Keeping detailed and accurate ram team records has driven a flock transformation for Kangaroo Island Merino breeder Keith Bolto and proved why the new features offered on the RamSelect Plus app are a winner for commercial producers.
About a decade ago the Bolto family began selecting rams for use in their flock, based on objective measurement information, and about five years ago began performance recording their own rams and the top 200 ewes in their breeding nucleus, in order to compare their home-bred rams with those on the open market.
It was a move which Mr Bolto says has been the key to accelerating the rate of improvement to their business’s profit drivers. Since 2000, the flock average micron diameter has fallen from 23 to 18.5m in 2015, while at the same time fleece weight has been maintained at 6-6.5kg per adult sheep, all thanks to improved genetic selection decisions.
“We’re actually seeing an even faster improvement in our nucleus flock, but there is a lag before we see that improvement flow through our commercial flock so my hope is we’ll see some significant changes in our commercial production over the next five years,” Mr Bolto said.
This year RamSelect Plus app added a series of new features to allow commercial sheep producers to keep track of the genetic merit of the rams they are using. The new ram team manager section makes it easy for producers to save information on the rams they purchase each year and benchmark their ram teams and new ram selections against industry averages. This allows them to track the impact of their rams over time using a series of ram team management tools. It is very easy to enter data on current and past rams and keep the list up to date by automatically saving new purchases.
Using this new tracking and benchmark tool, ram buyers can make more informed and targeted selections using the RamSelect app to ensure new genetics will advance their flock and meet their breeding objectives.
“RamSelect is the perfect tool for buying rams because you can simply enter the traits you’re looking for,” Mr Bolto said. “It’s a great tool for comparing rams to find out which ones offer value and which ones will do the job for your business.