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Good environmental and animal welfare outcomes require good practice. Farmers are already doing some great work in both the animal welfare and the environmental space, but there is always more to be done. Managing winter grazing activities to minimise impact on animal welfare and your waterways is easy and effective when you have a plan in place and simple management tweaks thought out in advance. … Following the Government’s recent announcement of amendments to Intensive Winter Grazing (IWG) …

Pastoral Genomics is a New Zealand research consortium for forage improvement through biotechnology. … Pastoral Genomics is a consortium for forage improvement through biotechnology, comprised of B+LNZ, DairyNZ, DEEResearch, Grasslands Innovation (a joint venture between Grasslanz Technology and PGGW Seeds), Agriseeds, AgResearch and Dairy Australia. The board includes George Tatham, B+LNZ Farmer Director for the Eastern North Island. Forage improvement The aim of Pastoral Genomics is to …

The more you know about how worms live and breed, the easier it is to mitigate the harm they cause. Here we look at the stages of the worm life cycle – there are ways our management can interrupt this cycle to reduce worm challenge to susceptible stock.  … Animals eat worm larvae with pasture. Larvae like to live close to the base of the pasture, in moisture and away from sunlight. After a larva is eaten, its takes about 21 days to become an adult worm that can lay eggs and continue the cycle. …

Few flock management tools are as quick, easy and cheap as body condition scoring (BCS). And few offer such potential for gains in productivity, for efficient feed management and for good stock wellbeing. It’s a skill that is easy to learn, requires no specialised tools, and should be a part of every sheep farmer’s management tools. … B+LNZ provide ‘Ewe body condition scoring’ workshops, keep an eye out for one in your area or let your local B+LNZ Extension Manager know you’d like to attend …

Every lamb counts. Improving lamb survival means more lambs, less waste and more success. … In these resources you’ll find tips, tricks, advice, other farmers’ experience and research findings that might make a difference for you.   B+LNZ provide ‘Growing Great Lambs’ workshops, keep an eye out for one in your area or let your local B+LNZ Extension Manager know you’d like to attend one.   B+LNZ is also looking for sheep farmers who are passionate about improving lamb survivability to join new …

Our Focus Groups and Farmer Innovation Groups are small, topic-driven learning groups designed to empower farmers through shared experience and expert insight. … B+LNZ Focus Groups  A B+LNZ Focus Group is a small group learning initiative introduced into the extension programme as part of B+LNZ’s refreshed strategy.   These are topic focused, and outcomes driven, providing farmers’ the opportunity to learn from other members and subject matter experts. These groups are deliberately kept small …

AWDT is a critical partner to New Zealand's primary industries, its programmes developing the skills, capability and confidence of women. … The Agri-Women's Development Trust (AWDT) runs leadership programmes that aim to increase the pool of women with the skills and capability to govern and lead agricultural organisations. … Women play key roles in New Zealand farming partnerships and bring a wide range of skills to decision-making situations – but they hold just 6% of governance roles in the …

The Wormwise Handbook and other B+LNZ parasite management tools, and a list of scientific literature for those who really like to delve into the detail.  Resources for farmers Wormwise handbook  (PDF, 4.3MB) – or request a printed copy Request a Wormwise workshop in your area:  Contact your B+LNZ extension manager Podcast with Dr Dave Leathwick : covering good management practice for internal parasites and answers to farmers’ questions Video:  Wormwise pre-lambing advice Worms in refugia : a …

A report from the University of Canterbury has revealed that 24 per cent of New Zealand’s native vegetation (approximately 2.8 million hectares) is estimated to be on sheep and beef farms. This is the largest amount of native vegetation present outside of public conservation land. … Download the summary report:  Native Vegetation on Sheep and Beef Farms (PDF, 2 MB) Download the full report:  Desk-top Assessment of Native Vegetation on New Zealand Sheep and Beef Farms (PDF, 3.5 MB) The report …

We update our strategy every few years to reflect our farmers’ priorities.   … In early 2024 we refreshed our strategy.  We worked closely with farmers to identify the most critical priorities B+LNZ should focus on to achieve our vision of thriving sheep and beef farmers, now and into the future.    Our renewed focuses   Based on farmer feedback, the 2024–27 strategy:  is focused on farm business productivity and profitability  places more emphasis where farmers have told us it matters most, …