Icalled Annema to tell him that a fillycould be added to Rypke’s offspring.He congratulated me and said: ‘MisterHarkema, I highly recommend Rypkethis year as well. Beware, he is gettingsomewhat older, you know…’’January 2010, Harkema received aletter from KFPS requesting he turnedin hair samples taken from Doutschenand Miranda. Harkema contactedAnnema to ask him whether or not heknew of this letter. Annema’s answerto Harkema’s question ‘Is my filly byRypke?’ was disappointing: ‘I thinkso…’. Harkema sent in the hairsamples immediately. The filly’s sireturned out to be Mintse ut ’e Mieden.Harkema: ‘Before any duped memberscould respond, Annema had alreadygot himself a lawyer. We received aletter stating we would be compensatedfor any loss of value by comparingthe foal’s value to that of a trueRypke offspring. All other expensesare compensated for as well. Jaap vander Meulen, licensed assessor, is toperform the evaluations.’‘I have put everything on paper tocome to closure with the emotionalside of this case. I now look at itstrictly professionally and want to putit behind me as soon as possible. Ifshe had been a Rypke foal, she wouldstay with me until her passing. NowI’m not so sure. I have lost two yearsand I will never get them back.’Harkema is now content with the way6
BIJZONDERE ZAKENAnnema has settled matters with him.ControlRypke’s service fraud puts the KFPScontrol system that is to preventthese incidents from happening, onthe spot. ‘Over the last couple ofyears we have intensified our descentcontrol by performing more DNAtests’, says Hellinga. ‘not by morerandom tests, but by a more focussedcheck. We have been working on amore precise method in the entireprocess, from registering the serviceto registering the foal. We have sharpenedthe demands on the delivery ofservice data from the stallion owners.Overdue service information increasesthe chance of mistakes andalways lead to DNA testing.’Every year some 200 DNA samples areacquired in random tests and 100 forother reasons, as Hellinga describedabove. Together with the Identification& Registration policy this shouldlead to an almost airtight controlsystem. Hellinga: ‘The system provesreliable. After DNA testing on maresand foals we detect hardly any errors.We however remain prone to errors iffraud is involved. The same goes fornatural servicing. Even if wedemanded the stallion owner to handin a semen sample form the naturallyservicing stallion, we can still not besure it’s the semen from the stallionin question. Then the PVE, theCommodity Board that supervises theregulations for certified stallionstations, would almost have to bringin a person to actually attend theservice.’PVEPVE says the semen’s test result iscompared to last years’ tests. When itestablishes significant deviations, PVEdecides on another service under itssupervision. The second option isdetermining the semen donor, thestallion, by DNA testing. PVE spokespersonPascalle de Ruyter stays thatin 2008, Annema stated he could notdeliver Rypke’s semen for the regularquality test. He had delivered Rypke’ssemen in the years prior, but Rypkerefused to jump on the phantom andrefused the artificial vagina. ‘In caseof artificial insemination the regulationsare much stricter and easier toenforce’, says De Ruyter. ‘EU andnational regulations require the stallionowners to deliver semen fortesting. In case of export the qualitydemands are even higher. When itcomes to natural servicing, the regulationsare not airtight, a situationPVE is not happy about. When anowner of a naturally servicing stallionsays he can’t deliver semen for testingbut the quality is okay, we have tobelieve him.’Stallion owners can volunteer forcertification. This way, they have toanswer to PVE. If they don’t, they haveto answer to the Dutch Food andConsumer Product Safety Authority(VWA). Annema volunteered for certification.Regulation amendments‘Needless to say we really regret thiscase’, Hellinga says. ‘The question isof course how we refine and tightenthe descent control. DNA testing onall 5,000 foals born each year andtheir dams would cost us approximately400,000 Euros. Do the math:5,000 foals times 80 Euros. This takesa regulation amendment supported byour members. On the other hand, thiscase will evoke the need for moreprecise testing in our members.Another option is only testing theanimals that will produce offspring,such as all Ster mares. It’s clear thatwe need to change the regulations inthis matter. We’re not sure how yet.DNA testing a mare and a foal costs120 Euros. KFPS decided to offer DNAtests against the cost price, so theowners themselves can have thedescent checked for a reasonableprice, about 80 Euros. In the futurewe can link these tests to genomics.One hair sample then gives us informationon descent and for examplecongenital diseases.’7
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Studbook information for foreign KFPS-members

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