Sheep Genomics in New Zealand: Research Progress and Industry Applications

An update will be provided on using the Ovine 50K chip for genomic selection in New Zealand sheep breeds. This has recently been expanded to weaning weight, carcass weight, meat yield, parasite resistance, number of lambs born, facial eczema and wool weight. Work to include lamb survival, dagginess, adult ewe weight, meat quality, and a proxy for ewe longevity will be described. In addition results from the development and use of a low density 5K SNP chip for 2 stage selection in ram lambs and an approximately 100 SNP parentage plus product will be outlined.