Practical Systems and Herefords Australia have formed a partnership aiming to support the next wave of best-practice, digital technology adoption by Hereford producers.
Practical Systems chief executive Peter Rasmussen said the partnership would support members in achieving management and performance objectives in both seedstock and commercial herds.
Herefords Australia general manager Andrew Donoghue said members would have access to DNA testing technology through the use of tissue sampling along with genomically-enhanced breeding values.
He said collecting relevant data from livestock provided the foundation for better informed management decisions.
It also facilitated ready transfer of important genomic data between Neogen Australia, Herefords Australia and member producers.
The collaboration would help with the accuracy of genomic data collection and accuracies in BREEDPLAN EBV's within the Hereford breed," Mr Donoghue said.
"Fully utilising herd recording software such as Stockbook integrated with weigh scales, and electronic tag readers allow fast, efficient, and accurate recording of all weights, traits and DNA information associated with breeding Hereford cattle.
Peter and Deanne Sykes, Mawarra Genetics, are clients of Practical Systems Limited and members of Herefords Australia.
"We have been using Practical Systems Stockbook program for our animal record keeping since 2001," Ms Sykes said.
"All of the data submissions that Herefords Australia and Hereford BREEDPLAN require are exported directly from Stockbook. The addition of a Stockbook touch screen indicator (TSI) has enabled us to collect data at the cattle yards directly into the software.
"This practice minimises the risk of error, increasing the accuracy of the data and the efficiency of the process by reducing the data entry time."
