GENETICS ait track “The important management strategies SNAPSHOT: that help us make the most of our Ricky Luhrs, flock’s genetic potential are early weaning, condition scoring ewes Cavendish, Victoria at weaning to ensure they get back up to target weights, pregnancy testing, foetal ageing, good nutritional management of twins and singles, not shearing within six weeks of joining and good ram nutrition.” Ricky first learnt about genetics and sire selection through Australian Wool Innovation’s Lifetime Ewe Area: Management and MLA’s Bred Well 1,000ha Fed Well programs, and by attending Enterprise: a Best Wool Best Lamb conference. Wool and prime lamb production “I really enjoyed the learning curve,” Livestock: he said. 5,500 18.5 micron Merino ewes “It was a great way of combining my (3,000 joined to Merinos, remainder youthful enthusiasm for wanting joined to terminal sires). Joining results with Dad’s (Russell Luhrs’) 500–800 yearling ewes each year. knowledge and passion for Merino Pasture: sheep. We had the same breeding Ryegrass and clover containment feeding period to ensure objectives so it worked well.” ewes are kept in good condition from Soil: joining right through.” Ricky said interpreting ASBVs in a sale catalogue was easy, but he found it Clay and sandy loam Genetics have also played a significant more challenging to understand the role, enabling Ricky to increase Rainfall: balance and heritability of traits “so 500–550mm lambing percentages, lamb growth, you don’t end up single‑trait heavy.” and carcase and fleece weights. To convince themselves that buying “By selecting rams based on Australian rams with ASBVs improved their flock, More information Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs), father and son set about designing we’ve worked on getting more fat and their own on‑farm trial. muscle into our ewes so they have Ricky Luhrs more of a fuel tank on their back for “We bought rams from E: rick.luhrs@live.com.au tough times which has, in turn, helped performance‑recorded studs, new to us but high on our radar for traits Watch Ricky tell the story of lamb survival,” Ricky said. genetic progress in his flock we wanted, and measured raw data Today, their operation is focused on on all the progeny from the different genetics.mla.com.au/merino improving their rate of genetic gain, bloodline groups,” Ricky said. particularly in traits for early growth (YWT* and PWT*), fat and muscle “We measured early growth (marking (PFAT* and PEMD*), fleece weight to weaning), fleece weight at (YCFW*) and plain bodies (YSL* first full‑fleece shearing and the working with YCFW* – to prevent percentage that joined as ewe lambs.” mulesing and working towards The new bloodlines, selected using six‑month shearing). ASBVs, outshone their traditional This, combined with improved breeder bloodlines in average growth rate, and ram management, has catapulted marking weight, weaning weight, their operation into becoming more fleece weight and lamb survival. ■ efficient, profitable and sustainable. *YWT – yearling weight; PWT – post‑weaning “Genetic selection is an important weight; PFAT – post‑weaning fat depth (mm); PEMD – post‑weaning eye muscle depth (mm); tool, but it is one of many on the farm,” YCFW – yearling clean fleece weight; YSL – Ricky said. yearling staple length. 13