Abstract

Over 44 years to 2011, the Department of Lands and Survey (Lands and Survey) and its successor Landcorp Farming Ltd (Landcorp), operated sire breeding programmes to service the large populations of females run on the many commercial farms operating under these two respective institutions. Following the establishment of the first breeding programme in 1967 (the Waihora Romney Programme), a total of 19 sheep, six beef cattle, 15 deer, and four goat programmes were established at one time or another. When Landcorp was formed in 1987, the breeding programmes were regarded as an integral part of a new coordinated production system. Breeding programmes that promised a better commercial fit for Landcorp replaced older programmes that did not. By 2011, there were five sheep, four beef cattle and five deer herds involved as either maternal- or terminal-sire breeding programmes, all of which have shown positive rates of genetic improvement and sire rankings that are at the forefront of their respective breeding industry sires. As the first animal breeding scientist appointed by the Department of Lands and Survey in 1982, it has been a privilege to have technically managed the breeding programmes, and the development of new selection criteria, database facilities and measurement techniques. This “legend” of the Lands and Survey and Landcorp breeding programmes is a documentation of an internationally unique large-animal breeding resource.

GB, Nicoll

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 74, Napier, 124-132, 2014