SIBI Scholarship winner focuses on improving reproductive success
Improving the reproductive success of maiden ewes has been shown to improve farm profitability and ewe lifetime productivity. Veterinarian Tom Clune is a SIBI Sholarship recipient undertaking a PhD and is part of the team at Murdoch University leading a 3-year project for Meat and Livestock Australia investigating opportunities for improving reproductive success in young ewes.
Supporting producers to deliver the volume and quality of sheep and meat required by markets through increasing production was a key focus of SIBI.
Tom’s research is focussing on the impacts of infectious diseases, and whether diseases already present in Australia cause lamb losses during pregnancy or soon after birth.
Lamb losses are often not noticed until marking. “By that time it is not possible to work out if the losses occurred during pregnancy or soon after birth. Also, by the time marking has occurred and losses are noticed, it is usually too late to get the necessary samples to diagnose the cause of the problem,” said Dr Clune.
“Producers commonly report discrepancies between scanning and lambing rates, but we know surprisingly little about how common it is for losses to occur during pregnancy in Australian sheep,” said Dr Clune.
The WA sheep industry scholarship program is designed to support and encourage individuals who wish to pursue further study by addressing key industry questions relevant to the sheep industry supply chain in WA. The next round of applications close on 31 October 2018. For further information please visit the WA sheep industry scholarship program.