Investing in genetic gain for long-term resilience
The dairy sector is in a strong position, with high milk prices, declining interest rates, and renewed confidence.
CRV AmBreed is selling its 13.7ha bull farm in Waikato.
At least 3000 bulls have been housed there since it was set up in 1969. At the company's peak production 200 bulls were housed on site at any one time.
Farm manager Dave Smith has worked on the farm since 1990 and speaks fondly of the bulls.
"I have a passion for the production side of our business and the semen collection work our team performs. I get a buzz out of ensuring we have the healthiest and most productive animals possible.... The move to a new facility will add to the credibility and achievement of this aim.
"Legendary top sires... come to mind that breeders will no doubt remember as well: Magley, Manhattan, Murmur, Banquet, Amadeus, Extasy, Firenze, Pierre, Skelton and Paladium.
"These were top sires on the RAS list and many remained productive beyond their second crop of daughters."
The company has moved to a new production, distribution and logistics centre, hence the selling of the former bull farm.
CRV Ambreed operations manager Andy Medle says the company achieved several New Zealand firsts in at the old centre. "We were the first company to export live bulls for sexed semen production from our centre to America. Their semen was collected in the US, sexed and imported back into NZ for sale to local farmers."
Medley remembers the company holding a bull parade while hosting the 2010 World Jersey Conference.
"The old site became an EU approved collection centre in 2008.
"This allowed us access to sell our semen throughout the EU, a milestone for CRV."
In December 2014, CRV Ambreed opened its new export-approved CRV Bellevue production and logistics centre near Cambridge.
Over the past year CRV Ambreed has moved its distribution to the new facility. All remaining bulls will be moved to the new site when facilities are built before the end of the year.
Medley says the new property "future-proofs our company with additional capacity to meet market demand".
The firm's Bellevue centre has a semen collection facility and processing laboratory, storage space for export and domestic products, warehousing for 6000 artificial insemination banks and 38ha of grazing paddocks.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its…
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content…