Planning, Feeding, and Genetics: Key to Yearling Heifer Mating Success
Planning, feeding, a robust animal health programme and the right genetics are the critical factors in a successful heifer mating programme.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand has launched an AI-powered digital assistant to help farmers using the B+LNZ Knowledge Hub to create tailored answers and resources for their farming businesses.
B+LNZ chair Kate Acland says the AI digital assistant Bella was another example of B+LNZ investing in tools and support that deliver genuine value for farmers.
"Bella is only trained on B+LNZ's verified Knowledge Hub resources, providing answers that farmers can trust and use on their farms.
"She has access to around 4600 pages of information and more than 220 hours of podcasts and videos in the Knowledge Hub. Bella will revolutionise how farmers access off-the-shelf research, unlocking around $100 million worth of investment from B+LNZ and others in science-based, New Zealand-specific information and turning it into bespoke answers.
"I've been testing Bella over the past few weeks and she really is a game changer in terms of turning information into something farmers can apply on-farm.
"She can create a mind-blowing range of tailored outputs based on what you need. Bella is accessible from a farmer's smartphone so she's available anywhere - she puts the power in farmers' hands."
Bella's testing has involved more than 100 farmers, students, researchers and advisors over two months, and she is the end result of nearly five years of investigation by B+LNZ.
Testers have been able to create everything from month-by-month plans to checklists. "So far, it seems there's not much she can't do," Acland says.
"Bella is comfortable with complex, multi-part questions, and you can speak questions instead of typing them and have the answer read back to you - all in a range of languages from Te Reo Māori to Filipino - in fact every language we have tried so far."
Bella's name comes from 'Beef + Lamb Assistant', and she uses Christchurch tech company Custom D's 'Caitlyn' AI software (also utilised by the Foundation for Arable Research).
"This means she came to us with a high degree of training already built in, and she's cost-effective," Acland says.
Acland says Bella's training is ongoing and B+LNZ will be asking farmers how they use Bella, to inform future development.
Bella can be accessed via www.AskBella.co.nz, and there is further information on how to use Bella available from that link.
With nearly two million underutilised dairy calves born annually and the beef price outlook strong, New Zealand’s opportunity to build a scalable dairy-beef system is now.
Graduates of a newly-updated Agri-Women’s Development Trust (AWDT) course are taking more value than ever from the programme, with some even walking away calling themselves the “farm CFO”.
Meet the Need, a farmer-led charity, says food insecurity in New Zealand is dire, with one in four children now living in a household experiencing food insecurity, according to Ministry of Health data.
Applications have now opened for the 2026 Meat Industry Association scholarships.
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) says it is backing aspiring dairy farmers through a new initiative designed to make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking easier.
OPINION: While farmers are busy and diligently doing their best to deal with unwanted gasses, the opponents of farming - namely the Greens and their mates - are busy polluting the atmosphere with tirades of hot air about what farmers supposedly aren't doing.
OPINION: The Greens have taken the high moral ground on the Palestine issue and been leading political agitators in related…
One of the most galling aspects of the tariffs whacked on our farm exports to the US is the fact…