SHEEP producers are missing out on potential profit gains from genetic improvements.
A slow uptake in genetic tools was also compounded by a fixation on breeds.
Instead, producers should look at the traits within breeds and how they met their breeding objectives.
That's the view of Andrew Kennedy, a PhD student with the University of Western Australia, who spoke to producers at a Meat and Livestock Australia forum in Hamilton last week.
Andrew said commercial producers were missing out on the benefits of using Australian Sheep Breeding Values and that the industry had been slow to take up the tool.
He said the average commercial producer did not know too much about ASBVs.
"A survey showed about 29 per cent of producers were aware of breeding values and the big gap was in the producer market," Andrew said.
"The stud sector is quite small and the challenge is to get that next big group of commercial producers up to speed."
Although using ABSVs was simple, Andrew said it was up to commercial producers to put more pressure on their ram suppliers to use the system.
"You're flying blind if you don't have that genetic component sown up," he said.
ASBVs allow producers to look up what values their stud sheep have.
They can use the system to design what traits they need to find from the genetic lines to meet their objectives.
Andrew said one of the reasons producers had been slow to take up ASBV tools was a lack of leadership from the stud sector.
But the main reason was that producers did not fully understand the value of genetics.
"It takes time to improve genetics and when you start it is not as obvious - it will take years before you notice," Andrew said.
He said the industry was working to get more comprehensive, but simple, economic data to show producers more clearly the advantages of improving their genetics.
"It would be good if growers could see that if they select down this line, it will equate to a certain dollars per head," Andrew said.
