Ovine Observer

Adoption of Australian Sheep Breeding Values by WA sheep producers

Meghan Cornelius, DAFWA Katanning

Genetic improvement is one of the essential tools that will enable Australian sheep producers to increase the productivity of their sheep enterprises. The Australian sheep industry has made significant advances in developing and adopting objective measurement and genetic evaluation, however there is still a lot of progress to be made.

Funded by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), ‘Sheep Genetics’ has been developed using a comprehensive sheep genetic database and evaluation service, providing commercially relevant estimated breeding values to help sheep producers more effectively select breeding animals for their particular enterprises.

Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) are an estimate of an animal’s true breeding value based on pedigree and performance recorded information. They are a necessary tool to determine which ram has the best genes to pass onto their progeny and in the longer term increase the rate of genetic gain not only for individual flocks but for the Western Australian (WA) sheep flock as a whole.

Current situation in WA

In 2014 there were 13 749 rams sold under-hammer from 316 stud flocks (Farm Weekly); 40.8% of these were sold with ASBVs (Table 1).

In 2015 there were 13 904 rams sold under-hammer from 285 stud flocks (Farm Weekly); 43.6% of these had ASBVs.

This illustrates an increase in the number of rams sold with ASBVs, and while we are seeing a decrease in the number of studs selling rams under-hammer (decrease of 9.8%), the majority (77%) of those are non-ASBV studs.

Between the different breed types, the proportion of rams sold under-hammer in WA include:

• 57.7% Merinos, 37.0% Terminal/Maternal and 5.3% Dohnes (2014)
• 56.9% Merinos, 37.4% Terminal/Maternal and 5.7% Dohnes (2015)

Despite Merinos being a long way behind the Terminal/Maternal breeds in adoption of ASBVs (Table 2), it is encouraging to see the increase in Merinos sold with ASBVs (16.3%) between 2014 and 2015.

The geographic regions where sheep producers and studs are located are shown in Table 3. This information can be used to indicate where extension efforts can be focussed to increase knowledge and understanding of ASBVs to both breeders and producers.

*Numbers from DAFWA analysis 2012/13

Barriers to adoption

A 2011 report by the Sheep Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) entitled ‘Genetics Training Initiative: Communication and Skills Development Needs Assessment’ concluded that the major barriers to adoption of ASBVs and related technology by Australian sheep breeders is the lack of demand from commercial producers. The lack of demand is driven by a perceived lack of benefit in using ASBVs to select rams. Complexity of the technology and lack of clear market signals for ASBV related traits are also major factors. This is consistent with the barriers to adoption emphasised in a survey carried out in 2011 by Sheep CRC and Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA), which were:

• ram buyers are not using ASBVs for buying decisions
• ASBVs are too confusing and too complex to understand and use
• breeders not convinced ASBVs are a useful or accurate tool
• ASBVs are too costly and time consuming to measure.

To combat these barriers to adoption, there are workshops available to producers that can educate participants on how to better understand ASBVs, show the benefits of using ASBVs and how to successfully utilise them for ram selection decisions. ‘RamSelect’ and ‘Bred Well Fed Well’ are the workshops that delve into understanding the importance of ASBVs and how, when used along with visual assessment, they can assist producers in buying the right genes for their sheep business.

While there are extra costs involved for breeders in getting ASBVs, when used appropriately and by educating clients (ram buyers) to their value, there are extra profits that can be made. The importance of educating ram buyers about ASBVs for breeders is shown in the examples below (Figure 2, 3, 4).

In 2015 analyses were run on a handful of studs selling rams under-hammer with ASBVs. As an example, the following three studs demonstrated a positive correlation between price and certain ASBV traits, most commonly index and body weight (Merinos and non-Merinos) and fleece weight (Merinos).

Figure 1 Significant positive correlation between price received per ram and the Dual Purpose Plus (DP+) index value (P<0.001) for a Merino stud in the Great Southern.

Figure 2 Significant positive correlation between price received per ram and the weaning weight (WWT) ASBV (P<0.001) for a Poll Dorset stud in the Great Southern.

Figure 3 Significant positive correlation between price received per ram and the yearling clean fleece weight (YCFW) ASBV (P<0.001) for a Merino stud in the Mid-West.

The data above is just a snap-shot and has not been adjusted for any other variables; it just represents the ASBV and the price received on the day of auction. This trend was not seen for all the studs using ASBVs, but can be attributed to the breeders’ making an effort to educate their clients on what the ASBVs are and what they mean for the client.

There are multiple case studies available demonstrating real life scenarios where ASBVs have been proven to be useful and accurate and have increased the productivity and profitability of sheep enterprises across Australia. For further information please see the links provided or contact Meghan Cornelius (Sheep Genetics Development officer) at DAFWA Katanning.

• Sheep CRC - ASBV case studies
• Sheep Genetics - brochures and factsheets 
• DAFWA - ASBVs