Sheep Industry News August 2022

GEMS. Is it of particular importance in your environment? “Because of harsher environments – resulting from extreme cli mates, sparse forage and rugged terrain – ewe longevity in U.S. Western range fl cks is generally shorter than what may be observed in pasture based systems. Nevertheless, ewe longevity nationwide has s uff ered in the last 20 years, with a 20 percent increase in ewe replacement rate and in mature sheep a 6 percent death rate. Th is is problematic given that enterprise profi ability is directly linked to how long a ewe remains reproductively successfully in a fl ck. “Older ewes are generally the best mothers, drop the most lambs, and wean the most pounds," Taylor continued. "Annual ewe costs are greatest for young ewes, and unfortunately, they return the least marketable products. As the average age of the fl ock increases, annual ewe costs decrease and pounds of marketable products – both lamb and wool – increase. Considering the ever-decreasing national ewe inventory and limited supply of aff rdable replacement ewes, increas ing the average age of a ewe fl ock is critical for sustaining and hopefully growing the U.S. sheep industry.” Th U.S. Sheep Experiment Station is the one USDA/ARS location collaborating in this project that has fl cks in each of the four breeds involved. Why is that important to the project?

tional Association – not the breed, just the association – it made perfect sense to fi nally house a study group of Katahdin sheep at the USSES. Beginning in 2016, the USSES set in place a plan to acquire several pro ductive NSIP Katahdin ewes from USMARC. Th se ewes have arrived and are now being compared to Rambouillet and Polypay breeds in an open-range, herder-managed production system. Again, this current project provides a vastly expanded foundation for the project and its ultimate success.” Although this set of interviews provided great background to Sheep GEMS, a question remained unanswered. How do fl ock owners join in the project? “By contacting me at rlewis5@unl.edu," said Lewis. "We already have had a lot of engagement by Katahdin breeders, but we are looking to recruit more Polypay, Rambouillet and Su ff olk fl cks. Th y do need to be part of NSIP. So that we can accumulate enough years of data, it would certainly help if those fl cks were on board by this year’s breed ing season. If you are interested, please send me an email.” How does a fl ock owner ben efi t from joining in? “Perhaps foremost is knowing that they have contributed to a project designed to ben efi t the entire sheep industry. By improving the sustain ability of our fl cks, making them more robust and resilient, we ensure the economic vitality of sheep enterprises. "However, more specifi ally, participating fl cks – Innovation Flocks – will ben efi t from substantial support of their genotyping costs. As that genotyping is done – which has already begun in the project – they will receive DNA-based pedigree verifi ation and genetic conditions on some key disease susceptibility and muscling traits. Given enough buy-in among producers, at the end of the project, GEBV will be intro duced in the Polypay, Rambouillet and Su ff olk breeds, and bolstered in Katahdin. Th se GEBV will be available for current NSIP traits and, in due-course, important new ones. “We are asking Innovation Flock owners to collect several new mea sures, which we certainly understand places more demands on their already busy schedules. We very much appreciate that extra eff ort. Yet for us – and I truly mean us collectively – to take full advantage of what Sheep GEMS can o ff er, we need you to join in heart and soul. Together, we can accomplish a lot.” Boyer perhaps said it best. “ Th is project has the potential to create a paradigm s hift in the US sheep industry …Viewing resilience, adaptability and key productiv ity traits through a combined genetic and environmental [climatic] lens will provide exciting new insights into advances that will provide quantum leaps in selective breeding and management.” Acknowledgement: Sheep GEMS is supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Grant number 2022-67015-36073 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Animal Breeding and Functional Annotation of Genomes program, A1201. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Th mention of trade names of commercial products in this article is solely for the purpose of providing specifi information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the USDA.

“Th station is the birthplace of the Polypay – in around 1980 – and the source of much of the modern-day Rambouillet genetics found in the U.S. West reaching way back to 1917. S uff olks were imported to the USSES in 1979 and immediately selected for range hardiness. Overall, maternal genetics from the USSES are present in some proportion at most sheep farms and ranches across the U.S. Furthermore, since 2014, the USSES has made signifi ant eff orts in linking its genetics to the na tion’s sheep fl cks. Well over 140 sires – most from NSIP fl cks – from various breeds have been imported to the USSES and incorporated into the purebred fl ock breeding programs. Th is in addition to migrating much of the USSES genetics database over to NSIP. Having genotype data for thousands of these sheep has provided an incredible resource foundation for the project.” Describing the recent addition of a Katahdin fl ock to USSES, Taylor explained, “As the growing popularity of this breed has crept West, many producers have asked, ‘Is the Katahdin breed a viable alternative to wool-type sheep in the open range, herder-managed systems of the U.S. West?’ As the ‘foster origin’ for the Katahdin Hair Sheep Interna

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