Commercial Breeders' Sales Catalogue Checklist
Sales catalogues are designed to provide all the information any potential buyer could need to make a bull or ram purchase, but digesting all this data can be overwhelming. What we have witnessed is that to digest the data effectively, producers narrow their focus. They start to emphasise one or two production traits, or only focus on those they deem important and ignore the rest. This approach simplifies the job at hand, but can lead to unforeseen circumstances. There are relationships between all of the production traits, and narrowing your focus can have unforeseen consequences on other traits.
This checklist is designed to help you avoid falling into those traps:
Make sure you have decided on your breeding objectives. Start with the end goals in mind. Understand which traits and indexes have an impact on breeding objectives for your breed.
Know where you are at. Review the latest figures for your current sire battery. Their figures may have moved since they were purchased. You need to be looking for seedstock with superior genetic merit compared to previously used seedstock, so you need to reference your starting point.
Make sure you are sourcing your sires from a supplier who actually measures the traits that make up your breeding objectives, and that you are not solely relying on correlations.
Simplify your decisions by using an index instead of trait data. You need to be aware of which indexes you can use for your breeding objective. The indexes are a balanced view of all the trait data and should be your first pit stop. Study the makeup of the different selection indexes for your breed on your breed society website or performance evaluation system.
Be aware that pushing a single trait can lead to problems. Negative correlations can impact your breeding objectives. The obvious examples: selecting a bull based on 600 day growth can have a negative impact on mature cow weight, and similarly, selecting for low fibre diameter in sheep can impact growth. There are many other less obvious negative correlations, and the harder you select on a single trait, the more likely you are to be impacted by negative correlations. Go back to the indexes for that balanced view.
Finally, don't be distracted by the aspects of the animal that are directly related to how well it has been fed. Obviously, sires need to be able to walk, talk, and chew gum. The numbers tell you what is on the inside, and that's where the value lies.
