Commercial Merino producers have the opportunity to be at the cutting edge of DNA research by participating in a pilot trial of the new Flock Profiling Test.
The Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation (Sheep CRC) will support up to 100 Merino producers to randomly sample 20 young ewes for DNA testing to define the genetic merit of their flocks.
By identifying genetic linkages with animals of known breeding values from the Information Nucleus database, the Flock Profiling Test will provide commercial producers with their flock's average genomic breeding values and scaled to Australian Sheep Breeding Values level for major Merino traits, such as yearling weight, fleece weight and fibre diameter.
Following preliminary tests of the Commercial Flock Profile Test, Sheep CRC chief executive James Rowe said the research body was now seeking to validate its use in an extensive trial on a large number of commercial flocks.
“Participation in the trial will provide valuable knowledge to the producers, as well as support the further development of this technology for wider industry adoption,” Professor Rowe said.
The CRC wil support producers’ involvement by providing a 50 per cent discount on the price of the DNA profiling tests. Producers will be able to benchmark their ewe drop for $500 instead of $1000 (20 tests at $25 each instead of $50 per test).
Preference will be given to Merino breeders who have RamSelect accounts with ram team records, as the flock profile results will be automatically reported into the RamSelect account and can be used in conjunction with the ram team information for future ram-buying decisions.
“It is important that both the ram-team and DNA Flock Profiling approaches give similar results and having data available from breeders using both methods will be most helpful to calibrating the results,” he said.
“The results of the Flock Profiling DNA tests will assist in making more informed and accurate ram purchases that help them attain specific breeding objectives, as well as helping to determine the impact that different rams will have on future production characteristics of the flock.
The pilot trial will run from October 2016 to the end of March 2017 and is capped at 100 flocks.
For more information go to http://www.sheepcrc.com.au