Whilst producers are not often paid for lean meat yield or meat quality traits, they are paid for weight. Therefore there are clear incentives to use, and pay for, high growth rate sires. This is illustrated in the success of the lamb industry in increasing carcase weights of lambs by over 4.5 kilograms since 1990. In the selection of sires for meat production however, there needs to be consideration of other impacts on the lamb production system, on lean meat yield and likely performance under poor nutrition.
Selection for growth and lean meat yield
This research was funded jointly by the Sheep CRC and Meat and Livestock Australia.
