Genomic Investment

Interviewer: Chad, we're looking at 1,300 beautiful nine-month-old ewes here, and they've all been genomically tested. Why are you going to such great effort and investment?

Chad Taylor: Well, it is a significant investment, and it's not for the faint-hearted. But I think if we're in the industry of providing good information for people to draw on to make decisions that affect their business, we need to provide accurate information. It's quite easy to produce a breeding value of low substance that people can't really rely on. But if they're really going to come back for more and make decisions on it, they need accurate information.

Genomic testing gives us far better access to pedigree, which gives us far more accurate breeding values for people to really lean on when they're making genetic decisions.

Interviewer: Plenty of people haven't made this sort of investment. What does it gain you?

Chad Taylor: I think it's purely and simply data quality. It's more accurate data, and with more accurate data comes more accurate decision-making and faster genetic gain. That applies internally, from a stud breeder's perspective, but importantly it applies to every commercial client that taps into our sheep and our genetics and relies on accurate information to make selection decisions.