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28 December 1998 |
Ref 98/295 |
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Human blind dates can be notoriously unreliable, but if you're a merino sheep you can now meet your perfect match - on the Internet.
The chances of a perfect match for sheep are rather higher than for people, according to CSIRO geneticist Dr Andrew Swan. One reason is that many top rams have already been tested to show what they can deliver.
"Stud merino breeders have been measuring and evaluating sires in central test programs for quite a few years now, so that woolgrowers can pick the rams with the qualities most suited to the needs of their flock," Dr Swan says.
"At CSIRO Animal Production, we've taken the sheep mating game into the 21st Century by creating a website that allows graziers to match the genetic abilities of individual rams to the precise requirements of their ewes and farm enterprise, online."
For more than five years CSIRO and NSW Agriculture scientists have collected and analysed data from a number of central test programs throughout Australia. These programs involve the elite sires from many of the most influential studs. The resulting database provides woolgrowers and other ram breeders with a clear indication of the "performance", or genetic merit, of individual rams.
The project was supported by The Woolmark Company and the Co-operative Research Centre for Premium Quality Wool.
"The database enables woolgrowers to pick the rams best suited to their flocks' needs. If the need is for higher wool weight, they might select a sire which is proven to deliver heavier fleeces; if it is for fine wool, then they'd pick a sire which transmits that quality more strongly to its progeny."
The database has been available to the industry in book form, but Dr Swan has now made it state-of-the-art by creating an on-line Internet service called the Merino Superior Sires site: http://mss.anprod.csiro.au
"The main advantage of the site is that woolgrowers can ask questions. It then helps them locate the ram with the qualities which mostly closely match their flock needs."
The qualities of a ram are expressed as EPVs or estimated progeny values. These cover traits such as wool weight, fibre diameter, visual wool quality, bodyweight and shape (conformation) and, importantly, dollar-value breeding objectives. These combine information about the traits of a ram most likely to deliver higher income to a commercial woolgrowing flock.
"Woolgrowers can query the website to identify the top sires for individual traits or combinations of traits that their flock requires. The website then tells them how to get in touch with the owner of the high-performing ram."
At a subtler level, the site also lets the woolgrower explore the genetic relationships between different traits, and to visualise the performance of a group of rams.
The background of the ram and the stud flock from which it comes can also be traced, for more detailed evaluation of the sires which are of interest.
"The website has numerous other advantages. For one thing it can be regularly updated with the latest sire information. It also can hold more details on performance traits than is possible in a paper document.
"In an industry that has been slow to adopt new technologies, projects like this offer woolgrowers ready access to information to improve their enterprise, without having to leave the farm, and scientists have a new way to deliver their findings more efficiently to the people who will use them," Dr Swan says.
More information:
Dr Andrew Swan, CSIRO Animal Production 02 6922 5444 (ah) or
02 6776 1377 (w)
Ms Pat Wilson, CSIRO Animal Production 02 9840 2741 or
mobile 0419 233 862
Email: a.swan@chiswick.anprod.csiro.au
(Australia's largest scientific research organisation)
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