New Web-Based Tool Helps Buyers Find Right Ram

New Web-Based Tool Helps Ram Buyers Find the Right Ram

New Zealand sheep farmers now have a powerful internet-based tool to help them identify ram breeders producing rams with the genetic traits most relevant to their operation.

“FlockFinder” is a world first and was developed by Sheep Improvement Limited (SIL) – part of Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ), formerly Meat & Wool New Zealand. SIL works with 500 ram breeders and 750 flocks throughout the country, gathering performance records and providing a genetic evaluation service for New Zealand sheep farmers. B+LNZ invests in sheep genetics through SIL to promote continuous improvement in sheep performance and this is one of the range of tools that the organisation invests in to help drive sheep and beef farmer profitability.

FlockFinder is the first ram buyer-focused tool of its type, which directly addresses the question of “where can I go to buy rams”, without baffling users with a lot of different figures.

B+LNZ General Manager Farm, Richard Wakelin says the FlockFinder idea was initiated by ram breeders. “Some SIL breeders identified the need for a simple tool that located breeding flocks where sheep were being selected for particular genetic traits. Because there is more genetic variation within flocks than between flocks, all flocks contain good sheep. The tool, therefore, focuses on finding flocks with genetic information for traits the ram buyer rates as important.

“FlockFinder trawls through the world’s largest genetic evaluation of sheep, held in the SIL database, to locate flocks meeting the search criteria. As a result, it can find flocks a user didn’t know about, but which may be able to supply rams that suit their needs.”

FlockFinder is simple to use. Farmers nominate “dual purpose” or “terminal sire” type rams before considering up to nine different traits – including host resistance to parasites, growth, meat production, reproductive ability and wool production – weighting each for importance. They can also select region, ram birth year, and breed. Within seconds of the search being submitted, a list of ram breeding flocks appears together with the traits each flock has genetic information for. Contact details are available with one mouse click and the user can follow these, if they wish.

“There is no need to log on or for us to record your details. The software is free to anyone who visits the site and the results are purely for the user’s information,” Mr Wakelin says. “We encourage farmers to have a ‘play’ and familiarise themselves with the potential of the tool. If they run several searches, they will see that the most effective results are generated by concentrating on a couple of primary traits – rather than too many. This is because only some sheep excel at everything and they are usually used by ram breeders themselves.”

SIL has developed the underlying search engine and the user interface of FlockFinder with an awareness of rural internet limitations, however, a broadband connection is required to give acceptable response times.

Mr Wakelin says FlockFinder’s results are particularly relevant because they are based on the most up-to-date information generated from the large-scale, across flock and breed “SIL-ACE” genetic evaluation.

“SIL-ACE – SIL’s Advanced Central Evaluation – is run every two months and involves about half of the 750 SIL-recorded flocks. The evaluation uses genetic links between breeds and flocks to benchmark and rank the performance of individual rams. SIL-ACE allows farmers and breeders to directly compare animals for genetic merit in key production traits.”

Currently, not all SIL flocks participate in SIL-ACE, as it is up to individual flock owners to join. There is no charge for participation in SIL-ACE.

FlockFinder can be found at www.sil.co.nz/flockfinder.aspx. The website includes guidelines on how to use the tool. Feedback is welcome and assistance is available at silhelp@sil.co.nz and 0800 SIL-HELP.

ENDS

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