MEAT eating quality is a tough trait to measure on a live animal unless producers are looking at using genomic technologies.
Sheep Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) industry engagement and training project manager, Lu Hogan, Armidale, said interest was increasing in eating quality traits that could not physically be measured.
“Genomics allows producers to select prime lamb sires for lean meat yield and eating quality characteristics,” Ms Hogan said.
The biggest advantage it offered the lamb industry was the added accuracy to Australian sheep breeding values (ASBVs) in early life and information around eating quality.
“The importance is being able to test rams earlier in life, allowing them to be used earlier,” she said.
“This reduces the generation interval and increases the rate of genetic progress in ram breeding flocks. That has a benefit to the whole industry as it results in faster progress.”
Prime lamb producers were focusing on balancing growth rates to get good carcase weights to meet market specifications. There was increasing interest in health traits including resistance to worms and traits around eating quality.
“Eating quality is important to ensure products on retail shelves are providing good eating experiences for consumers,” she said.
“Reproductive performance is also important in self-replacing flocks. It is of interest to industry to have good performance in this area.
“We are seeing more ram breeders genomic test their sale rams. We are also anticipating growing interest in rams that have been tested due to the huge advantages and increased accuracy and confidence in performance.”
Sheep producer, Peter Jackson, Coronga White Suffolks, Orange, said the main reason producers do genomic testing was, despite the costs, to provide genetic confirmation of the progress they were making within their flock.
“The other thing it does, which you don’t get from other means, is it gives meat eating qualities,” he said.
“It positions studs to focus on more eating quality in breeding selection and confirms where they are going and the accuracy of our figures. Quite often it results in improvement in ASBVs.
“Until sheep processors are able to pay a premium to lamb producers for high eating quality lambs, then producers should purchase rams based on the criteria which maximise their profit,
“For example producers can buy something that has higher growth and higher dressing percentage, which makes them more money. Higher muscling means more money.”
More ram buyers from prime lamb backgrounds were learning and feeling more reassured, Dr Jackson said.
“Particularly so with online catalogues on Sheep Genetics and RamSelect, they can click on anything. When they see it has been genomic tested they have confidence that the presented figures are accurate,” he said.
“It provides reassurance and confirmation to ram buyers. It also can improve the accuracy of whole flock.”
Genomic technology was confirming the advantages of performance recording and using sheep breeding values.
Studs will include meat eating quality to position the industry to be able to move, over the coming years, into measurable meat eating quality which is a pathway denied to people that are not following Sheep Genetic programs.
