Commercial sheep producers should seek information about worm resistance and egg counts when selecting rams, said Leading Sheep South East committee member and stud principal Mark Murphy from “Karbullah” at Goondiwindi.

Speaking at a Leading Sheep field day at “Karbullah” last week, Mr Murphy said worm resistance was an easy-to-use selection tool that producers in the normally wetter areas of southern Queensland could use to assist where barber’s pole worm may impact on productivity and profitability of sheep enterprises.

“We haven’t drenched grown ewes here since 1992. Instead we use grazing management and breeding strategies to select sheep that have resistance to worms or have resilience and can handle an egg burden,” Mr Murphy said.

“If worms are a problem in the lifecycle of their sheep, then commercial producers need to be asking studs for information about egg counts and resistance.”

Leading Sheep South East regional coordinator Noel O’Dempsey said the selection of worm resistant sheep was the topic which generated most interest at the field day, which covered the use of Australian Sheep Breeding Values and the Merino Select program.

Mr O’Dempsey said the value of the worm resistance data was demonstrated when producers inspected three young rams that were tested and known to have worm counts between 0 and 7000 eggs/gm. There was little visible difference in the look of the rams, but the figures proved there was actually a big difference in their performance and what can be expected from their progeny.

About 30 producers and interested people attended the Leading Sheep day at which the other speakers were:

Richard Apps, Manager, Sheep Genetics

Scott McColl, Principal, Umbercollie Merino Stud

Mick Tombs, Bundarra, and Alan Croll, Barraba, commercial producers, who are using carcass and worm egg data to achieve increases in productivity and profitability

Leading Sheep is an Australian Wool Innovation project in partnership with the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) and supported by AgForce, which targets the adoption of new technologies and practices to increase the productivity and profitability of the Queensland industry.

For more information, contact Leading Sheep South East regional coordinator Noel O’Dempsey, 07 4653 1441 odempsn@eldersnet.com.au