Genetics and Breeding

Successful breeding programmes involve the use of many different tools to help you determine whether your breeding aims are being achieved. Fleece testing is an objective tool to monitor the changes in individual and herd fleece characteristics. more »

This paper discusses the range of genetic breeding programs which are available to Australian livestock industries. It presents a short history of genetic evaluation schemes and discusses the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme, BREEDPLAN for Beef Cattle, PIGBLUP, KIDPLAN, and the newly created Sheep Genetics Australia which combines wool and meat into one database. The paper concludes with an update on the Alpaca Across-Herd Genetic Evaluation (AGE) program and presents data on the traits measured to date. more »