Moderate Frames

Interviewer: Chad, we all know that length, width and depth is where the money's made. So how are you achieving that?

Chad Taylor: Length, width and depth applies to all traits. We could start with the nostrils and work through the size of the muzzle, the head, the barrel. It applies to a lot of things through the Merino. We're selecting for those traits by combining growth and muscle, and muscle and fat tend to go hand in hand. So growth and muscle, in conjunction with the wool traits and repro, is how we're combining the width, the length and the depth.

Interviewer: I've seen a lot of Merinos from the more showy-type studs where the Merinos are huge, but with your sheep here you've got really high performance.

Chad Taylor: Yeah, I reckon there's a distinction to be made between frame score and muscle. So often we see sheep that are very tall, with a huge skeletal frame but no muscle, and that's achieved through selection. Whereas we're chasing high growth with high muscle depth, so they're a moderate-looking frame that way.

To us, that's where we get our weight, and the width and depth of the carcase. I think it's a far more valuable mix of traits in terms of maintaining condition score, which then has flow-on benefits to conception and fertility. It's almost an insurance against a lot of production losses if we select those traits in conjunction with each other.