Sheep Industry News April 2022

President’s Notes SUSAN SHULTZ ASI PRESIDENT

Scientific Data Leads to Exciting Times in Our Industry

A s a seedstock producer, I see evidence of positive change in the increased use of data as a selection tool and an escalation of collaboration among all stakeholders in order to make genetic improvements throughout our evolving sheep industry. Six recent examples include: the visible advancements in cooperation between our U.S. Department of

genotyping to support the goal of establishing a reference population of more than 3,000 animals in each of four desig nated breeds by the end of the three-year project. Another sign of change is Superior Farms continued commitment to genomic technology through its Flock 54 program. Under the capable guidance of Karissa Isaacs, the company has

introduced many of our producers to the world of genomics. Fourthly, the National Sheep Improvement Program – our industry’s organi zation that turns on farm perfor mance records into science-based

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Agriculture's Agricultural

Research Service centers. Kudos to Dr. Joan Burke in Boonville, Ark., Dr. J. Bret Taylor in Dubois, Idaho, and the team of scientists at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Center,

ASI MISSION To support, promote and safeguard sheep production in the United States – representing and advancing the interests of member organizations, industry partners and individual sheep producers with advocacy, knowledge-based insights, communications, research and education. To identify, establish, advise, direct and/or support enterprises that benefit members.

measurements (EBVs) – saw a

Neb., that are led by Dr. Brad Freking and Dr. Tom Murphy. These scientists have a true passion for improving our in dustry and are currently collaborating on many new research efforts. One of my favorites is the establishment of reference flocks that will be key to better use of our on-farm records and genomic understanding. In conjunction with the ARS efforts, the USDA Na tional Institute of Food and Agriculture recently awarded a $650,000 grant to collect data on traits that will have a major impact on profitability for producers including lamb survival, ewe longevity, parasitism and udder health. Dr. Ron Lewis at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln serves as the project leader. Dr. Luis Brito of Purdue University is another key member of that team. The project is called Sheep GEMS, and is a collaborative effort between ARS stations, universities and individual NSIP flocks. Participating NSIP flocks – called Innovation Flocks – will combine their on-farm performance records and corre sponding estimated breeding values with tissue samples for

record number of new members in 2021. The adoption of this technology continues to increase under the leadership of Rusty Burgett and a hardworking and committed producer board. The increased adoption of electronic identification tags and the use of electronic scales, readers and handling equip ment that allows for the speedy collection of the important data that needs to be collected by producers is also a glaring sign that our industry is rapidly jumping forward. And finally, the establishment of the organization Sheep Genetics USA – which provides a forum for input from all segments of our industry on the priorities needed for research and the methods needed to support those genetic improvement efforts – is a positive effort in true collabora tion. All of these signs point to a seismic change in how we use genetic information in our industry, with a corresponding positive gain in production efficiencies. Jump on board because these are exciting times.

4 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org