Animals

AgResearch finds ways to improve the nutrition, health and welfare of livestock for efficient and sustainable animal production.

Our scientists use a broad range of physiology, nutrition, and genomics-based research tools to improve economically important traits such as survival, growth rate, health, fecundity, meat and milk production (yield and quality) and disease resistance while minimising environmental impact and use of chemicals in ruminant livestock production.

Our teams are experts in the parasitic and infectious diseases of pastoral livestock, animal genomics, genome editing, ruminant nutrition and animal physiology including reproduction and microbiology behind healthy, productive and efficient ruminant livestock.

Our commitment to exceptional animal research is well illustrated by our involvement in the deer industry. In fact, 2022 marked half a century of deer research in New Zealand by AgResearch and its predecessors as well as the deer industry itself.

From being considered a noxious pest that should be exterminated, deer are now synonymous with New Zealand farming systems and we produce quality animals and exceptional high value products for the world.

The 50 years of research has included major advances in understanding of deer nutrition, health, behaviour and genetics, and in development of products such as venison, velvet and milk that are exported around the world.

Our research covers the spectrum of fundamental to applied science.

We work with fully equipped dairy, deer, sheep, and beef farms with modern facilities for on-farm animal trials.

We also have fully equipped animal facilities for more detailed trials for small and large ruminants including the New Zealand Ruminant Methane Measurement Centre.