Tour 4: Livestock Improvement Corporation (Waikato, North Island)

Livestock Improvement Corporation

Begin with a guided tour of an LIC bull farm to see how the co-operative breeds and selects elite dairy sires that drive genetic gain for farmers. You’ll learn how LIC identifies and develops top bulls using performance data, genomic information and decades of breeding expertise. Traits such as milk production, fertility, efficiency and environmental performance are combined in breeding decisions to produce genetics that support profitable and sustainable dairy systems.

You’ll then see how LIC applies science at scale with a visit to its Animal Health, Herd Testing and GeneMark® laboratories. In the GeneMark® genomic laboratory, advanced sequencing and DNA-marker technologies process hundreds of thousands of calf samples each year, delivering parentage verification and genomic evaluation. The Herd Testing laboratory analyses thousands of milk samples to generate production data that underpins herd performance monitoring and national genetic evaluation. The Animal Health laboratory applies molecular diagnostics and herd-health analytics to support disease management, productivity and system efficiency. Together, these laboratories provide the scientific infrastructure that drives genetic gain and supports efficient, lower-emission dairy systems.

The tour also includes a visit to a purpose-built methane research barn, the largest facility of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. The facility measures methane emissions from individual cows under controlled conditions, generating high-quality data to confirm the heritability of methane traits. Research shows that low-emitting sires can produce daughters that emit less methane per kilogram of feed consumed.

Participants will also visit the Innovation Farm milking facility, where the latest milking technologies and on-farm data systems are demonstrated in practice, highlighting how automation and integrated data are helping farmers improve efficiency and manage cow performance.