Climate-friendly cows closer
Dairy farmers are one step closer to breeding cow with lower methane emissions, offering an innovative way to reduce the nation's agricultural carbon footprint without compromising farm productivity.
CRV Ambreed has a new national artificial breeding manager, Craig Scott. He was formerly national franchise manager at pregnancy tester Ultrascan Ltd.
Scott says delivering ‘gold standard’ service to farmer customers is a core focus of the CRV AB delivery business.
“CRV is continually investing in new technologies and genetic innovations to help farmers breed healthy and efficient cows with great temperaments and smaller environmental footprints.
“But getting cows in calf is our number one priority. The AB technician team [must] do a good job of delivering these products and services to farmers.”
Scott grew up on a Taumarunui sheep and beef block and experienced family dairying in Waikato.
He has been in operations management, customer support and relationship management, working in the agriculture, sports and information technology sectors, including 10 years managing Verusco Technologies, supplying video analysis software and statistics to rugby union teams.
CRV Ambreed’s operations manager Andrew Medley says Scott “brings leadership and management experience with the necessary planning and organisational skills to add value to our AB service”.
Scott looks after about 200 AB technicians NZ-wide, contracted to CRV during the mating season. Next month he will attend the ‘pre-mating’ seminars CRV holds each year for its AB technicians. team. A key part of their role is using CRV’s PortaBULL app, which links the mating to the cow to update herd records. The data can be viewed on the spot.
CRV technicians also use an inbreeding alert provided to farmers who are also using the company’s SireMatch service, yielding a report specifically tailored to a farmer’s herd. It helps prevent inbreeding and genetic defects using the cow’s pedigree information, and recommends the ideal sire to match with each cow.
This year CRV technicians will have some added fun -- looking out for five golden straws hidden inside farmers’ CRV AI units, worth $2000 each.
With the current situation in the European farm machinery market being described as difficult at best, it’s perhaps no surprise that the upcoming AgriSIMA 2026 agricultural machinery exhibition, scheduled for February 2026 at Paris-Nord Villepinte, has been cancelled.
The Meat Industry Association of New Zealand (MIA) has launched the first in-market activation of the refreshed Taste Pure Nature country-of-origin brand with an exclusive pop-up restaurant experience in Shanghai.
Jayna Wadsworth, daughter of the late New Zealand wicketkeeper Ken Wadsworth, has launched an auction of cricket memorabilia to raise funds for I Am Hope's youth mental health work.
As we move into the 2025/26 growing season, the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) reports that the third quarter results for the year to date is showing that the stagnated tractor market of the last 18 months is showing signs of recovery.
DairyNZ chair Tracy Brown is urging dairy farmers to participate in the 2026 Levy vote, to be held early next year.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling for nominations for director roles in the Eastern North Island and Southern South Island electoral districts.
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