It’s been five months since Beef + Lamb New Zealand launched nProve Beef, a powerful new online genetics tool developed through the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme, and the early response has been very encouraging.
This collaboration between B+LNZ and Breed Societies was recently recognised as a finalist in the Team & Collaboration category of the 2025 Primary Industries New Zealand Awards.
It acknowledged the efforts of everyone involved in bringing together data from multiple Breed Societies (supported by PBBnz) to present it in a practical, farmer-friendly format in nProve.
This is a milestone worth celebrating, not just for the tool itself, but for what it represents.
Because if there’s one thing the beef industry needs more of, it’s collaboration.
Genetics and data are complex, and tackling them in isolation simply won’t deliver the best outcomes that this sector needs.
Unlocking the potential of beef farming in New Zealand depends on all of us working together and doing our part, from breeders and farmers to researchers, evaluation providers and the team here at B+LNZ.
No one organisation can solve these challenges alone. It takes trust, shared purpose and a willingness to take a few risks for the greater good.
The decision by Breed Societies and their members to share their data through nProve wasn’t taken lightly, but they saw the bigger picture: that by bringing information together, we can unlock more of the power of genetic improvement for the whole industry.
A key to building this successful collaboration was spending time understanding each other while examining what our competitors are doing overseas.
A couple of years ago, members of B+LNZ’s genetics team travelled with representatives from leading New Zealand beef organisations to the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Research Symposium and Convention in Canada.
We also visited farms, universities, and research facilities across the United States. For our team, and for the stud breeders who joined us, the key message was clear: collaboration drives progress.
And the real competition isn’t the breeder down the road; it’s global.
Stud breeders overseas are advancing at pace, and unless we work together, New Zealand risks falling behind.
Every part of the beef value chain has a role to play. Stud breeders need to be thinking now about the traits that will matter most in a decade’s time and start breeding for them today.
Farmers need to make the most of the tools available to select bulls that will deliver better performance in their systems.
nProve Beef has been built with that in mind. By working with breed organisations willing to share herd data and commercial farmers, we’ve created a platform that allows users to tailor their bull selection to their unique needs -- easily and efficiently.
And people are using it. Not just browsing, but actively engaging. That tells us farmers are hungry for good information to back up their decision-making.
nProve includes New Zealand-designed beef breeding indexes to help farmers select bulls that align with their breeding goals, whether they’re focused on replacements, finishing or supplying genetics into the dairy beef system.
The indexes built by B+LNZ and AbacusBio use New Zealand farm and market data to give farmers the best information for their bull buying decisions.
The bull buying season comes around once a year. Over a farming career, you might get 30 chances to make a genetic decision, and those decisions are among the most important you’ll ever make for your business. They shape your herd for years to come.
At a recent trans-Tasman AAABG (Association for Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics) conference in Queenstown, Dr Rob Banks shared an eye-opening statistic: in the past 25 years, genetic progress in New Zealand and Australian beef has created $11 billion of value.
Genetic gains are a slow burn, cumulative and permanent, like compound interest. A little progress each year soon adds up to something transformational. When we get genetics right, the payoff is enormous.
Ten years from now, I believe New Zealand farmers will look back at this period, and at tools like nProve, and say, “That changed everything.”