Genetic evaluation in Merinos: the past and future opportunities
K. D. Atkins A
+ Author Affiliations
Animal Production Science 61(18) 1745-1750 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN21519
Submitted: 5 October 2021 Accepted: 5 October 2021 Published: 20 October 2021
Abstract
An abbreviated history of genetic evaluation in Merinos demonstrates the remarkable changes that have occurred over the past 50 years. The amount of information available from an increasing number of studs adopting detailed measurement and recording is enormous and much effort has been directed at encouraging selection practices in studs on the basis of this information. In the past we have relied on genetic gains made in the ram breeding sector to be transferred on average to ram buyers, after a lag, for the benefit of the industry. But ram buyers can markedly influence their productivity by being active participants in genetic evaluation rather than relying on gains trickling down on average from ram breeders. Strategies for commercial producers involving choice of ram breeder(s), effective use of breeding values for ram purchases, and on-farm selection and management in the commercial flock are canvassed.
Keywords: genetic evaluation, ram buyers, stud selection, MERINOSELECT, RamSelect, precision management, lifetime productivity.
References
Atkins KD (1993) Benefits of genetic improvement to the Merino wool industry. Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding 41, 257–268.Atkins KD, Semple SJ (2003) Using fibre measurements for clip preparation and selection in commercial Merino flocks. Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding 51, 127–129.
Atkins KD, Semple SJ, Casey AE, Hygate LC (1992) Production differences between Merino bloodlines from NSW wether comparisons (1981–1991). Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding 40, 106–113.
Atkins KD, Gilmour AR, Thompson R, Coelli KA (1998) Across-flock evaluation and optimisation of pedigree recording for Merino sheep. In ‘Proceedings of sixth world congress on genetics applied to livestock production. Vol. 24’, Armidale, NSW, Australia. pp. 3–10.
Atkins KD, Richards JS, Semple SJ (2006) The application of genetic principles to precision production systems in sheep. In ‘Proceedings of 8th world congress on genetics applied to livestock production’, August 2006, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. CD-ROM Communication 05-01.
Atkins KD, Hogan LM, Boshoff J, Brown DJ, Swan AA, Schmidt C, Woo JJ, Chandler H, Watts C (2018) RamSelect: an aid to purchasing superior flock rams. In ‘Proceedings of 11th world congress on genetics applied to livestock production’, 11–16 February 2018, Auckland, New Zealand. p. 35.
Baillie BG, Bennett NW, Butt JA (1980) Industry acceptance of Trangie sheep recommendations. Proceedings of Australian Society of Animal Production 13, 176–181.
Brien FD, Ponzoni RW (1990) A description of WOOLPLAN. In ‘Proceedings of 4th world congress on genetics applied to livestock production. Vol. 15’, Edinburgh, Scotland. pp. 216–219.
Brown DJ, Ball A, Huisman AE, Swan AA, Graser HU, Woolaston RR, Ball AJ, Atkins KD, Banks RG (2007) Genetic evaluation system for the Australian sheep industry. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 17, 187–194.
Brown DJ, Swan AA, Boerner V, Li L, Gurman PM, McMillan AJ, van der Werf JHJ, Chandler HR, Tier B, Banks RG (2018) Single-step genetic evaluations in the Australian sheep industry. In ‘Proceedings of 11th world congress on genetics applied to livestock production’, 11–16 February 2018, Auckland, New Zealand. p. 460.
Casey AE, Atkins KD (1999) ‘MERINO BENCHMARK’: developing on-stud across-flock performance recording. In ‘Proceedings of the 13th conference of Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics’. pp. 165–168.
Casey AE, Atkins KD, Coelli KA, Cottle DJ (1995) Merino central test sire evaluation. Medium wool (1989–1993) and fine wool (1990–1993). Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding 43, 30–46.
Egerton-Warburton KL, Atkins KD, Stephen LM, Mortimer SI (2019) Wether trials and their role in Merino bloodline evaluation. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 23, 230–233.
Lewer RP (1987) Progress in establishing an Australian Merino sire referencing scheme. In ‘Merino improvement programs in Australia’. (Ed. BJ McGuirk) pp. 413–420. (Australian Wool Corporation)
McGuirk BJ (1978) Objective measurement for flock rams. Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding 26, 17–22.
Mortimer SI, Atkins KD (1989) Genetic evaluation of production traits between and within flocks of Merino sheep. I. Hogget fleece weights, body weight and wool quality. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 40, 433–443.
| Genetic evaluation of production traits between and within flocks of Merino sheep. I. Hogget fleece weights, body weight and wool quality.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Pattinson R (1981) What characters determine the clean price of wool at auction. Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding 29, 93–98.
Richards JS, Atkins KD (2004) Simultaneous assortment of animals for meat and wool production in Merino flocks. Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding 52, 193–201.
Richards JS, Atkins KD (2005) The role of selected wether flocks in Merino wool enterprises. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 16, 223–226.
Roberts EM, Atkins KD, Cottle DJ, Eppleston J, James JW, Lollback M, Schuman W, Reed P (1991) A National Sire Evaluation Program – 1991. Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding 39, 2–7.
Swan AA, van der Werf JHJ, Atkins KD (2007) Developments in breeding objectives for the Australian sheep industry. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 17, 483–490.
Swan AA, Brown DJ, Daetwyler HD, Hayes BJ, Kelly M, Moghaddar N, van der Werf JHJ (2014) Genomic evaluations in the Australian sheep industry. In ‘Proceedings of 10th world congress on genetics applied to livestock production’, 17–22 August 2014, Vancouver, Canada. p. 334.
Swan AA, Gurman PM, Boerner V, Brown DJ, Clark S, Gore K, Granleese T, van der Werf JHJ (2018) Estimating breeding values for animals with genotype only when genetic group effects are important. In ‘Proceedings of 11th world congress on genetics applied to livestock production’, 11–16 February 2018, Auckland, New Zealand. p. 346.
Taylor P, Atkins K, Bird-Gardiner T, Semple S, Mortimer S (2007) Which QPLU$ breeding objectives produced the greatest wool income during the period of selection and the highest gross margins in the later drops? In ‘Trangie QPLU$ Merinos – Open Day 2007’. (Ed. CE Pope) pp. 22–30. (NSW DPI: Orange, NSW, Australia)
