Sheep Industry News August 2022

Breeds Face Challenges In Meeting Commercial Needs

S heep Genetics USA traveled to the upper Midwest to visit with two longtime Polypay and Su ff olk breeders. Represent ing Polypays is immediate past president of the American Polypay Sheep Association Brett Pharo of Michigan, and speaking for the Su ff olk breed is Jeremy Geske of Minnesota, who is cur rently president of the United Su ff olk Sheep Association. SG USA: Brett and Jeremy, your respective breeds have had a much diff erent history within the United States. Will you br iefl y describe a little of that history? BRETT: Polypays are a composite breed developed in Idaho as a result of a dream of producer Reed Hulet to create a breed that could produce two quality lamb crops and one wool crop per year, to make sheep more profi able. He shared his dream with his brother, Dr. Clarence Hulet, at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station. Th y crossed Finnsheep X Rambouillet and also Dorset X Targhee. Th en, in 1970, crossed the resulting animals to create the four breed composite. Th Polypay breed was developed as a production/performance breed and was the fi rst breed to request cross-fl ck evaluations from NSIP. Th original by-laws of the American Polypay Sheep Association did not allow the showing of registered Polypays in

the show ring. In the words of Dr. Hulet penned in 1992, “We have been pleased with the resolve of foundation Polypay breeders who have resisted the attraction of the show ring, which shift the selection pressure from production to appearance. Th ere seems to be little correlation between appearance and productivity. Th s, when one uses selection opportunities to enhance appearance, one reduces the opportunities to enhance production.” With the rapid early growth of interest in the breed, that prohi bition was overturned and for a time much emphasis came to be put on the show ring. In the last several years, though, we have turned that around and put the emphasis back on production. Now around three-quarters of all registered Polypays come from NSIP fl cks. JEREMY: S uff olks rose to prominence in this country as the ter minal sire of choice as they excelled in growth rate, with quality, meaty carcasses. Studies done by the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center have shown that S uff olk-sired lambs just simply grow faster than lambs sired by rams of other breeds. For many decades, they were “the breed in the lead” in terms of number of registered sheep, as well as their infl uence on the commercial sheep industry. While the number of registered S uff olks – like most breeds in all species – has declined, the importance of Su ff olk genetics to the

American sheep industry remains strong. Th vast majority of lambs going through our ma jor packing plants are sired by Su ff olk rams. SG USA: Your breeds hold prominent positions within our commercial industry, Polypays as a maternal breed and S uff olks as terminal sires. What changes is your breed making to meet the demands of those com mercial producers. BRETT: Th high participation rate of Polypay seedstock producers in NSIP provides com mercial producers with the genetic prediction data needed to select breeding stock that are more likely to meet the unique needs of their individual operations. I think commercial operators understand – sometimes better than purebred operators – that when it comes to the EBVs, maximum and optimum are not

Jeremy Geske of the United S uff olk Sheep Association.

See BREED ASSOCIATIONS on Page 16

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