THE Yardstick Merino Sire Evaluation program running at the Katanning Research Facility is proving to be popular among WA sheep breeders.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) research officer John Paul Collins said the sire evaluation project had been "one positive industry engagement" program that had attracted more than 40 producers to a field day last year and had a "lot of interest" in the sheep breeding sector.
The Federation of Performance Sheep Breeders WA manages the evaluation site which is hosted by DPIRD.
"There's a lot of interest when the results come through," Mr Collins said.
"It's something we enjoy doing and it provides the producers with independent, impartial results."
Mr Collins said usually the maximum number of participants in the program was 12 due to the amount of land and ewes available, but for the latest 2020 evaluation they stretched it out to 14, with two sires from the Eastern States involved due to the drought in Victoria affecting the program there.
The preliminary results have come through for that evaluation and Mr Collins was waiting on the Australian Merino Sire Evaluation Association (AMSEA) to update him with the latest details.
There are currently nine Merino sire evaluation sites located throughout the major wool growing regions of Australia, with more than 130 sires participating in the program.
Sites are independently managed by a local committee who decide on a locally-relevant breeding objective, call for sire entrants and select sires for evaluation.
Evaluation is then carried out according to the requirements set by AMSEA.
Pingelly is host to a Merino Lifetime Productivity Project which is also managed by the Federation of Performance Sheep Breeders WA in conjunction with Murdoch University on a research property owned by The University of Western Australia.
The third site in WA is run at Muresk by the Stud Merino Breeders' Association of WA in partnership with the Muresk Institute, called the Muresk Sire Evaluation site.
AMSEA executive officer Ben Swain said the number of active sites varied from year to year, with about 100-120 rams participating each year.
"It has been running since 1989 and is the longest running genetic benchmarking program in the world," Mr Swain said.
"We have evaluated 3000 sires in that time."
Mr Swain said producers liked the program because it was able to provide a good benchmark for them across a range of environments around Australia.
"Rams that perform well in sire evaluations sell a lot of semen," he said.
"So there is also that commercial benefit to producers."
Mr Swain said lambs were being born from the 2020 evaluation but they wouldn't start reporting the results until they reached weaning.
Reporting is carried out on the progress of the evaluation over a couple of years.
"It is a fairly long process," Mr Swain said.
"But you get results throughout on everything that you can measure on a sheep.
"The big thing is it is all done independently and is very robust.
"It is very well respected by breeders."
Wagin farmers Cam and Jess Clifton participated in the 2018 and 2020 drops at Katanning and are excited about their results which show they are on track to meet their breeding objectives.
The Cliftons have been breeding rams since 1997 and began operating Borondi Poll Merino stud in 2013.
They have focused on breeding out wrinkle in their 2500 head flock while also increasing clean fleece weight and carcase traits that have a positive effect on fertility and maternal traits as well.
Last week Mr Clifton said the results of the evaluation consolidated that what they were doing was working.
He said the combination of wool and meat gave the modern Merino an advantage over other breeds.
"All our wether lambs were processed averaging $7.80 per kilo," Mr Clifton said.
"The combined wool and meat income will gross around $200 per head."
Mr Clifton's four-year-old Borondi Poll 160201 was part of the latest completed sire evaluation in WA (the 2018 Yardstick drop).
The evaluation showed that out of 12 sires in the test Borondi Poll 160201 recorded the lowest body wrinkle at -0.4, the lowest combined breech wrinkle (at -0.2 for marking stage and -0.4 at hogget stage) yet still managed to produce the average clean fleece weight in the evaluation.
The ram also bred progeny with the highest combined carcase traits including four separate body weights, yearling fat and eye muscle density.
"Every good stud breeder adopts techniques to breed good sheep," Mr Clifton said.
"Every stud breeder will tell you their techniques are the best.
"But there's one way to find out, the sire evaluation.
"It is the best independent progeny test available.
"All environmental effects are taken away, therefore highlighting the truths and exposing any faults.
"Up to 35 traits are measured and tested, therefore making it far more comprehensive than both Australian Sheep Breeding Values and the show ring."
The Cliftons don't show their rams because it "doesn't always give buyers a true representation of genetic merit".
- All past sire evaluation results can be be viewed on the Merino Superior Sires website for those looking for specific genetic traits.
