Investment in genetic improvement in meat sheep breeding- 2007 and beyond

SUMMARY Developments in genetic improvement for lamb breeding have underpinned significant increases in lamb value and the income of lamb producers. As the use of tools such as LAMBPLAN has strengthened, the opportunities for building stronger supply-chain focused breeding and production businesses have grown. This paper outlines some of these developments and how they are being applied in a terminal sire breeding operation. INTRODUCTION - CHANGE IN THE LAMB INDUSTRY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS Returns for Australian lamb producers have been growing steadily over the past decade providing a profile for the industry unseen in Australia. Lamb has largely overcome many characteristics of an immature industry such as production swings, inconsistent supply patterns, and variable carcase quality. These fluctuating supply patterns were driven by the industries opportunistic attitude to lamb production. The production systems for lamb have always been and are still primarily a by-product of wool. The wool market indicator was a key driver of lamb supply with downward movements over a sustained period resulting in number fluctuations during the 1980-1990's. This has impacted upon the viability of committed lamb producers as large numbers of 1 st cross lambs from the merino flocks reduces the market price significantly and the viability of the committed (primarily second cross in Eastern States) producers. The stability in the market prices for lamb over the past decade is supporting a new era of lamb professionalism as opposed to the traditional opportunism. A growing number of Australian producers are becoming lamb specialist producers with wool becoming a secondary component of the enterprise. The stability in production and market demand is having a flow on effect and driving investment at all levels. Examples include: • New processing plants are being built or upgraded • Investment into processing technology to reduce cost of processing • Large numbers of specialist lamb feedlots with state of the art infrastructure • Property design and layout and management systems are being tailored to high lamb production (not merino production) • Investment in genetics and artificial breeding is at an all time high For producers this is changing production systems to cater for new look supply chains. The structure of the lamb industry is now becoming more specialised. These changes to structure are largely mirroring beef developments over the past 20 years. The structural changes in production include three main areas: