Mum's the word on sheep pedigree: Macdonald
The minister is scanning the tag on a ewe with a handheld tag reader.
With Mother’s Day just around the corner Orange-based researchers are developing cost effective ways to match lambs and their mothers in a bid to boost genetic gain and sheep producer’s returns through greater knowledge and use of animal pedigree, Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald, said today.
The work is being carried out by NSW Department of Primary Industries researchers in conjunction with the CRC for Sheep Industry Innovation.
"The fact is our mothers contribute to our genetic make-up and it’s the same in sheep," Minister Macdonald said.
"Our researchers here at Orange are interested in matching lambs with ewes so that they can get the complete picture of the lambs genetics - not just who the sire is, but also who the mother is.
"Each year in NSW about 11.5 million lambs are born.
"Knowing the pedigree of a lamb is an important part of achieving genetic improvement in a flock - and is invaluable in scientific studies.
"Establishing and recording which lambs belong to which ewes has been a labourintensive process for many sheep studs - and most commercial producers don’t bother because of the cost and effort."
Mr Macdonald said by using RFID (radio frequency identification) ear tags and locating an electronic tag reader at a walk-through point on a farm pedigree can be painlessly established by analysing the electronic tag sequence of ewes and lambs that pass the reader over time.
"The analysis assembles information on the degree of association between the lambs and ewes to establish which animals are the mothers to which lambs," he said.
"It’s much easier than watching lambs and ewes together and manually recording the ear tags, then entering the data into a computer program - or, as some studs do, taking costly DNA samples to check maternity associations."
"Knowing the pedigree can improve the rate of genetic progress a stud can make through accurate selection decisions, and these benefits are passed on to the commercial clients of these studs.
"The degree of association between lambs and their mothers had been tested in a recent DPI study, where two flocks of 100 and 200 Merino ewes and their lambs from Trangie, NSW were examined."
NSW DPI Livestock Research Officer (Animal Breeding), Jess Richards said all ewes and lambs were tagged with RFID tags so their association could be recorded as the number of times each lamb followed its dam past a reader on their way to water.
"There is a large variation in the level of association between lambs and their dams," Ms Richards said.
"In the 28 day period , for example, some lambs only followed their dams past the reader twice, whereas some followed their dam through 44 times."
Ms Richards said the study found some relationship between weaning weight and pedigree association.
More research is required to see whether later performance is related to an animal’s early maternal bonding.
Visit The CRC for Sheep Industry Innovation website at www.sheepcrc.org.au
Sheep Genetics and Improvement Research Unit
Media contact: Tom Braz 0428 256 596