Guide to the top Merinos

A NEW report has revealed the profitability and performance of 73 merino bloodlines.

NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) development officer, Kathryn Egerton-Warburton, said Merino Bloodline Performance 2007-2018 delivers genetic data producers can use to inform their choice of rams.

“Analysis of nine individual traits and four financial indicators from 24 wether trials in NSW and one in Tasmania compared performance across bloodlines to show significant variation between the lines,” Dr Egerton-Warburton said.

“There was a strong relationship between fleece weight and fibre diameter across bloodlines, with a significant genetic variation across the fibre diameter range.

“This genetic variation offers two key options to fit breeding objectives – producers can choose a finer bloodline to reduce fibre diameter without compromising clean fleece weight or choose a bloodline with a heavier fleece weight and maintain their current fibre diameter.”

Merino bloodlines varied across a range of 3.6 microns in fibre diameter, 28 per cent in clean fleece weight and 13 per cent in live weight.

❝was There a relationship between fleece weight and fibre diameter across bloodlines...

— Dr Egerton-Warburton