Merino ewes make up a significant proportion of the national ewe flock and are therefore the main target for improvements in maternal efficiency to help fill the gap between lamb supply and demand. Nationally, projected market demand can only be met by radical increases in carcass weight and a 10% lift in reproduction rate over the next five years. This project will research several management and breeding strategies that are likely to improve the kilograms of lamb weaned per kilogram of ewe joined (maternal efficiency) and the efficiency with which feed is converted to product (feed-use efficiency).
This will be achieved by:
- maintaining a flock of ewes of known and diverse genetic backgrounds to gain an understanding of factors influencing kilograms of lamb weaned per kilogram of ewe joined
- defining the heritability of feed-use efficiency in sheep
- determining the relationship between breeding values for muscle and fat depth at an early post-weaning age on feed-use efficiency
- determining the heritability of methane production and whether it is correlated with feed-use efficiency in growing and adult Merino ewes.
This activity is part of the lamb supply and quality project, which is developing solutions to increase lamb production as an investment in the future of the industry. It supports the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia's investment priority of improving the profitability of sheep industry and the WA Sheep Industry Strategic Plan 2025+ objectives of lifting lamb production by 2% per annum, growing the value of Western Australia's sheep products and contributing $2 billion to the state economy.