The 11 new commercial farmers from Waikato, King Country, Gisborne, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago and Southland bring the total to 22 farmers selected for the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) project.
It is being driven out in a seven-year partnership, supported by Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the New Zealand Meat Board and the Ministry for Primary Industries with the goal to boost the sector’s profits by $460 million over the next 25 years.
This is expected to be achieved by increasing the use of high-quality genetics in the beef industry. The programme is developing New Zealand-specific breeding indexes, building an across-the-breed genetic evaluation and data infrastructure, running a beef progeny test and linking data from commercial herds.
INZB scientist Gemma Jenkins said the new farmers would support the mission to give breeders and farmers genetic tools to help produce tasty beef and drive out more efficient production.
Ms Jenkins said the programme was in its the third year towards helping commercial farmers understand the value of better genetics and offering them the opportunity to easily select the right genetics for their system so they could increase their profitability.
"Commercial farms are playing a key role in the programme because they contribute to the accuracy of breeding values of stud bulls available to commercial farmers. Being part of the programme also allows for more accurate heifer selection in herds which will have a lasting impact on the commercial herds progress towards their own goals."
The farmers provide accurate pedigree recording, assess their bull teams’ performances, keep track of accurate information for selecting their heifer replacements and work with their bull breeders to make more rapid genetic progress.
Their herds are being benchmarked against others involved in the programme.
Another 10-plus commercial farmers with a keen interest in genetics will be recruited each year. They will adopt a recording schedule across the year and can also carry out genotyping of their cow herd and, on an annual basis, calves and sires.
Banks Peninsula farmers Mike Williams, wife Ruth and son Joe at Brockworth Partnership farm joined an earlier intake.
His records go back to 1990 for weight gains with the sire and dam identities logged in for tagged calves and records maintained of their performance beyond weaning.
They are considering the offer by the programme to gene test their heifers. Some stud breeders are already using the technology to predict the genetic potential of an animal based solely on its DNA.
tim.cronshaw@alliedpress.co.nz
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