Meetings over, vote to come on genetic services

The round of meetings held to discuss Beef and Lamb New Zealand's proposal to combine its genetics services into one entity have finished but a date has yet to be set for the levy-payer vote.

Beef and Lamb wants to combine its Central Progeny Test (CPT), Ovita and Sheep Improvement Ltd (SIL) to form Beef and Lamb Genetics and set the investment in its genetic science programme for the next five years.

Beef and Lamb Genetics will be an industry partnership between Beef and Lamb and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, with contributions from AgResearch (which will play a major role), AbacusBio and some universities.

Beef and Lamb is required by the Companies Act to hold a referendum of its levy-payers on its proposal.

Beef and Lamb Genetics manager Dr Mark Young, who ran the meetings, said although they were not as well attended as he would have liked, several concerns about the future direction it should take had ''resonated'' with farmers across the country.

Given land use changes, farmers wanted ''the good beef cow'' and ''the good ewe'' which would thrive on hill country and they wanted to know about how those maternal traits on hill country would relate to low country, he said.

They also indicated there was ''some merit in bridging the gap'' - to be able to ''match genetics to user needs'', to take the information from the abstract to ''what will that do on my farm?''. Some traits had already reached a ''sweet spot'' and farmers would not want those to change, he said.

''Change is only a good thing if it is not where you want to be.''

For instance, continuing to select for traits to produce low fat meat could mean the animal did not have enough of an energy store to be healthy, he said.

Internationally, there was growing interest in traits contributing to longevity, something not previously measured, he said.

It was worthy of consideration because the effect of longevity on increased profitability had ''wins'' on a variety of levels, he said. Dr Young said he still did not know when the proposals would be taken to levy-payers for a vote, but it would probably be sometime next year.

The Government was considering further information about the science projects Beef and Lamb planned and the set-up of the new entity, he said.

Beef and Lamb did not want to go to its levy-payers until it could present them with the ''full case'', Dr Young said.

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