Called the Future Focused Animal Evaluation Work Programme, the group is chaired by fifth-generation dairy farmer Rebecca Keoghan.
So far, the work was “going great”, Keoghan told The Country’s Rowena Duncum.
“We’ve got a very focused technical team that are working on a couple of technical workstreams, and particularly in the genetics area.”
Keoghan said this involved working out how to establish one Breeding Worth (BW) index, as “one source of truth for all farmers”, as well as a National Breeding Objective (NBO) that was “fit for purpose and fit for the future”.
She was pleased to report that everyone in the group was working well together.
“Being in the room together is fantastic … that was one of the things I was interested in when I put my name forward; are we going to have these three players in the room together and working hard – and they absolutely are – they’re incredibly committed.”
Keoghan said having a standardised system would be a boon for dairy farmers.
“If you sit down at the kitchen table and you’ve got four pieces of paper with four different numbers on it, it’s very challenging to look across those and try and get some sort of comparable data to be able to make the right decisions for your herd.
“So, we’re really excited that this gives us an opportunity to be able to help our farmers out so that they can make the right decisions for the best genetic gain for their own herds.”
She said the Governance Group had a two-year time frame to have everything in place, working, and tested throughout the industry by December 2026.
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However, this year’s focus was to make sure the National Breeding Objective (NBO) was forward-looking.
“To make sure that we’re breeding animals now that will meet the needs of farmers and industry in the future.”
Keoghan said this involved engaging with people across the industry to help determine what was needed for the NBO.
The one Breeding Worth was another focus for the group this year.
“It’s got to be reliable, so that takes a bit of time for us to be able to test … and [it] also involves looking globally to make sure that we’ve got a fit for purpose solution for New Zealand.”
The measurable characteristics and performance traits of dairy animals, or phenotypic data, are also important for the one BW model.
“For the future, we want to make sure that the data going into that is clear and it’s accurate, and there are some gaps in that space at the moment.”
Overall, Keoghan said the most important part of the process in the first year was to engage with stakeholders and farmers to get their views.
“Because it only works if it’s usable for us at the other end.”
