Business Rural North Summer 2021

Enhancing business and breed performance PBB business solutions aims to enhance business and breed performance in the livestock industry, especially through the provision of genomic and marketing services to its clients. General manager Harry Faas says PBB, formerly know as Performance Beef Breeders was established in 1996 by the New Zealand Angus and Hereford associations to create economies of scale through a centralised service for the livestock industry. “It’s grown into an agriculture service company that is servicing emerging breeds, commercial beef breeders, sheep and deer breeders.” Simply put, PBB provides everything breeders need through one central hub which is linked to other industry collaborators. Its key services have expanded to include its Stockbook livestock management software, DNA testing, consultancy, marketing and advertising. The company employs its own genetics team and has a partnership with Neogen which o ers genomics services including DNA testing, as well as being licensed to input data into the Stock Improvement Limited (SIL) database. Consequently PBB is now an extremely well-resourced business with numerous tools and services that Harry describes as a Swiss Army Knife, but with the aim of creating e iciencies and eliminating complexity, for breeders and others in the livestock industry, Despite the considerable development that has occurred within the company, the various breed societies and their registries of raw phenotypic data remain at its core. This data is quality checked by PBB sta before being entered into a large central database. “From there the genetics teamwill load the DNA pro iles into that same database and then we run an evaluation across both the phenotypic and the genotype data that will produce the EBV’s (estimated breeding values) and that’s pretty much the core of PBB.” Stockbook, is a key tool which enables livestock data to be collected and viewed in real-time. With a range of data collection options, it helps with the management of genetic performance, fertility, weight gain and other measures for the identi ication of the performance of stock, turning the data into actionable information and insight. A popular service o ered by PBB is printing livestock sale catalogues. Breeders can utilise the expertise of PBB’s marketing team or choose the popular option of creating a sale catalogue using a self-serve template on its website. “Because all the data goes through our o ice, the creative team taps into the database and merge everything with the creative layout so we are really e icient in producing catalogues very quickly. “We probably produce most of the sale catalogues in New Zealand.” To get your Stockbook sorted P: 06 323 4484 E: stockbook@pbbnz.com Improve your business profitability starting with a good-quality Livestock Management Software. Stockbook and Live Entry can impact your production and lifestyle by enabling you to collect and view data on your animals in real-time. With a range of data collection options, this software helps you manage genetic performance, fertility, weight-gain and other performance measures so you can identify less productive stock. It oers you the livestock intelligence within your operation by turning data into actionable information and insight. Stockbook is cloud enabled SIL A Livestock Management Software o ering improved profitability through livestock intelligence Visit www.pbbnz.com to download a 30-DAY FREE TRIAL. I highly recommend Stockbook. I use it not only for all our stud recording but also for all animal health and paddock treatment recording. Being able to access all my cattle and record new calves via the app in the field has made life so much easier. Paul Sheperd, Waimaire Herefords “