'Breeding worth' system explained

Dairy farmers are being sent a new animal evaluation manual in response to their demand for a simpler explanation of New Zealand's complex animal evaluation system.

In particular, it looks at the most frequently used output of the system, the breeding worth (BW) measure.

It explains how BW works, why it works, how it works for the dairy industry and how farmers can make it work for them. The higher the BW an animal has, the more efficient its progeny will be converting feed to profit.

NZ Animal Evaluation Ltd chairman Lawrence Satherley said genetic gain was a key component in increasing productivity of farmers.