Posy Moody’s skill set could not be better suited to her role as Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetic’s Beef Delivery Lead for the Cool Beef and Bluegrass programmes.
The role, which she has been in for just under a month, requires stakeholder engagement and operational and logistical skills, all of which Posy has in spades – along with a lifetime involvement in the stud beef cattle industry.
Originally from Perthshire in Scotland, Posy was brought up on an Aberdeen Angus stud, and her father was a prominent stud breeder, farming leader and long-time secretary of the Aberdeen Angus Society.
After attending university at St Andrews, Posy joined the British Army, training at the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and serving with the UN in Bosnia where she was in charge of a Kiwi contingent. This gave Posy her first taste of how Kiwi’s operate and their sense of humour.
After leaving the army, Posy, who was based in London, went into event management which included managing events for the Countryside Alliance, a campaigning organisation for rural communities and field sports.
Posy and her husband moved to NZ and after working as the events manager at Beef Expo, Posy took up the role of General Manager at NZ Herefords.
“It was back to being involved in breed societies, (albeit red and white rather than black cattle) so I had come full circle.”
Posy’s interest in feed-use efficiency and methane measurements was piqued after travelling to North America with a B+LNZ Genetics led group of beef industry decision-makers in 2023.
On that trip the group visited several feed-use efficiency and methane measurement testing sites, and it became apparent that NZ’s beef industry was lagging behind in this area.
Posy points out that for several years, commercial sheep breeders have had the opportunity to include low methane genetics in their selection criteria, while beef breeders are only starting down this path.
She says the work she will be doing to organise methane emission and feed- use efficiency measurements through the Cool Beef and the Blue Grass programme will ultimately benefit beef producers’ bottom line.
“It will make NZ beef more competitive and will help individual farming businesses.”
Part of her role with B+LNZ Genetics will be coordinating the many stakeholders involved in the work including scientists at the Bioeconomy Science Institute (formerly AgResearch) breed societies, stud breeders, commercial farmers and the Ag Emissions Centre.
Having worked in the New Zealand’s beef breeding industry for over a decade, Posy has got to know the industry, the people and the breeders.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for NZ breeders, they make me proud to work in NZ’s farming sector.”