Adding nutritional value to meat and milk from pasture-fed livestock

Staple meat and milk provide excellent nutrition, but when traditional foods and ingredients are tailored to meet the particular nutritional or lifestyle demands of a population they become even more attractive and valuable. These foods can be considered as delivery systems for health-promoting nutrients. Nutritional improvement of meat and milk can be achieved several ways, preferably by making desirable changes on-farm to directly improve the food without subsequent manipulations. Scope for these changes is limited by animal homeostasis, but alternatives may be less desirable. Methods in vivo that suit typical pastoral farming practice and can complement the solving of animal health and production problems include: selection of traits or phenotypes; specialty diets; long-acting parenteral supplements; and modification of ruminal microflora. Successful techniques to increase the concentration of calcium, selenium, iodine and iron in milk or meat are described. Manipulations to change composition are only one part of bringing tailored foods to market. Commercial realisation of these new products needs the initiative and collaboration of scientists, veterinarians, growers and producers responding to market pull. The uptake of future biotechnologies to capture more value inside the farm gate will also be required if the pastoral industry in New Zealand is to sustain a global competitive advantage.