Save the date: as part of the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme, B+LNZ Genetics is hosting a field day in March at Lochinver Station – the North Island across-breed Beef Progeny Test site.
About the day
The field day will feature updates from the B+LNZ Genetics team, including results and take-home messages from Beef Progeny Test data.
Speakers
Steve Smith, Rimanui Farms Business Manager will provide an overview of the Lochinver farming operation, as well as discussing Rimanui’s involvement in the INZB programme. There will be a short farm drive, as we make our way out to the cattle yards to view some of the cattle involved in the Progeny Test.
Other speakers include:
- Jason Archer, Anna Boyd and Franzi Weik from Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetics will provide an overview of the INZB programme as well as an update on the progeny test results.
- Bill Austin, an Accredited Structural Assessment Technician, who will demonstrate how to assess temperament and structure of beef cattle using the Beef Class Structural Assessment scoring system.
- Ginny Dodunski, Wormwise Manager and highly-experienced rural vet who will present on parasite management of beef cattle.
- Melissa Sowden from Silver Fern Farms, who will discuss the importance and value of carcase traits from a processors’ perspective.
Background
INZB is a seven-year Sustainable Food & Fibre Futures partnership supported by B+LNZ, the Ministry for Primary Industries and the NZ Meat Board. It aims to boost the sector’s profits by $460m over the next 25 years. Focused on increasing uptake of 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.
The across-breed Beef Progeny Test uses Angus, Hereford and Simmental genetics to identify the performance of agreed-on traits. Lochinver joining the programme enabled the inclusion of Simmental genetics into the test, providing researchers with more capacity to analyse the breeds together as a dataset.
More information can be found at www.inzb.co.nz
Registration
Registration is essential. Register below.
Please let us know of any dietary requirements to renee.cummins@beeflambnz.com