MERINOSELECT – try before you buy

13 Mar '07

2 min read

MERINOSELECT currently has a 'Try Before You Buy' offer, where Merino breeders who are not members of MERINOSELECT can participate in a non-commercial analysis, giving them an opportunity to experience the process involved.

MERINOSELECT is practical information for Merino breeders and woolgrowers on the genetic potential of their sheep, developed by Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) and Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA).

Sheep are ranked according to Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs), that allow commercial producers and breeders to make comparisons between sheep, and more effectively use information available to them such as wool testing results.

ASBVs are also directly comparable across flocks, which gives breeders the opportunity to benchmark their sheep's performance against industry, and their own performance from year to year. Traits such as wool weight and quality, growth, carcase merit, reproduction and worm resistance are all available as ASBVs.

This information is all contained in the MERINOSELECT database, of which there are currently over 1.1 million Merinos with around 100,000 new sheep added annually.

Dr Troy Fischer, Program Manager Sheep Productivity at AWI, said there has been a very strong response to the current offer, so much so that it will be repeated in June.

"There is no commitment to continue, no membership or animal fees as part of this offer, we are just trying to give Merino breeders a feel of what MERINOSELECT could offer them," said Dr Fischer.

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