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Sonya Shaw, project lead, commercial herds, INZB programme.
Another 16 commercial beef farmers have been selected to take part in the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme designed to help drive the uptake of genetics in the industry.
The seven-year INZB partnership, supported by Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the New Zealand Meat Board and the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund, aims to boost the sector’s profits by $460m over the next 25 years.
Focused on increasing the use of high-quality genetics in the beef industry, the four main components of the programme are developing New Zealand-specific breeding indexes, building an across breed genetic evaluation and data infrastructure, running a beef progeny test and linking in data from commercial herds.
Sonya Shaw, project lead, commercial herds, for the INZB programme says the 16 farmers come from across the country join 21 farmers already in the programme and are supporting the programme’s mission to give breeders and farmers genetic tools to help produce great tasting beef and drive production efficiency.
“The INZB programme is helping commercial farmers understand the value of better genetics and offer them the opportunity to easily select the right genetics for their system to drive greater profitability on their farms,” Shaw says.
“We need commercial farmers involved in the programme because they contribute to the accuracy of breeding values of stud bulls available to commercial farmers,” she explains.
“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 16 new commercial farmers from Manawatu-Whanganui, Canterbury, Hawke’s Bay, Southland, Otago, Waikato and Taranaki bring the total number of farmers involved in the programme to 37.
“We had a great deal of interest in joining the programme this year and we look forward to inviting more farmers to take part next year,” Shaw says.
The INZB programme aims to onboard at least 10 commercial farmers with a passion for genetics each year. Those selected adopt a recording schedule across the year and can also, if they wish, carry out genotyping of their cow herd and, on an annual basis, calves and sires.
The first major update to the Dairy Cattle Code of Welfare in more than a decade has been released, marking what DairyNZ describes as an important step in ensuring animal welfare standards continue to evolve alongside scientific evidence and on-farm realities.
Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) is sometimes viewed as a dairy industry issue, but the reality is that the disease can have serious consequences for beef breeding herds as well.
Animal health company Bovonic is gearing up for its next stage of growth after increasing New Zealand sales of QuadSense by more than 50% in the last 12 months, including a record quarter for the business this year.
With lambing underway in many regions, Beef + Lamb New Zealand is encouraging farmers to put together a wellequipped lambing kit to help minimise lamb losses, particularly in bad weather.
Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) remains one of the most significant infectious diseases affecting New Zealand dairy herds.
Waikato milk processor Tatua has again declared a record milk payout to farmer shareholders, leaving other processors in the dust.
A Labour-led Government won’t be bringing back the controversial freshwater rules of 2020.
National’s much-touted free trade deal with India featured in the Rural Issues Debate at Mystery Creek, Hamilton on Wednesday night.
New Zealand's 2026-27 freshwater fishing season has opened, with anglers encouraged to head to rivers and lakes over the coming days as conditions look favourable across much of the country.
Central Otago District Council (CODC) has voted against a plan to spread treated sewage sludge from Cromwell and Alexandra on farmland near Lauder, a decision Federated Farmers says reflects strong opposition from rural residents.
Pāmu has released its FY26 Integrated Annual Report, reporting a Net Operating Profit of $113 million, more than double the $49 million recorded in FY25.
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