Claire Phyn

Claire is an animal physiologist by training who enjoys combining technical knowledge with farm system thinking to develop practical on-farm solutions. In particular, Claire has explored management practices that improve transition cow health and lifetime productivity. She has also investigated lactation management strategies including extending calving intervals and reducing milking frequency.

During a tenure of more than 25 years at DairyNZ, Claire has built a reputation for successfully leading large research programmes in collaboration with interdisciplinary teams across multiple organisations.

A career highlight for Claire is leading the eight-year Pillars of a New Dairy System programme. Its goal was to provide management and genetic solutions to improve cow health, fertility and longevity. The research proved the superiority of high Fertility Breeding Value (BV) cows and identified novel measures, like puberty, as early predictor traits for fertility. NZAEL (New Zealand Animal Evaluation Ltd) is using this programme’s results to improve traits in the Breeding Worth index, such as the updated Fertility BV and the new Functional Survival BV. These innovations will help farmers to select and breed highly fertile cows that live longer, healthier lives. This programme received MBIE ‘gold status’ recognition and a KUDOS award.

Claire is passionate about using science to help address real-world problems faced by farmers, “It’s important to make the connection between biological insights and farm systems to develop practical solutions for farmers,” she says.

Claire holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Hons) and a PhD in Animal Science from Massey University.