After 17 years, the regime will benefit from being updated to reflect the changing animal evaluation needs of the industry.
This issue is now up for review and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is calling for submissions to the proposal.
They want to hear from the dairy industry and people with an interest in how the regime can help ensure that New Zealand’s dairy industry remains world leading.
“We want to hear from people about how the regulatory regime can more effectively support the performance of the dairy industry,” MPI’s director of agriculture, marine and plant policy, Emma Taylor says.
“We also want to hear from industry on the effects of changing technology and the future implications on the dairy herd improvement sector.”
Dairy herd improvement adds substantial value to the New Zealand economy, as well as the industry, by breeding more productive dairy animals through herd testing, herd recording, animal evaluation, and artificial breeding. It also has the potential to support better environmental and animal health outcomes.
Farmers have been testing samples of milk from their dairy cattle and recording data to inform their herd management decisions for over a century. For industry to achieve optimal rates of genetic gain it needs a comprehensive, accurate and continuous supply of data to enable informed decisions on herd management and breeding.
The review centres on how to ensure that the regulated dataset remains well aligned with the industry’s current and future animal evaluation needs.
“It’s important the dairy herd improvement regulatory regime reflects the changing needs of the dairy industry.
“It’s timely to look at how the regulatory settings can better support industry both now and into the future,” Taylor says.
This consultation follows on from changes initiated in 2012 and 2014,in relation to the Livestock Improvement Corporation’s (LIC)’s statutory obligations and the process to transfer the New Zealand Dairy Core Database from LIC to DairyNZ.
Stakeholder consultation in 2014 indicated industry concerns about the management of herd improvement data.
The full proposal can be viewed on the MPI website so check it out and have your say.
Submissions close at 5.00 pm Monday November 12.
Sonita
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