Helping dairy farmers breed the world’s best cows in NZ

NEW ZEALAND ANIMAL EVALUATION LIMITED (NZAEL) IS YOUR LEVY FUNDED INDUSTRY GOOD ORGANISATION WORKING TO INCREASE GENETIC GAIN IN THE NATIONAL DAIRY HERD, IN ORDER TO HELP KIWI FARMERS BREED BETTER COWS AND MAKE BIGGER PROFITS.

Dairy is an international game, and our rates of genetic gain must be internationally competitive. As a subsidiary of DairyNZ, NZAEL leads the cooperation of farmers, AI companies, and bull breeders to optimise the national dairy herd through ongoing improvement in genetic evaluation.

Breeding Worth (BW) is the independent, industry good index available to all. It sets the standard of what a good cow looks like for our farmers. NZAEL keeps BW relevant and world-leading by bringing in new traits and improving data quality, and annually updating the economic value of each trait (e.g. fat, protein, fertility, etc.).

NZAEL evaluates all animals in the national herd using the BW index. This information provides confidence to farmers in the decisions they make to improve their herd through breeding, buying, and culling.

NZAEL is at the forefront of farm systems and genetic science, and works with local and international experts to create the most profitable herds possible. They follow a rigorous testing process that includes farmers and experts for all improvements to BW. Every improvement is tested with these groups before sign-off from the NZAEL board and we communicate everything we do with farmers and the sector.