Climate-friendly cows closer
Dairy farmers are one step closer to breeding cow with lower methane emissions, offering an innovative way to reduce the nation's agricultural carbon footprint without compromising farm productivity.
HERD IMPROVEMENT company CRV Ambreed says its top-performing bull Aljo TEF Maelstrom continues to show strong genetic value.
The bull has broken the 300 mark on the breeding worth (BW) and New Zealand merit (NZMI) indices, a first for any CRV Ambreed bull.
Managing director Angus Haslett says the indices are nationally recognised – BW as an economic index and NZMI as a desired gains index. They are useful guides in developing a breeding programme, he says.
“NZMI was created by CRV Ambreed to help us breed what we believe to be more desirable traits for economic benefit, creating a long-lasting and productive herd for our customers.
“Only the top five bulls of any breed in the country are at or above the 300 mark – so this milestone means Maelstrom is part of an elite level of genetics. Maelstrom entered the market in 2013, and throughout 2014 he has been top of the CRV Ambreed list for both NZMI and BW indexes.
“We have sold every dose of semen this bull has produced… over 130,000 doses in his two years of being marketed,” in New Zealand, the US, South Africa, Australia, Ecuador and South America.
Maelstrom is the son of renowned bull Firenze, one of CRV Ambreed’s most productive Holstein-Friesian sires, who retired in 2014. By 12 years of age, Firenze, had produced 643,000 doses of semen sold in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Philippines, Mexico, USA, Malaysia, Fiji, Ecuador, Uruguay, Argentina, Coasta Rica and Thailand.
Haslett says in New Zealand alone Firenze is recorded as having 47,805 daughters in 3683 herds.
“Of his sons, 67 have been enrolled on the animal evaluation database for herd improvement in New Zealand.”
Maelstrom’s breeder, Alistair Megaw, West Otago, says his strengths are protein, fertility, longevity and udders. “He ticks many boxes that dairy farmers in NZ can utilise to improve their herds.
“We have a number of Maelstrom’s daughters in the herd. They have great production, temperament, fertility and no mastitis. They’re also of good stature.”
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.