Mr Warner, along with his parents Graeme and Gwen and wife Katie, runs a mixed farming enterprise at Beechworth.
DNA testing to obtain a genetic flock profile has changed the way Victorian Merino breeder Stuart Warner not only looks at his flock, but how he will approach his genetic selection decisions in the future.
As a registered deliverer of Bred Well Fed Well and RamSelect workshops, Mr Warner has a close understanding of the power of Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) as an objective genetic selection tool.
But the additional information available through the DNA Flock Profile test has provided him with new insights into how well his flock is tracking in the pursuit of his breeding objectives, and opened his mind to new ways of pursuing those goals.
“It was a real eye opener and it has definitely changed the way we think about our genetic selection,” Mr Warner said.
“We will now be putting a little more emphasis on selection for fleece weight, although we won’t do that at the expense of carcase traits, but we wouldn’t have even contemplated doing that without the data from the Flock Profile test.
“It was also good to see confirmation, presented in the flock profile test data, that the investment we have put into rams with the right ASBVs over the last 15 years is really paying off. We weren’t surprised that using ASBVs works, but it was nice to have that confirmation of exactly how that approach has changed the genetic composition of our flock.”
Mr Warner, along with his parents Graeme and Gwen and wife Katie, runs a mixed farming enterprise at Beechworth, covering grape and wine production, a small Angus herd, 500 composite ewes and 1200 Merino breeders.
Earlier this year he participated in the DNA Flock Profile Pilot Trail conducted by the Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation (Sheep CRC), as part of the test’s final validation activity prior to its recent commercial release.
The Sheep CRC is a collaboration of more than 40 organisations from across industry, government and the commercial sector, and includes producer groups, farm advisers, universities and research organisations, meat processors and retailers. It has developed a range of DNA tests to drive faster and more affordable genetic improvement, with the DNA Flock Profiler its most recent product to be released to market.
-Sheep CRC