LIC in collaboration with Silver Fern Farms

Two of the leading players in NZ agriculture "“ Silver Fern Farms and Livestock Improvement (LIC) "“ have jointly developed a pilot programme which when proven, will deliver "enabling knowledge" to implement an integrated supply chain from farmer partners of Silver Fern Farms to their international customer partners. · Silver Fern Farms is New Zealand's leading procurer, processor and marketer of lamb, mutton, beef, venison and associated products to more than 60 countries · LIC is one of the largest integrated herd improvement organisations in the world with proven data and analysis management. The pilot, which begins in September this year, will involve around 150 farmers and 150,000 lambs for export to Europe, paving the way for an integrated supply chain for red meat that, the partners say, will add significant value to New Zealand's export trade. The pilot will utilise EID tags to link into MINDA, LIC's herd/flock control system. This is combined with on farm input and production and X-ray analysis from Silver Fern Farms' processing plants, linked back to genetics to provide farmers with an overall market-genetic-production performance measure. The lamb trial will be followed by a beef and venison project early next year.