LIC extends New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards sponsorship
LIC has reaffirmed its sponsorship of the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA) by signing up as a national sponsor for another three years.
A milestone 55 years in the making was passed in a split-second: with one clamp of a tag punch LIC tagged its 10,000th sire proving scheme (SPS) bull calf.
It happened on the farm of dairy cattle breeders Stewart and Kathryn Anderson of Otewa, near Otorohanga.
“The young bull symbolises the huge contribution the scheme makes to New Zealand dairy farming,” says LIC chief executive Wayne McNee. Today most dairy cows grazing NZ pastures are from LIC bloodlines. The scheme started in 1961.
The tagging of the new young bull calf signals LIC buying him for his genetic potential. He has been named Arkan MGH Believer. Now he’ll be treated like animal royalty at LIC’s Newstead bull farm.
If his resulting daughters end up high-performance in efficiency and productivity, he will ‘graduate’ to LIC Premier Sires status.
Potentially he’ll be worth millions of dollars to LIC and to the national economy by helping drive up genetic gain in the national dairy herd.
“It’s lovely of LIC to have chosen this farm to tag its 10,000th SPS animal,” says Kathryn Anderson. “It was exciting to have the co-op mark the occasion, and we felt humbled at having the honour and recognition of LIC marking the milestone here.”
Simon Worth, LIC bull acquisition manager, says the calf’s sire, Mourne Grove Hothouse, is among LIC’s best bulls, siring many outstanding daughters.
Phoebe Scherer, a technical manager from the Bay of Plenty, has won the 2025 Young Grower of the Year national title.
The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.
Award-winning boutique cheese company, Cranky Goat Ltd has gone into voluntary liquidation.
As an independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB finds the goal of complete eradication by 2055 is still valide, feedback is being sought on how to finish the job.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand has launched an AI-powered digital assistant to help farmers using the B+LNZ Knowledge Hub to create tailored answers and resources for their farming businesses.
A tiny organism from the arid mountains of mainland Greece is facilitating a new way of growing healthier animals on farms across New Zealand.
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