Roseville Park Merino Stud Ramselect Workshop Roseville Park Merino Stud

Welcome Workshop Outcomes Determining the profit drivers of your flock in your environment Selecting a breeding objective for your flock Using breeding Values and visual assessment to select rams Who can help?

Relevant Roles in Industry Chair NSWSMBA Scientific liaison Committee Councillor NSWSMBA Merino Consultative group – advising to AWI on S.G Industry representative to Sheep CRC, MLA, AWI and CSIRO on Sheepgenetics & INF Served four years as industry rep. on advisory committee to S.G (AWI & MLA) Founding Director of MERINOLINK (Involved in R&D Temora Research Station) Trangie Sire Evaluation committee.

Introduction “If you can’t measure it, You cant’ manage it”. Why does Roseville Park use ASBV’s Client demands Roseville Park Breeding Objectives How we measure to achieve these objectives

Sire Evaluation Entered over 25 sires since 1990 Good linkage Measures expensive traits Tests rams in a wide range of environments

What have we achieved? Genetic gain through sheep genetics information 10 years YCFW +8.5% to +13.8% YWT +0.2% to +3.6% Raw data terms in our own flock FW 6.5KG to 7.4kg which is a 13.8% gain FD 19.5 to 18.0mic which is a 7.6% reduction YWT 88 to 122KG which is a 38.6% gain

Profit Drivers Important to work out the KEY profit drivers in your flock. Fleece weight, Body weight, Micron and fertility. Heritability of traits FW = 35% - 45% FD = 50%- 55% WT = 25% -35% Fertility = 5% -10%

Profit Drivers Assess the right situation for your environment Implement all of these factors into your long term breeding objective Concentrate more on individual traits than the indexes.

Matthew Coddington Roseville Park Merino Stud Proof of profit Matthew Coddington Roseville Park Merino Stud

Proof of Profit In 2011/12 Roseville Park sold just under 700 rams for an Av. $1177 The biggest seller of ram semen in NSW selling 3295 doses which was 945 doses more than the second highest seller of semen Also marketed semen and embryos to Uruguay, Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand

RP09-0014 5,000 doses semen sold Body weight – 151.5Kg Micron- 16.8 CF% - 99.9% EMD – 41mm ASBV’s BW- +6.3 FD- -1.8 CFW- +27.7 Index- 176

RP09-0014 Looked good from 2 weeks old Out of a ewe that was Grand Champion Medium wool Dubbo National 2006 Weighed 113kg 13months Unbeaten as a 1yo March shorn Bendigo Midstate Hogget ram

RP09-0014 2 year old results Champion Medium wool ram Sydney Royal NSW champion Pair Bruce Merriman Breeders Group From all information we were able to join him confidently to over 300 ewes and use in ET

Progeny Results One Oak Merino Stud Top price at Hamilton $19,500 Son has won Champion March shorn and Junior ram at Bendigo and Dubbo Midstate hogget and Riverina Ram of the year Champion March shorn Medium and Fine/Medium ewes and rams at Dubbo National and also two reserves 30 sons in the ram sale 13 out of 16 reserves All 9 ewes in shed

Sire Evaluation Entered into the INF New England, Balmoral and Temora Research Station Sire Evaluation Temora results High Measured and Visual Performance results

Classers Grade (Visual assessment)

Measured traits and classers grade

Information Is POWER! The more information that you can supply or find out about your flock the more in control you can be Likewise the same can be said by your ram provider Agents and classers need to be aware of a stud breeder and commercial flock breeders direction of their flock’s and the environment in which they are run to give proper and informed advice.

Balance ASBV’ give a good indication of a rams predicted performance. Take out environmental factors and birth type/ rare type factors Give cross flock information and can give you information on hard to measure and hard to see traits such as WEC, Staple strength.

Balance With that information you then need to have your breeding objective made up in your mind. Assess the ram visually for physical or visual faults – such as hocks, pasterns, teeth, black spots etc. In an auction situation- At home and at the sale.

Don’t be afraid to ask If you need more information about your ram source, it is better to ask than be unprepared before an auction and end up with the wrong ram and become disenchanted with the stud that you are buying from. Commercial flocks that have a reputable sheep classer or the stud owner classing their flock often can achieve their breeding objectives faster. This has been proven in wether trials & ewe hogget comps.