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Breeding Objective
NA Border Leicester Stud has a Breeding Objective which helps drive our commercial Merino enterprise. Breeding for carcass attributes that contribute to fast growth and higher dressing percentages, as well as Weaning Rate, driving ewe rearing ability for FX ewe Buyers.
As we chased these commercial traits, we diverged from the Traditional Border Leicester. Craig, Jenny and Jack have decided to partner with the Arney family’s Inverbrackie Border Leicester Stud to market “The Modern Border Leicester”.
At New Armatree, we have a SMART Breeding Objective:
S - Specific
M - Measureable
A - Attainable
R - Relevant
T - Time bound
This allows us to focus our selection decisions on breeding the sheep that you need tomorrow, today.
At New Armatree, we continually review and revise our breeding objective as we meet our targets to ensure we strive for continual genetic gain.
Our breeding objective is expressed in ASBV (Australian Sheep Breeding Value) units to ensure that we are actually improving the genetics of our flock.
NA: New Armatree
BA: Breed Average
Index Target
BLX:
To continue to improve the BLX
index at a faster rate than the industry.
Breeding Objective for Weight Traits
PWT:
Continue to increase PWT in balance with carcase composition and mature size.
AWT:
To maintain adult weights at the current level whilst improving other traits.
Breeding Objective for Carcase Traits
PFAT:
To maintain fat at current levels.
PEMD:
To slightly increase eye muscle depth whilst balancing gains in other trait areas.
DRESS%:
We strive to continue to improve Dressing % above breed average
Breeding Objective for Reproductive Traits
ERA
To increase to 0.05 whilst making improvements in other reproduction component traits
LS:
To increase litter size to near a breeding value of 0.05 whilst making improvements in other component traits as well
CON:
To maintain conception at its current level whilst pushing the other component traits of reproduction (LS and ERA)
YCON:
Yearling conception is important to our clients that are joining ewe lambs. Our objective is to improve this above-breed average to 0.3. There are few Border Leicester breeders measuring and driving this trait
WR:
By moving the component traits of LS and ERA ahead our target is to improve weaning rate to 0.22 by 2027
MWWT:
To increase MWT to 1.2 by 2027.
Breeding Objective for Eating Quality Traits
IMF:
To remain above breed average and continue to make improvements in IMF. The more positive the value the better the Eating Quality
SF5:
To make a small reduction in Shear Force (less is best for this trait)
