WITH the high prices currently being experienced in the sheep industry there are now more opportunities to benchmark data and assess genetic performance.
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This is the message from Craig Wilson, of Craig Wilson Livestock.
Mr Wilson is an organiser of the Australian Merino Lamb Trial.
The national trial has far reaching appeal and will draw on data produced from other evaluation processes in the industry. Back in 2004 the Craig Wilson Livestock Wether trial began.
Then in honour of the the legacy of a Lockhart sheep and wool producer the name became Peter Westblade Memorial Merino Challenge in 2010.
Mr Wilson said the impetus of the Australian Merino Lamb Trial was to have a national focus and provide valuable data.
"Entrants use the data to benchmark their genetic progress and over time many have been involved in all the trials," he said.
Given the high lamb prices plus good returns for wool and surplus sheep he said the relative performance of a flock's genetics to weight gain, in a cost effective manner, could be the difference between making money and losing it.
"The new trial will also do a full gross margin analysis of the merits of grazing crops and feedlotting," he said.
Mr Wilson explained the cost to replace rams was small in comparison to the income generated from high-performance genetics.
"Over time the cost to an average size Merino breeding business of not knowing the capacity of your genetics, has been proven again and again to add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost profit," he said.
"Forgoing the income from 25 wether lambs for one year and then knowing your flocks genetic capacity would seem a great investment in a self-replacing merino business, given the potential upside for significantly more income for many years to come."
Mr Wilson said due to the challenging climatic conditions for potential entrants in many areas in 2019 the proposed trial structure of a 60-team, two-year production trial for 2020-2022 was going to be impossible to achieve and the Merino Production Trial was expected to start in 2021.
The Australian Merino Lamb Trial will commence in March 2020 and conclude in September 2020, and is designed to replicate what many Merino breeders are now doing with the wether portion of their lambs.
Information will be reported back to entrants in time to assist with ram selection decisions this year.
The trial is a collaboration between Craig Wilson and Associates and Sally Martin Consulting and is endorsed and supported by NSW DPI.
Rural journalist with Fairfax media based in the Riverina.
Rural journalist with Fairfax media based in the Riverina.
