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Dairy Australia's new Good Bulls app makes it easier for dairy farmers to identify bulls that meet their breeding priorities.
Building on its popular Good Bulls Guide, Dairy Australia's new Good Bulls app makes it easier for dairy farmers to identify bulls that meet their breeding priorities.
Drawing on a database of local and international dairy bulls, the Good Bulls app allows bulls to be sorted on Australia's three breeding indices: balanced performance index (BPI), health weighted index (HWI) and type weighted index (TWI).
Up to 50 filters can be used to find bulls that match a farmers breeding objectives. Bulls can be filtered by any trait (e.g. protein, cell count, fertility or mammary system) or by semen company, pedigree, genetic characteristics and other factors.
The app provides detailed ABVs on each bull, making it easy to compare between bulls and shortlist bulls of interest. Shortlisted bulls can be exported to a trusted advisor to facilitate semen purchasing decisions.
Dan Knee, who milks 400 cows at Toora, Vic was one of the test users in the app development.
"The app is great," he says. "It makes it quicker and easier to identify bulls with the traits that are important to me. It has turned a job that once took hours into a simple, fun task."
Sarah Saxton, from the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme (ADHIS), says the app would be updated twice a year with the April and August release of Australian breeding values (ABVs).
The app is available for iPhone and Android phones and can be used on tablets.
Farms across the upper North Island are trialling different pasture mixes as part of a research programme that aims to build greater resilience into farming systems.
Election years are always a concerning time for farmers, according to DairyNZ chair Tracy Brown.
The Ballance Farm Environment Awards are coming to the West Coast of the South Island.
Most dairy regions around the country have had a pretty good season so far says Tracy Brown.
Rural leader Mark Hooper has been appointed as an independent director to the NZPork board, bringing extensive farming, governance and advocacy experience to the role.
Opportunity says its land value tax (LVT) is unlikely to force farmers into a position where asset sales or increased debt are required.