Katie Clark has just joined Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) in the role for the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme.
After growing up on a Central Otago sheep and beef farm and graduating from the University of Otago last year with a science degree majoring in genetics, she completed an internship with AbacusBio, focused on genetics analysis.
Now she will be part of a team working in the programme to increase the use of genetics by farmers in the beef industry. The team is building a genetic evaluation and data infrastructure, progeny test herds and developing breeding indexes and new data sources.
The seven-year programme supported by B+LNZ, the Ministry for Primary Industries and the New Zealand Meat Board, aims to boost the sector’s profits by $460m over the next 25 years.
Ms Clark said she was attracted to the role to help beef farmers improve the genetic value of their herds so they could generate more income.
About 40 commercial farmers were supporting the project nationwide to give breeders and farmers genetic tools to help produce great tasting beef and drive efficient production, she said.
"My role is genetic data co-ordinator and what that encompasses is I fit in the commercial farmer side of the INZB project where we are getting a lot of data in from commercial farmers — a lot of [performance recording] for calving and growth rates and that side of things — and all that data comes to me so I can put it in a format that will be able to go into a new system once it is up and running."
She said farmers were providing a lot of useful data to increase the accuracy of breeding values for them and other farmers.
Some of the farmers had sent in a backlog of years worth of data, she said.
"I am seeing first-hand how the INZB programme is helping commercial farmers understand the value of better genetics and offering them the opportunity to easily select the right genetics for their system to drive greater profitability on their farms. We need commercial farmers involved 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."
Working with farmers as part of the programme was one of the things that had attracted her to the job, she said.
"It’s a really exciting programme to be part of. A lot of work has gone into sheep genetics in New Zealand and it is great that we’re investing in beef genetics for the benefit of farmers and the sector."
The 22-year-old started the role in mid-August and carries it out remotely from a farm where her partner is a shepherd.
She had the best of both worlds as she was living on a farm and working in her chosen career, she said.
Genetics was a broad field and she had wanted to put that into practice after completing her degree.
"There are many pathways to go down and obviously a lot of people go down that medical human side, but that’s a lot more years at uni and a lot of time and study to go down that pathway. I could not spend another five years at uni and wanted to get out there. Genetics was always something that was exciting for me as I grew up riding horses as well and the whole breeding side of things is a big thing in the industry. Breeding counts for a lot because if the bloodlines are there the success is more likely to follow."
Growing up riding quarter horses, she rode them for three months in the United States after finishing high school.
"That was an eye-opening thing as the genetics over there is next level. It was just exciting to see that and the opportunity out there with breeding."
The project was getting into a phase of more recording over calving such as calf marking and weaning early next year and she was hoping to get out on farms to see this at work.
Working in the farming industry was always her goal as she was raised on a Central Otago farm where her father was the head shepherd.
