Introduction
LIC (Livestock Improvement Corporation) is an agri-tech and herd improvement co-operative that is based out of its main office in Newstead, Hamilton. Its main focus is on improving genetics, with LIC supplying the majority of semen to New Zealand dairy farms. Along with genetics, LIC owns and controls MINDA, a herd management software that allows farmers to manage their animals, recording, viewing, and reporting this data, allowing farmers to stay on top of their animal information.
LIC SPACE was introduced to New Zealand farmers in 2017. The services used satellite imagery to perform pasture measurement calculations, sending farmers a report of their pasture covers.
How it works
LIC SPACE will use satellites that pass over New Zealand each day, capturing imagery, and when the given image is clear enough to use, it will allow for a detailed pasture report to be provided to the farmers on the service within 24 hours. What this means for farmers is that there is now no need to complete a pasture walk (walking through the paddock with a plate meter), which for many is a time consuming task on farm.
Labour and time are major issues on farm, and having a pasture walk (which can take a good couple of hours depending on your farm size) completed each week is something that does not happen very often anymore.
LIC SPACE solves this ‘problem’ allowing for automated pasture readings to get sent to farmers.
Pricing Information
Pricing for SPACE is an annual subscription that is based on the farm size (ha). Listed below is the pricing that was listed for the 2025 season.
NOTE: Pricing is charged monthly to the farmer.
| Farm Size (ha) | Price (per annum) + GST |
|---|---|
| 0-50 | $1,235 |
| 51-80 | $1,810 |
| 81-100 | $2,400 |
| 101-150 | $2,700 |
| 151-200 | $2,990 |
| 201-300 | $3,280 |
| 301-400 | $3,580 |
| 400+ | $3,580 + $5/ha |
