Analyses

At the end of FY 2024-2025 Sheep Genetics had 1,035 active sheep flocks as well as 13 goat herds.    

Figure 1. Breakdown by analysis

The graph below shows that the majority of Australian clients are from New South Wales and Victoria, with Western Australia and South Australia following close behind, and a smaller portion in Tasmania. 

Figure 2. Proportion of Australian Sheep Genetics member flocks by state

International flocks

The majority of Sheep Genetics members are Australian flocks, however, international members submit data to the Sheep Genetics evaluation from New Zealand, South America, and Asia. The graph below displays the number of flocks by country. Such international flocks use Australian genetics and are therefore linked and their genetic merit is directly comparable to Australian flocks in the Sheep Genetics evaluation.

 Figure 3. Count of Sheep Genetics international member flocks  

National Sheep Improvement Program

Sheep Genetics also has an agreement with the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP) in the United States of America to process their analysis providing Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) to their clients. 

Figure 4. Total number of flocks and billable animals submitted via the NSIP independent evaluations in the past 15 years 

Australian Sheep Breeding Values are re-estimated every two weeks, ensuring the ASBVs reported are as up-to-date as possible and using the most recent data for animals in the Sheep Genetics analysis.

In the past 12 months, a total of 6,113 files were uploaded to the data submission portal, either directly by breeders, from Service Providers or via the Sheep Genetics team.   

Figure 6. Proportion of file uploads to the Sheep Genetics database

The majority of the Sheep Genetics evaluations are single step, meaning that they have genomic or DNA information informing more accurate ASBVs. The Sheep Genetics team works along side the Animal Breeding and Genetics Unit (AGBU) to maintain and deliver a genomics database which is a key pillar of a single step evaluation. The genomics database houses and processes DNA information so that the Sheep Genetics LAMBPLAN and MERINOSELECT Analyses team can report DNA parentage, 50K genotypes, and Flock Profile to sheep producers. Figure 10 shows the total number of genotypes within each year. The number of genotypes entered into the Genomics Database for 2024-25 is almost 500% greater than the 2011-12 period. This highlights how advantageous producers see genomics being for more accurate ASBVs, as well as paves the way for the future development of more genomic only products to complement Flock Profiles.  

Figure 10: Total number of genotypes processed per year for parentage and 50K genotype tests 

Flock Profile

Sheep Genetics produces a flock benchmarking product for Merino commercial ram producers called Flock Profile. It is a genomic only tool which leverages the reference population of animals with a phenotype and genotype to produce a report which benchmarks the flock against industry. Flock Profiles can be used to inform ram purchasing decisions by helping producers see where their flock’s genetics sit relative to industry and allow them to identify which traits they would like to focus on improving to meet their breeding objective. Figure 11 shows the total number of Flock Profile tests that have been purchased over the past 10 years.  

Figure 11: Total number of Flock Profile tests