Focus on market realities, not technologies

That’s according to Lincoln University Professor in animal breeding and genetics Jonathan Hickford, New Zealand, who presented at the 16th World Corriedale Congress in Bendigo recently.

Professor Hickford said tools like estimated breeding values (EBVs), genomics, and even SNP chips, are useful, but won’t take us any closer to breeding the perfect sheep.

“You’ve got to ask, what are these sheep perfect for? It has to be perfect for your market and you’ve got to figure out how your market will exist with all of the challenges that are facing it,” Professor Hickford said.

He said as consumers think more about the health and wellbeing of livestock, as well as the environmental impacts of farming, the market will decide on the industry’s priorities, so it is important to stay on top of challenges to its sustainability.

One challenge was supplementary feeding; he said the days of feeding livestock human food are numbered.

“Can we afford to feed livestock grain when we should possibly be feeding that grain to people? It’s hellishly inefficient, using one food to make another, and we’ve got to think about that,” he said.

“You owe it to yourselves as farmers, to breed sheep that require fewer inputs.”

He said farmers need to increase the resilience of sheep in the face of disease.

“We need animals that are more resilient, ones you can leave in the paddock and walk away from while you come to the Corriedale Congress, and will be okay,” he said.

He said farmers also had to think about having a smaller environmental footprint.

“Water quality, greenhouses gases, these are the sorts of things we have to think about; trade deals will be struck, lost and won based on environmental methods,” he said.

Professor Hickford said while these threats may appear scary, “farmers are smart people and I think we can respond”.

He said producers just need to ensure they are producing products that the market actually wants.

“Want is important, not need, because no one needs sheep, yes there are over a billion sheep in the world, but they’re not actually needed outside of farming,” he said.

“You have to have a bunch of people that are prepared to pay $20,000 for a woollen jacket.”

He said while producers shouldn’t have blind faith in genetic technologies, the tools can be useful in modifying direction quicker.

“Many breeders say it takes two lifetimes to breed the perfect sheep, one lifetime to figure out how to do it, and the second lifetime to actually do it,” he said.

“But you’ve got to be constantly changing and adapting to markets, and sitting down with your crystal ball to think about the future and how your sheep can continue to serve a purpose.”

He said Corriedale breeders needed to focus on the consistency of their wool, in diameter, colour and staple strength.

He said the mean fibre diameter should be under 26 micron.

When it came to meat, they should be breeding for tenderness.

“If you are not prepared to do it outstandingly, then go and farm cows,” he said.