Welcome to Wool.com

The modern Merino is a complex animal, expected to produce large amounts of high quality wool, compete with specialised breeds in the global red meat market, rear enough progeny to be self-replacing and generate surplus sheep sales.

Luckily, there are many tools available to help you choose the right sheep to fit your breeding objective. The benefits of each of these tools are outlined in AWI's Sheep Selection Tools publication, allowing growers to use those which are most appropriate to the traits they're selecting for.

Further information

• Download AWI's Sheep Selection Tools booklet
• Download An Introduction to Stockmanship
• Download An Introduction to Merino Visual Classing 
• Download the AWI/MLA Visual Sheep Score Guide

Merino Bloodline Performance allows woolgrowers to compare Merino bloodlines based on the results of wether and ewe trials, run across Australia over the past 10 years.

A joint initiative between AWI and NSW Department of Primary industries (NSW DPI), the analysis takes out all known environmental factors between trials and years, leaving the remaining variation between the bloodlines due to genetic differences.

Merino Bloodline Performance highlights the diversity in wool production, wool quality and profitability for a wide range of bloodlines and allows woolgrowers to compare the strengths and weaknesses of each bloodline.

The 2018 results demonstrate significant variation in production between the 73 bloodlines, with a range of 3.6 µm in fibre diameter, 28% in clean fleece and 13% in liveweight. These production differences translate into very significant differences in bloodline profitability.

Commercial woolgrowers wanting to identify the best ram source to match their own breeding objective can use Merino Bloodline Performance to compare bloodlines evaluated at different trials and over different years.

Further Information

View the latest Merino Bloodline Performance Results by navigating to the website, then scrolling down to view the latest Analysis Reports.

View other recent wether and ewe trail reports or you can download copies:

• Glen Innes
• Bathurst
• Orange National Field Day Wether Trial
• “Bookham Wether Trial 2019-2023 (2020 – Year 2 Results) plus the 2020 Team Shearing Results”
• Peter Westblade Memorial Merino Challenge 2018-2020 Meat Report
• Elmore Field Day Ewe Trial 2015-2019 Final Report
• Peter Westblade Memorial Merino Challenge 2020 Wool Report

The Australian Merino Sire Evaluation Association runs Merino Sire Evaluation by comparing the progeny of 12 to 15 sires at a specific site over 2 years. The association produces annual reports that are published on the Merino Superior Sires website. There are 10 sites across Australia.

The sites are run by local committees who make a considerable contribution through in kind labour. Additional running costs are covered by sire entrant fees which range from $2,000 to $3,500 per sire between the sites. Collectively, the sites are overseen by the Australian Merino Sire Evaluation Association (AMSEA) Executive Committee made up of site representatives, AWI, MLA, and the Executive Officer. AWI funds the operations of the Executive.

Individual sires are joined through artificial insemination to 50 to 60 ewes. The ewes are randomly drawn from a consistent, well classed line of ewes to avoid bias. Link sires allow sires to be compared between years and between sites. Results are reported annually at a site field day and a Site Report on all assessments, including sire means and Flock Breeding Values, is produced and placed on the Merino Superior Sires website.

AMSEA produces an annual Merino Superior Sires publication which includes all AMSEA data combined with on-farm (ram breeder) data relating to the relevant sires.

Further Information

• Find out more about sire evaluation on the Merino Superior Sires website.
• Merino Sire Evaluation Site reports compare the performance of sire.
• Download the AMSEA Project ON557 Final Report here.
• Read our Beyond the Bale article from Dec 2021 about Merino Sire Evaluation here.

MERINOSELECT is the national genetic information and benchmarking service for the Merino industry. The service provides a single national language in the form of "across flock" Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs).

Ram breeders and commercial woolgrowers can use these breeding values to compare the genetic potential of rams and ewes for a range of commercial traits, independent of the environment and location.

MERINOSELECT is managed by Sheep Genetics, as part of Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), and is based in Armidale NSW.

Further Information

• Visit the Sheep Genetics website for more information about MERINOSELECT, including the latest ASBVs
• Visit the MERINOSELECT animal websearch
• MERINOSELECT Service Providers can help you to collect measurements and manage your data on a fee-for-service basis
• Check out the resources available at the Sheep Genetics Resources page.
• Annual genetic trends of key MERINOSELECT ASBVs and record numbers for the three breech traits

DOHNE MERINO is the national genetic information and benchmarking service for the Dohne Merino breed. The database uses the same structure as MERINOSELECT and is managed by Sheep Genetics.

A Dohne ASBV describes the expected performance of a Dohne' s progeny for a trait relative to the performance of all Registered Australian Dohne ram breeding flocks.

Dohne ram breeders produce ASBVs for major measured performance traits including:

• number of lambs weaned
• maternal weaning weight
• live weight
• muscle depth
• fat depth
• fleece weight
• fibre diameter
• coefficient of variation of fibre diameter.

Sheep Genetics also reports two standard indices for the DOHNE MERINO analysis; the Dohne Base index and the Dohne Plus index. Both indices were developed in conjunction with the Australian Dohne Breeders Association (ADBA), as well as using feedback from Dohne breeders to identify economic breeding objectives in commercial Dohne flocks.

Further Information

• Visit the Sheep Genetics website for more information about DOHNE
• DOHNE Service Providers can help you to collect measurements and manage your data on a fee-for-service basis
• Visit the DOHNE animal websearch
• Check out the resources available at Sheep Genetics Resources page.

A number of DNA tests are now available to sheep breeders that can assist them in making decisions concerning breeding and selection within their sheep enterprises.

These include:

Poll which allows producers to determine whether the progeny from a particular ram is more or less likely to have horns when mated to ewes with different genotypes.

Parentage can determine whether particular animals are the likely parents of a particular animal. The performance of ancestors can provide improved predictability of a young animal’s productivity up until that animal’s own progeny are assessed.

Genomics to improve the prediction of estimated breeding values particularly of young animals without tested progeny and for “hard-to-measure traits”.

Flock Profile which allows commercial Merino breeders to profile the genetic merit of their flock and compare this to the Sheep Genetics database.

Visit the SheepDNA website to order blood cards or tissue sampling units and protocols.