
Connie McFarlane
myDNA Programme Manager at CRV New Zealand, driving genetic gain in dairy herds through DNA testing and genomics.
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Aug 6, 2026
Episode 123 - Improving herds through DNA testing
2:23
2:34
2:43
2:49
2:58
3:05
3:11

Anne LeeHOST
Can you, first of all, I thought it would be really good to set the scene with a bit of a 101 on what exactly is DNA testing and how it goes, is carried out.

Connie McFarlaneGUEST
Yeah, so in calves, we have these all-flex calf packs, which comes with the birth ID tag, the EID, and the TSU all-in-one.

Connie McFarlaneGUEST
So it makes it nice and easy for farmers to go out and sample their calves as they come in, as they're tagging them.

Connie McFarlaneGUEST
All it is, is just a little ear notch out of the ear and then it just goes into a little tube and that is just sent directly to our lab at Genomes.

Connie McFarlaneGUEST
Generally, farmers will keep all of their calves TSUs until the end and then seed them all in one batch.

Connie McFarlaneGUEST
Some bigger farmers choose to send them in multiple batches just to get some answers a bit earlier on.

Connie McFarlaneGUEST
But yeah, all of our DNA samples go down to genomes in Mosgiel and that's where they start to extract the DNA and then start genotyping it with some pretty fancy machines.