CRV Ambreed managing director Angus Haslett says good weather and a little bit of luck at times can be crucial in the farming business but strong team culture to act and deliver and high-quality data are becoming some of the most important crops an agribusiness can reap.
“No company in the world today that runs a cattle breeding programme can survive without these,” he believes.
“They’ve played a large part in our success to date and will be increasingly important for survival in the future.”
CRV Ambreed, the New Zealand offshoot of Dutch farmer owned co-operative CRV, employs 115 full-time and up to 300 part-time staff.
Over the years the company has achieved several market firsts including being the first to market sexed semen from NZ bulls in NZ, being the first to take environmental genetics to market with LowN sires and being the first to launch a genetic solution to facial eczema.
Every accomplishment is because CRV Ambreed is made up of some very special people, he says.
“Our staff have a unique spirit. When people join us they are carried along by the passion and enthusiasm of others. Our culture is infectious and enduring and accounts for the many people who have been part of our team for more than 20 years.
“We’re all able to maintain that passion and determination because we get huge enjoyment out of playing a part in helping farmers achieve their breeding goals.”
The team is focused on sustainability and Haslett believes one burgeoning opportunity is in the use of artificial intelligence to deliver precision agriculture.
“If we can leverage what’s happening globally in artificial intelligence for agriculture, NZ farmers will see a powerful opportunity.
“Using the best of artificial intelligence technologies will transform the future for both our company and for our farmers’ businesses.
“It will allow us to be more profitable, more sustainable, more productive as an industry,” he says.
However, access to data must be improved.
In recent years the company has implemented several strategies to build a foothold in herd recording and herd testing.
“It has been a big challenge for us but we’ve got to a reasonable position. To advance we need to improve data access for all in NZ.
“Over time we’ve developed a service that’s adding value and we’re just about to announce a further stage in our development but we need to effect reviews and changes within our Herd Improvement Act (part of DIRA) for the full potential of NZ’s dairy farms to be realised.”
The strategy CRV Ambreed has embarked on is seeing a huge increase in genotypic data and Haslett says that, combined with phenotypic data, will offer critical insights for farmers.
“Internationally, we can now use science and new technologies to predict how a calf will perform in its lifetime, thereby making breeding decisions and helping farmers make decisions on whether or not to retain certain animals.
“A further benefit that we are already starting to see is traditionally we need four years to prove a bull, which is a large cost in terms of time and money to get it to a stage where we can comfortably sell it in a state where we know its traits will reliably be passed on.
“Under genomics, however, that can start as early as 11 months.
“So, we’re turning a product lifecycle, if you like, from four years to 11 months – and that’s having a massive impact on our business as well as the genetic gain of our farmers.
“It’s unbelievably exciting to think the turnaround time for developing desirable genetic traits as well as seeing those we don’t want bred out of our dairy herd has the potential to occur in such an improved time frame.”
Haslett says Ambreed is focused on traditional traits around fertility, fat and protein but looks for what it calls novel traits – where it can use technology to lessen environmental impacts with, for example, LowN sires.
“Where we have high reliability around particular traits we’re able to select the animals that represent those so we are starting already but there is still a way to go. So, after genotyping a calf we can bring specific animals into our breeding programme knowing how we will end up.”
The company partners with breeders across the country and Haslett says those relationships are invaluable.
“CRV Ambreed’s innovative nature looks to attract innovative breeders. They are insightful people who are extremely skilled and whom we highly value. We look to them to partner with us so the progress they make on-farm with genetic solutions sets us apart.”
CRV values its relationship with its farmer customers too.
“We’ve always had a very loyal core customer base and we have a healthy respect for each other.
“We take a long-term view to our operations.”
And it appears to be working. CRV celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
Over the past five decades the company has helped thousands of farmers breed dairy cows they are proud to have in their herds. Running a local breeding programme for 50 years has allowed CRV to breed the type of animal that suits the unique NZ farming systems.
Haslett says the key to the company’s long-term success has been its culture of passion and a desire for continued improvement.
“CRV Ambreed is recognised as a strong, innovative, artificial breeding company here in NZ.
“Our steadfastness has served to lift the strength and competitiveness of NZ’s dairy industry. I confidently believe our founding shareholders’ original vision of giving farmers access to quality genetics has been and continues to be realised.”
The company’s ownership has changed several times over the years. The original company, Ambreed NZ, was bought by Animal Enterprises, one of NZ’s largest livestock exporting firms, in 1983 and in 1989 by the Dairy Board.
However, when the company was sold to global artificial insemination leader CRV Delta in 2003 it set the company up for a new era of competitiveness in the local market.
“CRV gave us access to world-leading, new technologies we could deliver to our NZ farmers. It was a new chapter for the company and we grabbed the opportunity with both hands – all for the benefit of NZ dairy farmers,” he says.
“Those who know us well know our team always want to be better, be first and stand apart because we know when we keep pushing ourselves to lead in the areas where we can that the whole industry – particularly NZ dairy farmers – benefits.
The company is a good fit for him as he was interested in agriculture from a young age. Although he grew up in rural Auckland he has family members who are farmers.
“We lived on lifestyle blocks of 10-12ha and spent every school holidays on or around a farm. From about the age of 10 I knew that I wanted to be involved in agriculture in some way.”
He graduated from Massey University in 1983 with an agriculture degree. During his studies he worked on several types of farms including two large dairy farms on the outskirts of Auckland. After graduating, he decided to head south after having spent a few months earlier on a high country station.
“I enjoyed being out mustering with a team of dogs so did that for about year then a colleague and I ran a fencing contracting business.
“Along the way we decided that if we were going to go farming it would be a good idea to get some land but then the Labour Party came in and turned agriculture upside down. I believe it was David Lange who said farming was a sunset industry.”
His dad and a family friend convinced him not to buy land then and suggested he try to get some experience in agribusiness.
Haslett went to work for a fertiliser company, which was a turning point for him.
“I spent a lot of time out on farms with farmers and although I enjoyed agribusiness I realised farming was in my blood and that I actually enjoyed being out on the farm more.”
In 2007 he and a colleague had an idea of linking meters with milk clusters in dairy sheds, which was the early stage of milk recording automation technology in cowsheds.
“We went into business together but when my business partner passed away in 2009 I couldn’t carry on the business.
“One of the overseas companies we had been dealing with mentioned there was a job going at CRV and said I should go interview for it so I did.”
Based in Auckland he will mark 10 years at the helm of the NZ division in August. When joined CRV was just one company but now has three including Engender. He also oversees the business in the United States and the Australian distribution business.
Away from the corporate world he enjoys being out and about.
“My family and I enjoy a lot of outdoor pursuits but, in particular, I love sailing and being out on the water.
“Sailing is strong in my family but, unfortunately, the talent skipped me and went to both of my children who have had quite bit of success both nationally and internationally. As a result we have a number of opportunities to travel around the world supporting them.”
