Ongoing success for your farm relies on the productivity, efficiency and profitability of your herd improving from one generation to the next.
Make better-informed genetic-based breeding decisions with independent evaluation for profitable genetic gains.
NZ Animal Evaluation by DairyNZ works closely with farmers and industry to bring you the data to lift the genetic potential of New Zealand's dairy herd, and to help ensure improvements in your herd continue from this generation to the next.
Explore our tools
Ranking of Active Sires (RAS) list
The industry standard for ranking genetic potential
Every month, NZ Animal Evaluation releases an updated RAS list, ranking the top-performing daughter-proven bulls across all breeding companies using the Breeding Worth (BW) index.
It combines relevant traits so you can have confidence in your breeding decisions to improve the profitability and sustainability of your herd.
Bull Search Tool
Select traits to optimise your herd's profitability
Animal evaluation data is used to create the Breeding Worth (BW) index which ranks cows and bulls on their expected ability to breed profitable, efficient replacements.
Our Bull Search tool uses this information and is updated monthly with the latest data, ensuring you always have the most up-to-date information when selecting bulls with the traits you need.
Build your perfect bull team
Curate your own bull team using bulls from any breeding company.
NZ Animal Evaluation is the industry good organisation for genetics and animal evaluation. A wholly owned subsidiary of DairyNZ, we operate independently as custodians of the National Breeding Objective (NBO) - ensuring farmers’ interests are at the heart of genetic gain. Our goal is to drive world-leading genetic gain that makes New Zealand’s national herd more resilient, profitable, and globally competitive.
Four guiding principles
Establish consistency across all genetic analyses where possible.
Identify animals whose progeny will be the most effective converters of feed into farmer profit.
Incorporate state-of-the-art animal evaluation systems.
Be totally transparent.
Learn more about NZ Animal Evaluation
NZ Animal Evaluation leads the co-operation of farmers and industry to optimise genetic gain in the national dairy herd through ongoing improvement in genetic evaluation.
National genetic gains
Dr Bruce Thorrold explains how national genetic gain is like a flywheel and how together, we can improve genetic gain for farmers.
The role of NZ Animal Evaluation
NZ Animal Evaluation plays a vital role for dairy farmers in delivering an independent source of animal evaluation data.
What is Genomics?
Genomics. What is it, how is it different from genetics and how does it help to make faster progress with genetic improvement?
Frequently asked questions
What is the National Breeding Objective?
NZ Animal Evaluation is the owner and custodian of the National Breeding Objective, which is to breed dairy cows that efficiently convert feed into profit. This determines which traits and information are crucial for farmers to enable improvements in genetic gain. Through it, new traits and data changes are established and reflected in the Breeding Worth index.
What is the Dairy Industry Good Animal Database (DIGAD)
DIGAD is the sole industry database containing pedigree and performance data on all recorded dairy animals in New Zealand. This data is used to operate Animal Evaluation (AE) runs and deliver individual BW for animals which is published in the Ranking of Active Sires (RAS) list.
