A deer progeny test under way is a new initiative for the industry.
The project was a good example of a partnership between research and industry, Jason Archer, of AgResearch, told the recent Innovation at Invermay field day.
"Industry has very much got in behind this project and are helping driving it forward," Dr Archer said.
As hinds had been moved into New Zealand's hill and high country, there had been concern over what the best sort of hind was for that country.
While deer farming from the 1970s to the 1990s was largely based around arable, high-quality lowland downs, there was now a trend of moving towards "extensification", because of competing land use - largely dairy expansion, Dr Geoff Asher, also of AgResearch, said.
There was a need to better describe performance and profitability of deer and that required a significantly expanded trait measurement and breeding values system, Dr Archer said.
The progeny test, which is based at Invermay and White Rock Station, in the Rangitata Gorge, was a central site where stags could be brought together and used over the same mob of hinds, and the genetics of those stags could then be compared. It would result in new breeding values and breeding tools, he said.