TEN years ago, at a cost of $3 billion, researchers from the Co-operative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation would not have dreamed of full genome sequencing.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
But that cost has now dropped dramatically to $3500, and Sheep CRC chief executive officer James Rowe is hoping to be granted a five-year funding extension to allow its research to continue.
"We're aiming to build on the technological developments we've achieved in the past six years," he said.
The Sheep CRC has applied for a federal government funding extension with a proposal built around enhancing animal wellbeing and productivity, development of value-based trading for sheepmeat and delivering affordable genetic tools based on DNA.
If successful, the genomics research team will be led by University of New England Prof Julius van der Werf.
"A key resource for us will be our globally unique bio-bank of DNA samples from the Sheep CRC's Information Nucleus Flock program that also contains the invaluable phenotypic data that has been collected on more than 20,000 animals," Prof van der Werf said.
Prof Rowe said the current Sheep CRC had been successful in delivering DNA tests with moderately high levels of accuracy.
And, at $50 a test, there were already well-defined benefits for sheep breeders using DNA technology to achieve faster genetic gain.
"We're also looking at being able to deliver even cheaper genotyping products, and aiming to halve the cost of DNA tests," he said.
The objective of the research on sheep wellbeing was to put the sheep industry at the forefront of using genetics in combination with the latest technologies for monitoring and management to improve the wellbeing of sheep managed as flocks under extensive grazing systems.
"Commercial sheep production in Australia involves managing sheep in large flocks; under these conditions it is difficult to identify the individual animals that are at risk of compromised wellbeing," Prof Rowe said.
"The challenge is to make the transition from flock to individual animal assessment and management without increasing labour requirements or costs."
* Full report in Stock Journal's October 31 edition.
