Becoming an assessor brings advantages to you and your clients, which in turn will assist them in making sound animal and farm management decisions that will contribute to the sustainability and profitability of their farm.

• Advantages for you

  • Skill recognition
  • Certification gives quality assurance and shows that you meet strict criteria and are serious about what you do
  • Commitment to on-going calibration keeps your skills up-to-date
  • Active promotion by DairyNZ of Certified BCS Assessors through publications, the DairyNZ website, and an online Certified Assessor directory
  • Preferential contracting of Certified BCS Assessors where body condition scoring is required in DairyNZ development projects
  • Use of a logo that enables farmers to identify you as a Certified BCS Assessor

• Advantages for your clients

  As a Certified BCS Assessor, your clients will be confident that you:

  • Can accurately score their herd or individual cows and bring at risk cows to their attention.
  • Are a professional who provides an independent view, operates to industry standards and can be trusted with their cows

The spring BCS events have now finished and another round of events will be held in autumn. To express interest in the autumn round of events please click on the appropriate event link below. Please also note the BCS Assessor Certification Programme changed in 2017! The bullet points below will help ensure you register for the correct event:

• Training is open to all and is recommended for those intending to sit an assessment.
• Assessment is required for those who have not passed an assessment before or for those whose certification has lapsed for more than two years.
• Calibration is for those who have passed an assessment, including those who are currently certified and those whose certification has lapsed for less than two years.

• What farmers are saying about using a certified assessor

  I quite like having a professional to do the assessment. While as a farmer I may know how to do it, to be really objective you don't want to have to do it yourself. Using an assessor, in this case my vet, means that I have someone who sees a lot of cows but is also familiar with my herd.

  Tim Wilson, 50:50 sharemilker, Otaki

  An outside professional can put some objectivity on condition scoring to help farmers with the decision-making process. The reassurance of having a consultant do the job and discussing how to tie the results into the farm system can be really useful in terms of profitability and sustainability.

  Roy Johnson, Waikato farm consultant

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The programme has been developed as part of the Transforming the Dairy Value Chain Primary Growth Partnership programme, led by commercial partners, including DairyNZ and Fonterra, and partnered by MPI.