Resilience in the Merinos

This project is focussed on validating production benefits in wool sheep by: (i) Determining if it is possible to identify Merino sheep, early in life, which are resilient and better able to cope with challenges posed by their production environment later in life; and (ii) Investigating if similar benefits from identifying resilient animals are achievable in extensive grazing systems, typical of the Australian Merino sheep industry, as has been observed in intensive production systems. This research will contribute to an understanding of interactions between resilience and its heritability, disease and productivity in the New England cohort of Merino Lifetime Productivity project (MLP) wethers.