PRIME lamb producers will get practical insights into how genetics can perform on farm, at a workshop in Gundagai this Friday.

The 28 March event on ‘The Genetics of Profitable Lamb production’ will include presentation of five years of data from the Bowan Park Poll Dorset progeny trial and leading industry speakers.

Organiser Isabele Roberts said participants will get an opportunity to tour the Gundagai Meat Processors plants on Thursday 27 March before the Friday program starts.

Ms Roberts said the value of the day will be to give lamb producers some practical insights into how genetics can perform on farm.

“We’ve got real on farm data, we’ve got real carcase data.

“We know pretty much everything we need to know about the genetics of these lambs,” she said.

“So we can start to get a real understanding of genetics in action and when we start to look at the ASBVs of those lambs, how the balance of traits of traits, in the forms of ASBVs can actually impact on farm and carcase performance.”

The list of speakers includes Dr Peter McGilchrist from UNE Meat Science on ‘Do we have to trade off growth and yield to target superior meat quality?’

Prof McGilchrist will cover the physiological differences in lambs and the impact of extremes in any trait focusing on those that drive carcass value in modern Australian lambs.

Gundagai Lamb’s Dr Michelle Henry will outline ‘The Importance of Genetics to a Progressive Meat Processing Company’, touching on the journey that Gundagai Meat Processors has taken in objectively measuring carcases through the plant and why the genetics that producers are selecting are so important for the success of the Gundagai Lamb brand, and the lamb industry in Australia.

Ellie Hays from Agrista Farm Benchmarking will speak on ‘Cost of Production and pathways to profit in your prime lamb business.’

She will cover how to manage the cost of production (CoP) in a prime lamb business, focusing on the key metrics that drive profitability. She will discuss the balance between efficiency and effectiveness, including strategies to improve overall production while reducing CoP.

Rob Lindon from TA Field’s ‘Aberfeldy’ lamb operation will outline ‘The impact of genetics on profitability in lamb production

Rob manages ‘Aberfeldy, a 1770 ha farm located near Holbrook, NSW, that was purchased in 2019 ‘walk in/walk out’, with the genetics of the breeding ewes and ram varied and relatively unknown.

In the last five years of management, a key focus of their ram purchasing decisions has been on using genetics to maximise the profitability per kg/ha. Rob will provide a case study of how genetics can change the production outcomes.