Ongoing R&D
AWI is commited to continue to research issues that affect Australian wool producers and the supply chain.
Footrot
Footrots costs Australian sheep producers $83.4M per year and foot abscess $10.4M per year, principally in Tasmania and Victoria and parts of NSW.
Resilience and Feed Efficiency
Resilience, feed efficiency and survival (lamb and ewe) are key economic traits that we don’t yet have ASBVs for, and thus not included in indexes. AWI is seeking to build the data required and analysis to support these traits to either have ASBVs or be included in indexes through correlated traits.
Flystrike Genomics
AWI with the Animal Genetics Breeding Unit (AGBU) is investigating flystrike and DNA results from R&D and private flocks to first produce ‘within flock’ breech and body strike breeding values and then ‘across flock’ multi trait Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) by 2027.
Methane
‘Selection for more methane efficient sheep’ project aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the development of methane breeding values.
Worms
With increasing drench resistance across high rainfall regions of Australia, breeding for worm egg count resistance is an important tool to minimise the cost of worm control and maximise wool returns.
