Apart from its marketing activities, the New Zealand Dairy Production and Marketing Board has many important technical functions, the most important being its herd-improvement work. The Board employs about 12 consulting officers, who advise farmers on production. It carries out all testing of dairy cows and does much research into statistics which serve to guide farmers in the selection of suitable breeding stock, including a continuing survey of the production records of the progeny of selected bulls. The Board runs on a business basis the Artificial Breeding Service at Newtead, near Ruakura, a service taken over from the Department of Agriculture, which had set it up. The Board administers the Bobby Calf Marketing Regulations, which organise the sale of bobby calves through a pooling system, to ensure that farmers receive full returns for their calves.

In New Zealand pig meat is a by-product of the dairy industry, for almost all pigs are fattened mainly on skimmed milk. The New Zealand Pig Producers' Council, responsible for the development and welfare of the pig industry, works therefore under the New Zealand Dairy Production and Marketing Board Act. The Council also runs a National Pig Breeding Centre to improve the quality of breeding stock.