Brad Boner, ASI President
Welcome to the 2024 Genetics issue of the Sheep Industry News. This is the fourth year that ASI has dedicated the August edition to focus on ways we can advance genetic improvement in our industry.
ASI believes that genetic improvement is one of the major cornerstones that will improve producer profitability and help to keep the American sheep industry competitive in our marketplace by providing consumers with a high-quality product at a price that is sustainable up and down the value chain. As I am sure most of you are aware, the countries who import the most lamb into the United States market are already keenly focused on genetic improvement and have made advances in recent years that have made their product more acceptable to the American consumer than it was 10 years ago.
That alone should be all the incentive we need for all of us to up our game by making smarter breeding decisions.
Using data to help to identify those individual animals who can fill in the weak areas in our flocks without sacrificing other important traits is key to making the kind of improvements that are necessary.
You will find two excellent articles in this issue that discuss increasing the amount of data you use to make your seedstock/breeding decisions. The first is a conversation between outgoing National Sheep Improvement Program Executive Director Rusty Burgett and David Scales, who was selected to follow in Rusty’s footsteps. NSIP is one of the most useful tools we have available to us that will help us make wiser decisions.
I would strongly encourage you all to take the time to soak up all the information that is in the second article. John Helle of Montana explains the value of using data in making your selection decisions. John is a progressive sheep producer who raises registered and commercial Rambouillets. He’s also the founder of Duckworth Clothing Company. Duckworth manufactures and markets clothing that is 100-percent American made and sourced. This is achieved through source verified, 100 percent made-in-the-U.S.A. materials, with total supply-chain control from the fiber to the finished garment. Lots of hands-on knowledge from John in this article will prove to be invaluable to many of you.
New technology can also help producers be more efficient and, in some cases, reduce the amount of labor needed to complete some of the production tasks at hand. Dan Persons with Shearwell Data shares with us how to make use of sheep handling equipment to decrease our labor costs and increase productivity.
In addition, Dr. Tom Murphy with the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center looks at blending technology and tradition to achieve your flock’s breeding goals.
These are just a few of the great articles in this month’s issue. I strongly recommend this issue stays by your reading chair until you’ve read it from cover to cover.
Until next time, keep it on the sunny side.
Now that July is here, it’s time for a little mid-year review. One of the interesting events in the market this year is that sheep and lamb slaughter and meat production are larger than a year ago and prices – for the most part – have been higher than last year. That’s typically hard to pull off unless there is some positive news on the consumption and demand side of the equation.
TOTAL SUPPLIES
The data on sheep and lambs going to meat packers is divided into two categories: the first is mature sheep, and the second is lambs and yearlings. Through the first week of July, slaughter is running ahead of last year in both categories. Lamb and yearling slaughter is up 3 percent compared to last year. Lamb dressed weights have averaged 62.6 pounds so far this year compared to 64.4 pounds last year. The combination of more slaughter and lighter dressed weights leaves total lamb and yearling production 0.2 percent ahead of last year – almost even.
While lamb and yearling slaughter is perhaps more important for current lamb meat supplies, mature sheep slaughter might have some longer-term implications. So far this year, mature sheep slaughter is up 12.1 percent during the same period.
Given that the ewe flock in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Jan. 1 inventory report was 2 percent lower than the previous year, this rate of slaughter suggests reduced domestic production in the future.
The remaining major part of total supplies are imports. Lamb imports are up 35.5 percent compared to last year. Imports from both Australia and New Zealand are up more than 30 percent. First quarter imports totaled 71.1 million pounds and were the largest first quarter import volume on record. Mutton imports are 7 percent lower than last year.
Total supplies on the market include lamb and mutton in cold storage. Pounds in storage have been creeping higher this year. In May – the latest data – lamb and mutton in cold storage totaled 23.4 million pounds, up from 19.9 million pounds in January. But the storage in May remains less than last year’s 25.1 million pounds.
Put all these supplies from different sources – domestic and international – together and there has been about 5 percent more lamb and mutton on the market this year than last year.
PRICES
Lamb prices have been largely running ahead of last year for most of 2024. In the face of larger supplies, the resilience of lamb prices has been surprisingly good. Lambs weighing 60 to 90 pounds (an average of Colorado, South Dakota and Texas markets) and headed for a meat packer averaged about $220 per cwt. in the first week of July compared to about $180 per cwt. last year. They peaked back in April at about $280 per cwt. The decline since April has been largely seasonal as lamb prices normally decline from spring to summer.
Lambs of the same weight and representing the same markets but designated for feedlots have remained above a year ago, as well, reflecting some past positive returns to feeding with lower corn prices.
Heavyweight slaughter lambs reported from Sioux Falls, S.D., indicate that prices have fallen seasonally down to $215 per cwt., slightly above last year’s $207 per cwt. in early July. Lambs in that market experienced a strong counter-seasonal price move last year leading to the highest prices in 2023 during the summer. So, when comparing to last year, it would not be surprising for prices later this summer to be below last year.
On the wholesale meat side, prices for the cutout and most cuts have been above a year ago. A widening price premium for domestic lamb legs compared to Australian lamb legs has likely supported imports. Given larger supplies of lamb, it might be difficult to maintain higher prices than a year ago later this year.
WOOL
On the wool side of things, a new marketing year in Australia has begun with some fits and starts. Prices are generally lower across most microns, especially finer microns. Fewer bales have been offered in these early Australian sales. An annual three-week recess will begin in August.
Using U.S. prices at Charleston, S.C., prices have declined for 22 micron and under for the fourth consecutive week. Higher micron wools have experienced more stable prices with 23s, 25s and 28s increasing while 26s and 32s declined by 7 and 2 cents, respectively.
While some buying might pick up on higher prices, across the board gains will likely have to wait on improved economic conditions, especially in Europe.
Inflation and slow economic growth are combining to limit demand and that is likely hitting the finer micron wools relatively harder.
SUMMARY
Lamb prices have been resilient in the face of increased supplies. Perhaps surprisingly, supply growth has come from both domestic and foreign sources. As usual, the growing U.S. economy – as measured by gross domestic product and low unemployment – will be important determinants of demand and a source for demand growth.
Continued economic growth and improvement will boost the wool side of the market, also.
As a fiber enthusiast, Heather Brummer had a plan of attack heading into the 50th Black Sheep Gathering in late June in Albany, Ore. But that plan fell by the wayside when she stopped by the sheep barn on Saturday morning to get a look at the animals who grow the world’s most amazing natural fiber.
Brummer drove more than five hours from her home near Everett, Wash., to attend the Black Sheep Gathering for the first time, and the sheep stole the show. Merinos, Rambouillets, Romneys, Shetlands, Valais Blacknose and more paraded through the show ring that day offering white, black and every imaginable color in between for those who were able to pull themselves away from the fleece show, the fiber market and the array of workshops.
“This year, I’ve been getting more into learning about fiber processing,” Brummer said. “I’ve been a knitter for 30 years and I got into spinning about 10 years ago. When you get into spinning, you quickly get into fiber prep, which makes you a better spinner and a better knitter. It’s been a lot of fun to see all of the colors here.”
While she was registered for workshops on Friday (spinning) and Sunday (knitting techniques) during the three-day gathering, she left Saturday open so that she could take in the fleece show judging. But she never even made it into the building where the fleece show was taking place.
“I wanted to watch the fleece judging and the sheep judging to learn as much as I could,” Brummer said. “But I got sucked into the sheep judging and missed the fleece show judging. I wanted to learn what the judge was looking for in the fleeces, but I didn’t go to the fleece sale on purpose. I’m not ready to process fleeces, so I wanted to avoid that temptation.”
Brummer headed home with a variety of fiber and spindles, however, that she purchased during her time in Albany. The appeal of a drop spindle is its portability, which would allow her to take projects along as she journeys the Pacific Northwest on her mountain bike.
A quick tour of the Linn County Expo Center on Saturday during the show found a huge number of fiber enthusiasts – including Brummer – camped out at picnic tables and shady spots all around the grounds working on knitting and spinning projects while taking in the cool, sunny summer day as they waited for the potluck dinner celebration that goes back to the very roots of the original Black Sheep Gathering in 1974.
For approximately 20 of those 50 years, Oregon sheep producer Dan Wilson of SuDan Farm has cooked the lamb that is served at the potluck. Like many of those years, he was cooking his own lamb – ribs, this year – to serve to the masses. The show and the potluck are both free and open to the public.
“The gathering started as a humble potluck for natural-colored sheep producers and handspinners, but it has since grown into an epic celebration of gorgeous fiber animals and fiber arts, still with a unique emphasis on natural-colored,” wrote Black Sheep Gathering Director Laura Todd in the Black Sheep Newsletter. “The Black Sheep Gathering has woven itself into the hearts of many, becoming a cherished tradition.”
Among those traditions is a fairly predictable battle between Montana’s Steitzhof Merinos and Oregon’s Apple Creek Merinos for the top awards in the fleece show. It came as little surprise when the two small-scale operations split the top awards.
John and Carol Steitz took the top spot for an individual fleece, while Laurel Stone’s Apple Creek earned the Black Sheep Cup for having the five most valuable fleeces for handspinning from a single producer. It was the second time Stone has taken home that honor.
“I last won it when Judith MacKenzie was the judge, and she comes from the handspinning side of things. Geof Ruppert (the 2024 judge) comes from the management and breeding side, so to win it from two people on two different sides of the spectrum is really meaningful,” said Stone. “The words of praise I got from the judge today were very impactful and just mean so much to me.”
Ruppert called the fleeces from both operations among the best naturally colored Merino fleeces to be found anywhere in the world.
“It’s nice to be bringing the Black Sheep Cup (a mammoth trophy) home again with me this year,” said Stone, who in addition to showing sheep and fleeces, serves as the gathering’s publicity coordinator. She also had a project in the fiber arts show and took part in The Spinner’s Lead competition, as well.
“I guess I’m a sucker for punishment,” she said of the many hats she wears during the weekend. “I’ve attended this since I was a little kid, and I just think it’s really important that we keep new people coming to this event. We need to get the next generation involved in fiber arts and raising sheep. Otherwise, it’s all going to disappear.”
John Steitz enjoyed a career in engineering before starting a regenerative farming operation near Kalispell, Mont., and choosing his favorite animals – sheep – to help in rebuilding the land.
“I didn’t really plan to be where we are right now, but it just sort of developed,” he said. I’m the most shocked person in the world that it worked. We love coming to this show, but it’s not about winning awards and showing the sheep. It’s about the people that we’ve met here. We still camp with people we met the very first year we came to this show. They aren’t even sheep producers, they’re handspinners. But we met them in the parking lot the first year and they became our fan club.”
All of the fleeces Steitz entered in the show were sold before he and Carol even arrived in Oregon. But they asked customers for the right to show them at the Black Sheep Gathering with plans to ship them out upon their return to Montana.
“The fleece we won with today, when her mother was pregnant with her, she won this same award. And when her grandmother was pregnant with her mother, that ewe won this award, as well,” Steitz said. “The way I look at it – and maybe Laurel sees it differently – is we don’t really compete with her, we compete against ourselves to get better every year. We just come here to see where we’re all at in that process.”
Visit BlackSheepGathering.org to learn more.
When Ralph Lauren unveiled Team USA’s uniforms for the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, many were caught off guard by the inclusion of a wool blazer. Sheep producers, however, know the value of wool in any season.
The uniforms were introduced to the public back in late June and include “a distinctly modern take on a tailored look, featuring a classic tailored single-breasted wool blazer with red and white tipping and a striped oxford shirt, unexpectedly paired with a tapered jean and a classic suede buck shoe,” according to a fact sheet from the company. “Ralph Lauren developed the Team USA collection with thoughtful consideration of material and manufacturing choices. Styles throughout the collection – including Team USA’s Opening and Closing Ceremony Parade uniforms – are crafted with recycled polyester and USA-grown Responsible Wool Standard certified wool, among other materials.”
Given her previous experience in providing wool for Team USA uniforms – mostly for the Winter Olympics – Jeanne Carver of Oregon-based Shaniko Wool Company was an obvious choice to supply wool for the blazers.
“I was surprised, but thrilled when we got the inquiry from Ralph Lauren for wool for the Team USA uniforms for Paris 2024,” Carver said. “Those of us who have worked closely with sheep for generations know that wool is the original performance fiber and a premier fiber for year-round use. Wool not only supports our ‘life energy’ in a way no other fiber does, it makes the best suiting fabric in the world. We are pleased this is recognized by Ralph Lauren and is being showcased in the Team USA uniforms for this summer’s Olympics in Paris.”
Shaniko pools wool from more than half a dozen sheep producers scattered across the American West.
“I’m very honored that long-standing family sheep operations have chosen to join me in delivering wool certified to the rigorous international Responsible Wool Standard,” Carver said. “They have been the first in the United States to do so, and are located in California, Colorado, Idaho and Nevada. These ranches are great examples of the best of American agriculture. You can read more about them at ShanikoWoolCompany.com. We are all honored to be one of the partners for Ralph Lauren’s Team USA Opening Ceremony uniforms.”
Ralph Lauren’s Team USA Opening and Closing Ceremony uniform apparel and a collection of Team USA apparel and accessories are available at RalphLauren.com, TeamUSAShop.com and in stores in the United States and in France.
Sheep Genetics USA was started in 2020 by industry leaders who saw the need to coordinate the efforts of producers, consumers, feeders, researchers, educators and the National Sheep Improvement Program in utilizing limited resources to make genetic progress in the American sheep Industry. Contributions from ASI, the American Lamb Board and the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center enabled the vision to become a reality.
One of the first initiatives by the group was to collaborate with ASI on an issue of the Sheep Industry News dedicated to genetics. This August 2024 issue will mark four consecutive years of a genetics-themed issue. A second effort was to help initiate and facilitate a Genetics Forum at the ASI Annual Convention, beginning in 2022. This brought together the ASI Genetics Stakeholders Committee, NSIP and Sheep Genetics USA with a united purpose of providing an educational forum and update on industry efforts toward genetic improvement.
The Sheep Genetics USA Board of Directors has tried to ensure it is making a difference in the industry and that its focus is to improve genetics of the American flock. The board is currently working to identify funding opportunities for research, as well as educational workshops to provide better opportunities and technology to the industry.
The board has had a change in leadership since the ASI Annual Convention. Founding members of SGUSA still serving on the board are Tom Boyer, Ben Lehfeldt and Rusty Burgett. Karissa Isaacs is currently serving as chair of Sheep Genetics USA in her second year on the board. Isaacs is the director of producer resources at Superior Farms, where she works directly with producer partners and develops programs to improve production efficiencies and sustainability. She is also a fourth-generation sheep producer from Colorado, where along with her husband they have recently started a small seedstock flock.
Joining the board for his first term is David Ollila. In 2020, Ollila retired from a 34-year career in agriculture education – nine years as South Dakota State University Extension sheep field specialist and 25 years as an agriculture education/FFA advisor. Additionally, Ollila is a fifth-generation sheep and cattle rancher located 10 miles southeast of Newell, S.D., operating with his wife, Holly, and sons, Ethan, Tate and Finn.
Flying “O” Sheep produces and sells Rambouillet seedstock as well as running a band of commercial ewes. During the past 30 years, Ollila has field tested and implemented progressive sheep production practices through a holistic approach on his own ranch of native rangeland and tame pastures as well as irrigated cropland. As a member of the South Dakota Section of the Society for Range Management, Ollila has served as chairman of the SRM Youth Activities Committee, which organizes professional and youth range management education activities. He is also a member of ASI’s Genetic Stakeholders Committee.
Last August, Sheep Genetics USA brought 20 Young Guns – producers, researchers and extension personnel – together in Fort Collins, Colo., for a two-day immersive workshop to identify the genetic priorities for the American sheep industry. In that strategic session, the group identified what is right, what is wrong, what is confusing and what is missing currently within the industry. This provided a path for the future, leading to where the group would like to see American sheep genetics by year 2030.
From these discussions, seven priorities were identified:
1. NSIP suggested improvements/changes (fee structure, develop new relevant indexes etc.).
2. Collection of 40,000 SNP panels per year for five years ($6MM cost at $25/test plus $5 to analyze).
3. Develop software for the industry that works for both commercial and seedstock producers.
4. Fund the necessary staff to achieve these strategic goals in the next 12 to 24 months.
5. Develop a chute side or on farm test for OPP. Sample collection needs to be easy. Cost around $1/head (Alternative: a test to pull at birth and sort at weaning).
6. Develop an automated prediction system for which ewes are close to lambing.
7. Develop algorithms to predict optimal finish point for lambs in the feedlots.
These priorities have provided a checklist for the board and Sheep Genetics USA’s action leads to identify funding, researchers and ultimately a timeline to get these accomplished.
The biggest takeaway from the Young Guns meeting was the engagement from participants and the understanding that even with the diversity of the industry, sheep producers still have common goals and look for common solutions to improve not only profitability but also the production efficiency within flocks.
The excitement coming out of that summit spurred the focus of the board to get action leads more involved, as well as more members to be a part of SGUSA.
The Young Guns have also been invested in these priorities to which they have asked for follow-up meetings and discussions. Another meeting is in the works for later this year.
Sheep Genetics USA has made progress on many of these priorities and will be excited to report more in depth by the ASI Annual Convention, Jan. 15-18, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Check out SheepGeneticsUSA.org for the latest Sheep GEMS videos and future updates on research projects the organization is collaborating on.
After nearly a decade of leading the National Sheep Improvement Program, Rusty Burgett announced earlier this year he was leaving the organization. David Scales has since been hired to guide NSIP in the years to come. Sheep Genetics USA caught up with both of them to discuss NSIP’s past and future.
SGUSA: Rusty, can you tell us how long you were with NSIP and where you are headed next?
RUSTY: I started serving as the executive director of NSIP beginning in 2015. I have recently accepted the assistant professor of practice position at Iowa State University as the director of all the university’s livestock working farms. I will retain my engagement in the sheep industry as I plan on continuing with an NSIP Polypay flock in Central Iowa.
SGUSA: We expect that you have seen several changes through these past nine years with NSIP, can you expand on some of those?
RUSTY: Sure, many of those changes have occurred within NSIP and others have been more general to the sheep genetic community. First, is probably the expanded adoption and recognition of Estimated Breeding Values within our industry. EBVs have long been the standard for measuring genetic merit for other species of livestock in the United States, and it is great to see their adoption in the sheep industry.
We are now seeing commercial producers partnering with seedstock producers in order to have access to the animals with breeding values that are specifically bred for their production needs.
Secondly, is the geographic spread of NSIP. When I started, NSIP membership was centered in the Midwest and a few pockets of the East. Now, NSIP membership has expanded into 38 states from coast to coast and border to border. Finally, are the genetic technical advances made throughout the livestock world. The term molecular genetics is no longer a foreign word to many sheep producers. Due to the reduced cost of DNA analysis and the vision of sheep seedstock producers, NSIP is now offering Genomically Enhanced EBVs for Katahdins, with other breeds in line to follow.
SGUSA: It sounds as if you have enjoyed a positive period of change with NSIP. The entire sheep industry would like to thank you for leading the industry in the field of genetics and wish you the very best with your new position. David, welcome. Could you please share with us a little of your background and history?
DAVID: I grew up in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. My family’s farm was established in 1887. While originally dairy farmers, by the time I was old enough to be involved they had transitioned to beef cattle, hay and small grains. My dad blames me for the sheep segment of the farm, which is essentially a 4-H project that got out of control.
I attended Michigan State University from 2013 to 2017, where I majored in animal science and minored in agronomy with related course work in agribusiness management. I worked at the MSU Sheep Teaching and Research Center, and this gave me a great introduction into sheep being selected utilizing NSIP data as both the Suffolk and Dorset flocks were enrolled at that time. Following college, I traveled to Lebanon, Ind., to work on the cutting edge of reproductive technologies acting as the assistant farm manager of Reproduction Specialty Group under owner and founder Dr. Tad Thompson.
After my time with RSG, I moved back to Michigan to be the manager of Wheaton Hampshires, one of the oldest continuous breeders of purebred livestock in the Midwest. There, I learned invaluable lessons concerning the presentation and marketing of livestock. Building on those lessons learned at Wheaton Hampshires, in 2022 I became the sale coordinator for the Michigan Beef Expo. During my tenure in that position, we saw a 90-percent increase in cattle sold.
SGUSA: Given your diverse livestock background, why did you decide to engage in the sheep industry and specifically NSIP?
DAVID: I think there is an opportunity for tremendous growth in the sheep industry. Because of my diverse background it becomes apparent to me that as an industry we have fallen behind the rest of the major livestock sectors in terms of adoption of new technologies. I think that the diversity of our producer base is one of our strengths. If we keep an open mind, I think that production of sheep can fit into many models that our peers in other segments of agriculture would be unable to fulfill.
Furthermore, I am a believer in NSIP because it has a variety of traits to match the diversity of our producers. As long as each operation has a clear set of goals and can prioritize traits that are of the most economic importance to their individual operations, then NSIP offers the selection tools to help them best accomplish those goals and further their bottom lines.
SGUSA: What do you feel will be your major challenges in moving new genetic technologies forward?
DAVID: I think one challenge moving forward is the fact that there are nearly 90,000 sheep producers in the USA, and less than 1 percent of them are seedstock producers enrolled in NSIP. Furthermore, I think pulling more commercial producers in as end users of NSIP technology is essential to the growth of enrolled seedstock producers.
In other words, a rising tide lifts all ships. Additionally, after conversations with a number of enrolled flocks, I think one bottleneck to be addressed is how to increase ease of data management on the producer end.
Sheep Genetics USA recently visited the small town of Dillon, Mont., to talk with Rambouillet breeder John Helle about his flock and developing the Duckworth line of fine wool clothing.
SGUSA: John, many American sheep producers are aware of your name because of your involvement with industry groups but might not know the scope of your operation. Could you give us an overview of your ranch and the sheep enterprise.
JOHN: Helle Rambouillet is a fourth-generation sheep ranch operating in Southwestern Montana. After immigrating from Eastern Europe, my grandfather on my mother’s side started a sheep ranch from sheep derived from the Williams and Pauly ranch out of Deer Lodge, Mont. The Rambouillet breed was a mainstay in the intermountain areas of the West because of its hardiness, good herding instinct, fine wool and lamb production. Currently, we run a 4,000-head commercial operation and 400 purebred ewes. The ranch produces feeder lambs, breeding ewes, yearlings, rams and wool.
In addition to the sheep, we co-founded the value-added brand called Duckworth through which we market our wool. Through this brand we derive exceptional value from our fine wool genetics. Using marketing channels on social media, we can tell the story of sheep ranching while marketing Duckworth. We have also found that targeted grazing has been a valuable way to expand our operations throughout the valleys of Western Montana.
After graduating from Montana State University with a degree in animal science and farm and ranch management, I returned to the family ranch. Throughout my high school years in FFA, my brother Tom and I started a purebred Rambouillet flock that helped pay for our college. This flock became the foundation of our purebred operation. In the mid-1980s, we started using computerized production records to help us evaluate and advance the genetics in our flock.
Upon returning to the ranch, we grew the stud flock by selecting ewes from the commercial herd. These ewes were well adapted to our area and had natural selection through range lambing. Using these select commercial ewes and the purebreds that we raised from our FFA project, we grew the flock to about 400 head. With the use of computerized records, we were able to determine which ewes excelled in the important traits for our operation.
Operating in the mountains of southwestern Montana requires a unique operation style. We currently employ six shepherds to provide care for our sheep. Our sheep are constantly on the move, wintering in the valleys on residual crop stubble and supplemental hay, then in the spring and fall the sheep are running our private lands in the foothills surrounding the mountains. Around the first of July, we take off to the summer range in the Gravelly Mountains about 75 miles away. The sheep are trailed through open range and mountain passes for about five days to arrive at their summer pasture. We then spend three months in the forest or until the snow drives us out, returning to our private land in the foothills off the mountains.
This is where we wean and sort the sheep into winter bands and bring the lambs down closer to home in the Beaverhead Valley. To provide more wool for Duckworth, we keep all our lambs through the winter so they can all be shorn before they head to markets.
The Helle Ranch has always been a family affair. Currently, four generations participate in various ranch projects. My mother, Agnes Helle, my brother, Tom and his wife Leah, my wife, Karen and I, along with two of our sons, Evan and Weston, operate the ranch. Evan handles Duckworth production and Weston is the sheep manager.
I have two more children, Claire and Nathan, who work in off ranch jobs. Hopefully, our grandchildren will someday carry on the legacy.
SGUSA: You have added Australian genetics to your flock through the years. Can you talk about the breeds and why you felt the need to use international genetics. What positive advancements do you feel they have made in your Rambouillet flock and have there been any negatives?
JOHN: In the early 2000s, I was curious about what other breeds in the world had for genetic potential to help us achieve our production goals. This led me to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa breeds to test their performance on our operation. By then I’d already been involved in the National Sheep Improvement Program and had found EBVs useful in determining the superior animals. Through artificial insemination we brought in 11 different sires from Australia and New Zealand. The breeds used were Merino, Dohne and South African Meat Merino.
These breeds were similar to the Rambouillet as they were all derived from the Spanish Merino in the past. The Australian Merino – as we suspected – helped us add length and weight to our fleeces, but were inferior to our Rambouillet in meat production and prolificacy. The South African Meat Merino was a slightly larger and coarser breed than our Rambouillet, but I feel we did gain some growth and milking genetics from that breed. The Dohne breed was very similar to our dual purpose Rambouillet and I feel like that breed helped us add outside genetics increasing hybrid vigor. In the last 20 years through selection and line-breeding, our flock is now intermingled and includes the best traits that we found from our international project. The traits we incorporated into our flock improved staple length, fleece weight, milk production and lamb growth.
SGUSA: You have been recognized as a leader in the use of EBVs generated through NSIP. What encouraged you to start with that program and what are the major differences you feel you have seen in your flock through its use.
JOHN: We have always been eager to try new technology to help better our sheep operation. Using computer records since the early 1980s gave us a huge database that allowed us to join NSIP with a good start. In 2000, the computer program I was using became obsolete, which forced me to learn MS Access and write my own data collection program.
At the same time, I took my pedigree information going back into the 1980s and entered production data from the year 2000 on to propagate our NSIP start. With this pedigree and large data, set we were able to start receiving accurate EBVs right away. I would encourage people to look at using NSIP, as we have found it very useful. NSIP doesn’t work as well without a large data set, so entering data as far back as you can helps bring your accuracies and make that tool more useful.
SGUSA: You use a complicated procedure in your selection and breeding decisions. Will you describe the basic concepts that go into that procedure?
JOHN: By using EID technology and better handling equipment, recording weights and data points has become a lot easier and less time-consuming. Incorporating dozens of weights and data points into NSIP, we can monitor a lot of valuable production metrics. By combining these traits into indexes, I feel our selection process has produced a well-rounded sheep adapted to our environment and management.
The Western Range Index is a good start, but we also use some Merino and SAMM indexes, as well. This doesn’t mean we can’t improve, and we are constantly looking through the data to find animals expressing traits to improve our operation. Without NSIP EBVs, this would not be possible.
I have a lot of confidence in breeding values and now look at the sheep as if it had bar charts on it showing me the positives and negatives of its production potential. Oftentimes, we’re surprised by the appearance of a sheep compared to its actual production history.
We have found that trusting the data and selecting mainly on production traits has helped us improve more rapidly. The perfect Helle Rambouillet ewe would be a 19-micron, 3.5-inch staple, raising two lambs on rangeland weaning her body weight in 120 days for eight years.
SGUSA: Looking to the future, what are the genetic advancements you still would like to make in your flock and what mechanisms do you envision you will need to use?
JOHN: During the last 40 years, production data has allowed us to get our sheep to a point where we are happy with the production. One thing we’ve noticed through the years of selecting is that you start pushing one trait up usually at the cost of other traits. So, we found that a well-rounded approach – avoiding single trait selection – has allowed us to maintain our progress consistently.
There’s always something that we feel we could improve on and hopefully by incorporating the use of genomics we can continue to work on improving our flock. One thing I’ve visited with numerous academics and producers about is the trait of immune function. I think some of the traits that we would have a hard time measuring are those that are going to become important in the future. The sheep’s ability to fight off disease and parasites without antibiotics and pesticides will become more important in the future.
Technology in the sheep world has been evolving for many generations and, while much seems to have stayed the same in the basic way we have been raising our livestock there are changes that have taken place in the way we handle our livestock and collect the data we use.
There have been some rather simple changes made. We have gone from working sheep in open pens to having well planned handling chutes designed for reduced stress on the animals and maximum animal flow. We have switched from using nails to screws and from climbing over fences to well-placed walk-thru gates. We have enlisted the use of tip tables to trim feet and dedicated chutes for pregnancy scanning. All of this has been put in place to reduce operator labor and improve our efficiencies.
We now usher in the new generation of handling equipment and data management tools. The newest weight indicators and load cells on the market can lock onto the weight of a moving animal in less than a few seconds and record those weights directly to a handheld device or to the scale head itself. You can add a Radio Frequency Identification tag reader to those scales to collect and record the tag numbers at the same time. With manual entrance and exit gates, the throughput of these scales can easily be 200 to 300 lambs per hour. The more advanced systems – with a scale, tag reader and automatic incoming and sorting gates – can be expected to handle 300 to 400 animals per hour depending on the operations taking place.
Reading and recording visual ear tags has always been problematic in the livestock sector. We operate in less than pristine conditions and tags are often faded and covered in grime. The error rates of reading, writing and copying data from one media to another has been studied more than once and is found to be more than 15 percent. Add to this the fact that our operations have grown to larger sizes and our time has become more divided between either on-farm or off-farm obligations and the need to record accurately and at a reasonable speed becomes more evident.
RFID can overcome this obstacle.
Modern scales, RFID tag readers and high-quality software has given us a new toolbox to improve our sheep operations and meet the challenges of supplying our end customers with the product they desire. I have observed flocks using these tools to supply 75- to 90-pound lambs to an ethnic market on a regular basis. They are weighing lambs and sorting them out off of the pastures as they reach market weight. The lambs that return to the pasture have a record of their previous weights and by watching the daily live weight gains of these lambs the producer can predict with reasonable accuracy how many lambs he will have available to meet the specifications of his buyer in the coming weeks.
In the Midwest farmer feedlots, market lambs can be weighed on a regular basis with the larger lambs sent to market when they reach their target weights. These producers can also monitor the daily weight gain of their lambs to identify those lambs that have slowed down or stopped their progress, giving them the opportunity to sell those lambs that no longer have a profitable feed efficiency. This also allows for predicting how many lambs will be ready for market and slotting delivery times.
Data collection can go well beyond just animal weights. There are producers tracking specific animals requiring special treatments. They might be recording each animal that needed its feet trimmed, a wormer treatment, an extra nipple clipped, an inverted eye repaired, a misshaped udder or any number of other medical treatments. By studying these items and watching for individual trends they are reducing the labor needed to manage their flocks in the longer run.
The data being collected on all of these lambs can be correlated back to the sires and dams of these lambs in order to discover those breeding animals that are either the “rock stars” or the “profit robbers.” RFID tags, readers, scales and sorting equipment provide little benefit without a concerted effort of the producer to review and analyze the data gathered. Good software, time spent analyzing the data and making decisions is the real silver bullet in this new management era.
Just like I could use a weigh wagon instead of a yield monitor in the combine to assess individual sections of a corn field, RFID is not required. But it is a wonderful tool to speed up the processes and make us more willing to gather larger amounts of data. This data can be instrumental in selecting the replacement females for our flock and for culling the non-performing animals we tend.
As technologies continue to improve and we dream of new changes we could make, I think we will see companies come up with solutions to our needs. It might be tags with RFID and location capabilities all in one. It might be tags that use bio-electrical circuitry to expand battery duration and it might be biological monitoring devices.
We have seen genetic testing and assisted reproduction become mainstream in the last 10 years, and I am sure the same will hold true with a new way of collecting and utilizing data.
TOM MURPHY, PH.D.
U.S. Meat Animal Research Center
We talk a lot about tradition in the American sheep industry. Traditions aren’t stagnant, they get modified from one generation to the next as new information and insights are gained.
Nearly everything in modern sheep production – be that fences, milk replacer or RFID readers – was at one time a state-of-the-art technology. Whether we choose to adopt a new technology is dependent on economics and those intangibles that define our unique perspectives for raising sheep in the first place.
From the dawn of sheep domestication until the last 50 years or so, the only available technologies to select replacement animals were visual appraisal and performance of the individual itself. We refer to this as phenotypic selection. Evaluating breeding stock in this manner has taken us from the wild mouflon to the thousands of breeds we have today.
At face value, phenotypic selection seems logical. The reason an animal performs or appears superior to another is because it carries a superior set of gene variants, right? If you want finer wool, heavier market weights and greater twinning rate, select the finest fibered, fastest growing, twin born rams and ewes. While this isn’t entirely illogical, it’s incomplete. The true reason performance varies across animals is due to both genetic AND environmental (i.e., non-genetic) differences. Therefore, individuals might have better performance for a trait because they have a better set of gene variants and/or they had a better environment.
We often think of an animal’s environment as just the time and place performance was recorded, but the environment is much more complex. Finding better feed, advancing animal health protocols, etc., can improve performance. But these are non-genetic improvements. If they are stopped, performance will regress back to its original state because non-genetic effects aren’t inherited in future generations.
In contrast, an animal’s genetic merit or breeding value for a trait reflects differences in DNA, which are inherited across generations. That means genetic improvement can be permanent. But how much are the differences in performance we observe among animals due to differences in genetic and non-genetic sources? How accurate is phenotypic selection?
Heritability is a statistic that describes the strength of the relationship between an animal’s performance and its genetic merit for a trait. The accuracy of phenotypic selection for a trait is equal to the square root of the trait’s heritability. Some traits such as fiber diameter and fleece weight are moderately to highly heritable (> 0.40). An animal’s own performance for more highly heritable traits serves as a reasonably accurate indicator of genetic merit for the trait (√0.40=63 percent). But many traits such as lamb survival to weaning or mastitis are lowly heritable (< 0.05). That means that an animal’s own performance is not an accurate indicator of its genetic merit for the trait (√0.05=22 percent). This is because most of the phenotypic variability for lowly heritable traits is due to variability in non-genetic effects, which makes genetic improvement more challenging.
Number of lambs born per ewe is lowly heritable (~0.13). Furthermore, we’re typically using the reproductive performance of an animal’s dam – not its own performance – when practicing phenotypic selection for NLB. Since an animal shares 50 percent of its genetic variants with its dam, this cuts our accuracy in half. Therefore, if you only consider an animal’s birth type (single, twin, etc.) to infer its genetic merit for NLB, you’re only about 18 percent accurate (0.5 x √0.13=18 percent). Even if we add in more information and only keep replacements from dams that have five lambing records, the accuracy of that individual’s genetic merit for NLB is still just 32 percent. This low accuracy likely explains why we really haven’t seen the average national lamb crop change much from 110 percent in the last 50 years, despite the “traditional method” of selecting twin (or triplet) born replacements.
I was part of a long-term Rambouillet selection experiment while I was at Montana State University. It was started by Dr. Peter Burfening in 1968 and was ended by yours truly in 2017. Two lines of sheep were created: the high line selected for increased NLB and the low line selected for decreased NLB. Selection within the high and low lines was pretty much the traditional method and solely based on an individual’s dam’s average NLB. At the end of the experiment, average lamb crop was ~170 percent in the high line and ~120 percent in the low line. But that 0.5 difference in NLB took 50 years and three generations of scientists to achieve. Furthermore, virtually no other economically important trait was considered. As a result, sheep in these lines were inbred and had poor wool production and growth.
Despite intentionally selecting for low NLB for 50 years, the low line was still more prolific than the average American ewe today. For additional perspective, one population of wild mouflon on the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands is estimated to have a 125 percent lamb crop. I’m not trying to poke fun of the average American sheep producer.
After all, my small flock of heritage Shropshires raises a 120 percent lamb crop. But they’re also a hobby that is heavily subsidized by my day job. I am not saying we all need a 200 percent lamb crop, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Some production environments cannot nutritionally support even a 130 percent lamb crop.
Terminal sire breeders should put a greater emphasis on growth and carcass traits than ewe reproductive traits. And we all need to balance NLB with the many other economically important traits in sheep production. That’s the beauty of the American sheep industry, you get to decide what genetically superior means for your operation.
But how will you get there?
Unfortunately, the heritability of a trait pretty much is what it is. Nothing we do is going to make NLB or any other lowly heritable trait a highly heritable trait. Does that mean we just give up on genetically improving lowly heritable traits? No.
We just need to modify our traditions and move beyond phenotypic selection as the sole strategy for genetic improvement. If we only use today’s weather to predict next week’s weather, we can be wildly inaccurate. The only way weather prediction tools get better is by increasing the amount of information they use.
Likewise, if we want to be more accurate when identifying genetically superior sheep, and consequently achieve our unique goals more rapidly, we need as much information as we can get. This is the basis behind estimated breeding values generated by the National Sheep Improvement Program.
NSIP EBVs consider more than just the performance of an individual to infer their genetic merit. Records from siblings, grandparents, cousins and any other type of relative that can be traced through pedigree – and genomics for some breeds – is useful. As mentioned, performance alone can be deceptive if animals aren’t compared on a level playing field.
Therefore, performance for all traits considered is first corrected for non-genetic effects before calculating NSIP EBV. That means a lamb born as a single might have higher genetic merit for NLB than a lamb born as a twin, or the heaviest lamb might not actually have the greatest genetic merit for post-weaning weight.
Considering corrected performance records from multiple genetic relatives also increases accuracy compared to phenotypic selection. Accuracy is improved even for highly heritable traits but especially for lowly heritable traits. It’s not uncommon for young ram and ewe lambs enrolled in NSIP to have NLB EBV accuracies > 50 percent, which is far greater than just considering their own birth type (18 percent).
All national genetic evaluation programs have limitations, and NSIP is no exception. NSIP EBVs will not tell you if an individual has good feet and leg structure, meets phenotypic breed standards or will pass a breeding soundness exam. This is where you must draw on your expertise and work in tandem with technology to identify genetically superior and phenotypically functional sheep that meet your objectives or those of your customers.
When you use NSIP EBVs in this way, you aren’t replacing the tradition of phenotypic selection patiently taught to you by your grandfather, neighbor or livestock judging coach. You’re making your traditions stronger for the next generation.
If you have any questions on how you can implement the power of NSIP on your operation, please don’t hesitate to reach out at tom.murphy@usda.gov.
Sheep Genetics USA recently visited different latitudes to catch up with Dr. Jake Thorne of Texas, the National Sheep Improvement Program breed representative for Dorpers, and North Dakota’s Curt Stanley, the NSIP breed representative for Dorsets.
SGUSA: Both the Dorpers and the Dorsets come in two versions, the Dorper and White Dorper and the Polled and Horned Dorset. Could you describe those differences?
JAKE: Good question. Going back to the development of the breeds in South Africa, originally Dorset Horn and Blackhead Persian were crossed to develop what we would now call the Dorper, a black headed sheep with a white Body. Later on, another breed of sheep – Van Rooy – was included to create the White Dorper.
In modern times, the differences between the Dorper and White Dorper are not drastic and often a bit subjective in nature. In general, I believe there is more variation within these breeds for most traits than there is across the breeds. With that said, there are a lot of varying opinions on how the two differ.
CURT: The early importations of Dorsets came from England in the mid-1800s, and at that time they were all horned animals. In the mid-1950s, there was an apparent mutation in the flock at North Carolina State University that produced polled animals. Those offspring were bred up to the consistently polled Dorsets that we are familiar with today.
The horned and polled versions of the Dorset breed are essentially the same genetics with the exception being the horns. More recent areas of emphasis in the Dorset breed have produced the frame type, wether type and the production type that probably show more differences than between the horned and polled.
SGUSA: Currently your breeds appear to fill different niches within our commercial industry. Could you talk about where you see your breed fits and why.
JAKE: Dorper/White Dorpers – for brevity, I’ll refer to them both as Dorpers – are very adaptable to a variety of climates, especially semi-arid environments. That’s not to say they don’t work in other situations too, but they were originally developed to be a low maintenance, maternal yet carcass-oriented breed that could withstand a drier environment.
In the United States, Dorper sheep are gaining in popularity all across the country. They shed their wool – which eliminates the need to hire a shearer – and they are hardy animals that stay in good condition even on marginal forage quality. Because of their low maintenance requirement, they are an especially good fit for smaller farm flock situations. But perhaps the greatest role they play is as a supplier of lamb to the nontraditional market.
Dorpers are fast growing sheep that reach 60 to 80 lbs. quickly, and often without grain supplementation. These lambs are very often sold right off the ewe into nontraditional slaughter channels that prefer their muscled carcasses, even at light weights.
It should also be mentioned that Dorpers are one of the hair/shedding breeds that are becoming popular to utilize in solar grazing and for targeted grazing. Their less selective grazing preferences and ability to successfully lamb without assistance (in most cases) on pasture helps in these situations.
CURT: Dorsets and Dorset cross ewes have been used successfully as a maternal breed in commercial farm flocks. Depending on a producer’s desired end point, Dorsets can meet both the traditional market lamb criteria or the nontraditional lighter market weight with an acceptable carcass. They are probably better suited to a more intensive production system that are found in many farm flocks.
It is interesting that in the United States the Dorset is known more as a maternal breed and our counterparts in Australia use the Dorset as a terminal sire.
SGUSA: Both of your breeds have been a little slower adopting Estimated Breeding Values generated by NSIP compared to other commercially relative breeds. What do think is the reasons for this?
JAKE: I am not sure the answer to this is clear cut. It seems that in order for a breed to really gain momentum in terms of using NSIP, it is dependent on the use of this technology by a core group of producers who are dedicated to using the data. The effect then trickles down and pretty soon there are a bunch of members of that breed enrolled.
I just don’t know if the Dorpers have enough of a core group dedicated to NSIP compiled yet to see that effect. Don’t get me wrong, there are some Dorper flocks in NSIP doing great things, but the windfall of numerous flocks to follow suit and join the program is still on the horizon.
But I also sense some momentum on that front amongst the industry. That is also certainly not to say that there aren’t a number of progressive non-NSIP breeders who have a strong desire for breed improvement, it just seems that the typing system that is used in South Africa is the more preferred method currently. I believe there is room for all types of evaluation standards.
I also believe though that as Dorpers become more popular in regions of the country where parasites are a persistent threat, the fecal egg count EBV might really become an attractive tool for breeders to start using NSIP. Dorpers – in contrast to many of the other hair-type breeds – are fairly susceptible to gastrointestinal parasites and selection for greater resistance is going to continue to be more important into the future.
CURT: I think that there are a couple reasons for limited participation in NSIP. Breed association leadership has a lot to do with the emphasis of any of the breed’s programs and some breeds have embraced the power of genetic merit through EBVs more than others. Also, the Dorset breed is probably more predominately in smaller farms flocks that aren’t aware of the power of the information that is able to be accessed through NSIP EBVs.
SGUSA: Looking at the future, what technologies would you like your fellow breeders to adopt in order to increase positive genetic change in your breed?
JAKE: Dorpers were originally brought to the United States because they were really well adapted to an extensive style of management. They were known to produce two nice lambs pretty much exclusively on their own with little supplement. But to me, it is really important that producers understand that this fitness of environment will not always be inherent in the breed if we select for other traits and ignore stuff like parasite resistance/resilience, body condition, body size and reproductive ability with the assumption that they will always be “good” for these traits. These traits matter tremendously in commercial production and in many cases, what we don’t select for, we are selecting against.
I would very much like to see the Dorper industry have a more widespread adoption of NSIP to help maintain and improve these traits across the board. As genomic technology expands and develops, there are a multitude of opportunities to incorporate DNA testing to also enhance our ability to identify genetically superior animals.
CURT: Regarding future technologies, we probably don’t know what we don’t know. Just recently the relationship between worm resistance and other positive immunity factors has been demonstrated, so there will probably be other traits that have an effect on production traits that haven’t been identified yet.
The sheep industry has always lagged in the adoption of technology in comparison to other species. Hopefully, we can borrow from the success and avoid some of the failures to advance rapidly in identifying superior genetics that can add efficiency and subsequent profitability.
The National Sheep Industry Improvement Center Board of Directors is accepting grant proposals. Applications will be accepted through Sept. 30.
The center was re-established as part of the 2008 Farm Bill, at the request of ASI. As part of the 2019 Farm Bill, the center was awarded funding by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service to be used for the Sheep Production and Marketing Grant Program. Grant funding can be used on activities designed to strengthen and enhance the production and marketing of sheep and sheep products through infrastructure development, business development, production, resource development, and market and environmental research.
Currently, the center has budgeted approximately $300,000 for grants. The average grant in recent years has been about $30,000.
Financial assistance provided by the center must accomplish one or more of the following objectives:
• Strengthen and improve long-term sustainability of the lamb and wool industry’s infrastructure by increasing the numbers in production.
• Provide integration of performance/production data from sources that can help enhance the sheep industry within the United States.
• Provide leadership training and education to sheep industry producers and packers.
• Enhance sheep production by improving infrastructure of the American sheep industry through assistance to all segments of the industry to address sustainable production and marketing of sheep milk, meat, fiber and related services such as grazing and ranch management.
• Promote lamb marketing through an organized method that can measure tangible results.
• Enhance the sheep industry by coordinating information exchange and seeking mutual understanding and marketing within the industry community.
The nine-member board is composed of seven voting members. Voting members include four domestic producers, two members with expertise in finance and management, and one member with expertise in lamb, wool or product marketing. The board will review each proposal, recommend funding and submit final recommendations to USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service for approval.
Additional information can be found on the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center Website at NSIIC.org. For more information and applications, contact NSIIC Program Manager Steve Lee at 207-236-6567 or stevelee@nsiic.org.
JOHN PEAVEY, 1933-2024
John Thomas Peavey – a Blaine County (Idaho) sheep rancher and former state lawmaker who had a hand in many of Idaho’s political, agricultural and environmental milestones, died on June 16, 2024. He was 90 years old.
His focus of work was broad and substantial, including the development of campaign finance reform, the allocation of water in the Snake River Basin, and other efforts to democratize the process of managing the state.
“First Lady Teresa and I are saddened by the loss of our good friend, John Peavey,” said Idaho Gov. Brad Little in a prepared statement. “John was a passionate rancher, an incredible steward of the land and a community leader. The Idaho ranching and sheep community are grieving the loss of one of our biggest advocates. First Lady Teresa and I lost a friend, and Idaho lost one of our iconic leaders.”
From his family’s Flat Top Ranch near Carey, Idaho, Peavey launched initiatives that ranged in scope, but none resonated more with the valley he called home than the annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival. Peavey and his wife, Diane, together with the help of a longtime associate, Carol Waller, came up with the idea for the event after a dustup with locals who had become frustrated with the annual movement of thousands of sheep through the valley. The passage of the sheep frustrated users of a paved bike and walking path. Many of them complained about the Peaveys’ usage of the path, which followed the historical movement of shepherds and their flocks down to seek forage in lower elevations every fall.
Peavey surprised everyone – including his wife – by inviting every one of the people who called or wrote to complain to meet him and the sheep and walk among them as they moved through the valley, which they did. So it was that people would return – year after year – to walk with the sheep as they trotted down the valley, and to hear Peavey talk about the history and value of shepherding in Idaho.
As they sat in a car driving slowly down valley, Waller said she leaned over to Diane to say, “I think we may have a festival here.” In 2023, more than 25,000 people – hailing from all 50 states and multiple countries – attended the five-day October event. The economic impact to the valley is estimated at $6.2 million.
In his 24 years in the state legislature, Peavey tackled several of Idaho’s most challenging issues, including the development of campaign finance reporting that would later be known as Idaho’s “Sunshine Laws.”
In 2021, John and Diane Peavey were selected to be grand marshals of the Wagon Days parade and festival. In announcing its choice, the city of Ketchum stated that the selection of the Peaveys was a way to celebrate the couple’s “significant and lasting contributions to Ketchum’s culture and educational landscape.”
Source: Shea Anderson, Idaho Mountain Express