Merits of developing a genetic evaluation for the Australian dairy sheep and goat industries

The Australian dairy sheep and goat industries have been constrained by the size of the national flock and the geographical spread of flocks across the country. The absence of a national genetic evaluation system to underpin meaningful genetic improvement has contributed to the production performance of Australian dairy sheep and goat milk production being lower compared to the more developed dairy sheep and goat industries of Europe. Implementing a national genetic evaluation scheme will aid the development and future progress of the Australian dairy sheep and goat industries through identification and selection of the genetically superior animals. This study investigated the advantages of a genetic evaluation program for traits of value in Australian dairy sheep and goats, and outlined potential gains from implementing a breeding program.