Practical tools and extension

At Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the focus is on ensuring farmers have access to innovations and information that genuinely makes a difference on farm. Genetics and research remain some of the most powerful tools available, which is why we continue to invest farmers’ levies in programmes that support confident, informed decision making.

The Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme continues to make strong progress, delivering initiatives that support profitability and drive the adoption of improved genetics.

Farmers now have a powerful new tool at their fingertips with the launch of nProve Beef, alongside B+LNZ’s Beef Selection Indexes.

Their development has been a genuinely collaborative effort involving B+LNZ, industry organisations, breed societies and farmers. This partnership was recognised with nProve being named a finalist in the Team and Collaboration Award at the Primary Industries New Zealand Awards.

Farmers know animals that make the most use out of the feed put in front of them are the most efficient and profitable. We are about to kick off the Cool Beef programme, a four-year collaborative research initiative designed to identify cattle that use feed more efficiently and produce less methane, without compromising productivity or profitability. It builds on the success of the Cool Sheep project and the methane work kicked off by INZB, both of which have demonstrated the potential for methane related genetic progress.

Another major area of focus is the management of surplus dairy calves. The Dairy Beef Opportunities programme, jointly developed by DairyNZ, B+LNZ, the Meat Industry Association and Dairy Companies of New Zealand, outlines how the sector can address both the challenges and opportunities within New Zealand’s unique farming systems.

We are also proud to support tools that strengthen animal health decision making. B+LNZ has worked with our research partners to create a new test to identify parasite species in sheep and cattle. It’s a genuine game-changer, reducing turnaround time from two weeks to just a few days and giving farmers and vets fast, species level parasite identification.

B+LNZ’s farmer extension offering is continuing to grow. As well as key staples like Wormwise, we now have farmer-led Focus Groups digging into topics of interest for local farmers. Beef systems optimisation is a new addition to the stable.   

There is plenty more happening across the beef space. I encourage farmers to visit beeflambnz.com, explore our Knowledge Hub or ask Bella – your Beef + Lamb Assistant powered by AI – for quick, practical guidance whenever they need it