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The data, collected from LIC’s MINDA software, showed that at 22 months, heifers on average are around 4-5% below MINDA guidelines.
Dairy farmers can easily track the performance of their replacement heifers and ensure they reach their genetic potential.
Weighing technology can help farmers to meet crucial heifer liveweights at first mating and calving boosting in-calf rates and increasing milk production, says Gallagher head of animal performance and traceability Brian Rose.
New data from LIC shows that too many farmers are not weighing their heifers when they return from grazing – and are missing out on big genetic gains as a result. LIC believes the impact on farms is huge, leading to poor heifer fertility and production. It means farmers are not maximising their return on investment from breeding the heifer and are risking her first-year production potential.
Rose says while the statistics are not ideal, there is simple technology available that can help. He says electronic identification (EID) and weighing solutions are now able to give farmers accurate information on whether their heifers are meeting the targets.
Each animal’s EID number is scanned using a portable hand-held tag reader or hands-free reader in the yards, which are connected to a compatible weigh scale to collect weights and other livestock records.
The target heifer weights and dates can be imported from MINDA, which means the farmer can see in real time if each individual heifer is on track to meet her targets. If not, it presents an opportunity to adjust management practices accordingly.
It's common to look at reproductive challenges through the lens of the mating season. If cows aren’t cycling, if submission rates are low, or if too many come up empty, most farmers will dig into their mating programme to figure out what went wrong.
Waikato sharemilker Matthew Zonderop had no inkling that one day he would become a matchmaker for cows.
Farmer co-operative LIC has closed its satellite-backed pasture measurement platform – Space.
A significant breakthrough in understanding facial eczema (FE) in livestock brings New Zealand closer to reducing the disease’s devastating impact on farmers, animals, and rural communities.
Dunedin-based Techion offers digital diagnostic solutions to complex disease and environmental problems.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
The Fieldays Innovation Award winners have been announced with Auckland’s Ruminant Biotech taking out the Prototype Award.
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).
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