Sonya Shaw’s experience working with livestock will be put to good use as the leader of the Next Generation herds initiative.
The initiative is part of the Informing New Zealand Beef programme, jointly funded by Ministry for Primary Industries, Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) and the New Zealand Meat Board.
So far 10 commercial beef farmers have been selected to take part in the project, with more to come on board each year.
They will pass on data such as pedigree recording, assessing bull teams’ performances and heifer replacement selection and work with their bull breeders to make more rapid genetic progress.
Data sharing is expected to eventually increase the accuracy with which breeding values, or genetic merit, can be estimated.
Mrs Shaw said the programme was valuable because genetics were an important way to improve beef herds through making better choices.
The vet near Greymouth said this would help them pick which bulls to use and keep track of which cows in the herd were producing the best calves.
"It enables farmers to select for certain traits that you want on your farm. Every farm is different and this will provide information for farmers that suits their farming style, environment and situation. For the farmers participating, it also enables us to get data back to them to help them to benchmark against other farmers."
Raised on a Mid Canterbury farm, she studied at Massey University before working as a vet specialising in farm livestock in North Canterbury, the United Kingdom and Greymouth.
Then she spent eight years working with the TBfree programme, focused on helping to eradicate bovine Tb from New Zealand, before joining B+LNZ last month.
Mrs Shaw said she was attracted to the role because of the opportunity to continue working with farmers and use science to help beef farmers increase their productivity.
"They are intelligent and skilled people and their businesses are very varied. But farmers are facing many challenges. A lot of changes are coming at them all at once. I see first-hand how farmers are carrying out environmental improvements and how much they care about the land, their animals, the environment and their farming community."
She said the programme would set up an easy-to-use system for farmers in the coming years to access information to help them select bulls with the traits to make gains and be competitive in commercial farming.
"This will help supercharge New Zealand’s beef industry and set us up for future success."
