Farmers from Kaitaia to Invercargill are going to have the chance to shape the cow of their dreams.

A national 20-event DairyNZ road show kicks off in Whangarei at the end of the month, designed to give dairy farmers the opportunity to contribute to the National Breeding Objective.

The National Breeding Objective is to identify animals whose progeny will be the most efficient converters of feed into farmer profit, otherwise known as Breeding Worth, or BW.

The dairy cow is the engine of the New Zealand Dairy industry – 4.4 million cows producing more than 1.4 billion kilograms of milk solids every year.

NZ Animal Evaluation Limited manager, Dr George Cruickshank says farmers who attend the events will have the chance to say whether their current BW needs are being met, and how they would like to see a change in the future.

He says the aim is to ensure that Kiwi dairy farmers have access to animals that will best suit the dairy industry of the future.