Menalpyn expends a great deal of effort sourcing and purchasing the correct genetics for their herd. This typically involves the evaluation and selection of bulls from a large number of studs within Australia. Menalpyn retains the services of Dick Whale, a cattle consultant, to advise on animal genetics and suitability to our current breeding program. Menalpyn uses Artificial Insemination and Embryo Transfer as a method of accessing international and Austrtalian genetic material to improve herd quality.

Menalpyn's goal is to develop a highly fertile, moderately framed, structurally sound and production orientated cow herd. We aim to do this by careful selection of breeding females and bulls. Any crossbreeding system needs to optimise the trade-offs between: complexity, complementarity, ease of producing replacements, consistency of performance and ability to utilise heterosis.

To improve our herd we use two methods,

Replacement selection:

• Decides which animals become parents,
• How many offspring they produce and,
• The length of time they remain in the herd.

Mating systems:

• A set of rules for mating to speed genetic change caused by selection.

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