Sheep industry gains draw praise

The sheep industry in NZ had made massive gains in productivity in the past 15 to 20 years and should be proud of its achievements, sheep breeders were told during the Hokonui Moonshiners Texel conference and tour of Otago and Southland last week reports Straight furrow. In an address to more than 70 conference visitors to Agresearch's Invermay campus near Mosgiel, animal genomics scientist John McEwan explained the progress to date and potential of recent advances in DNA sequencing tools for sheep breeders. Sheep and beef farms accounted for an estimated 81% of NZ's pastoral land area and that dominance was not likely to change much in future, Mr McEwan said. Figures from the M&W Economic Service over the past 15 years compared productivity of the different farming sectors. The beef industry had increased carcase weights by 7 -8% and the dairy industry had increased production per cow by 25%. "But just compare that to the huge increase in productivity the sheep industry has done," Mr McEwan said. Lambing percentages had increased by 17-18% , average lamb weights by about 17% and kilograms of lambs per ewe had increased by 72% during the same period, he said. "The point I'm trying to make here is that the sheep industry should hold its head up high, because we've made massive gains in productivity." A large proportion of those gains had come from genetic improvement, much of that through programmes like Sheep Improvement Ltd, a performance recording and genetic evaluation service for Kiwi sheep farmers. Based on figures from Invermay's Coopworth research flock, Mr McEwan said over a 10-year period, the genetic improvement in sheep was worth $1.40 a head annually. For an average flock of 2500 ewes, that added genetic value translated into an annual increase in productivity of about $35,000 per farm, or $378 million annually to the sheep industry.