Innovation up for an award at Fieldays

CRV Ambreed sales and marketing manager Mathew Macfie.

A genetic discovery by CRV Ambreed that it anticipates will reduce nitrogen leaching on New Zealand farms by 20 per cent within 20 years will compete in the Innovation Awards at the National Agricultural Fieldays in June.

In what's thought to be an international first, the dairy herd improvement company is marketing bulls under the LowN Sires brand whose daughters are expected to have reduced concentration of Milk Urea Nitrogen (MUN).

MUN is a measure of the amount of nitrogen contained as milk urea, and CRV Ambreed says there's overwhelming international evidence of a direct connection between MUN and the amount of nitrogen excreted in urine when fed Cows bred for lower levels of MUN are expected to excrete less nitrogen in their urine which will, in turn, reduce the amount of nitrogen leached from grazed pasture.

The daughters could potentially save New Zealand 10 million kilograms in nitrogen leaching a year, based on the national herd number of 6.5 million dairy cattle.

And so we thought what better place to showcase this than at the Innovation Awards at the national Fieldays.

Mathew Macfie

CRV Ambreed says projections show it's possible to breed cattle that will reduce nitrogen leaching by 20 per cent within 20 years.

Different diets.

CRV Ambreed sales and marketing manager Mathew Macfie says the company's genetic discovery around lower nitrogen output in urine should be a game-changer for the dairy industry.

"And so we thought what better place to showcase this than at the Innovation Awards at the national Fieldays."

The company's genetic discovery is entered in the Launch NZ Award Category. The Launch NZ award recognises agribusiness products being launched to the New Zealand market by small to medium size businesses that have strong agricultural relevance.

CRV Ambreed will have a strong presence at the national Fieldays and Mr Macfie says given the high levels of excitement about the LowN Sires bull team, he's expecting many extra visitors to the CRV Ambreed stand near the Pavilion.

The LowN Sires bull team was launched in late March at the South Island Field Days, and Mr Macfie says the concept is already resonating with dairy farmers who understand the importance of genetics to improving herds.

"This discovery, made through five years of research, will help provide them with the tools to help meet their environmental compliance through breeding - all within the standard AI mating programme," he says.

"We're pretty excited at CRV to have made this discovery and to be working with others in the industry to further test and confirm the genetic development."
¦For more information, visit www.crv4all.co.nz/lownsires