Perendale breeder Russell Proffit is chairman of FE Gold, and while his stud has been testing for FE tolerance for 14 years, it is not yet testing at a level where he can claim fully fledged FE Gold status.
Romney and Coopworth breeders have been at the forefront of testing and selection for FE tolerance and they are well-represented in FE Gold, but any breed is able to join provided it meets the testing criteria.
Proffit said one of the aims of the group was to educate farmers about the disease and get them to ask their breeders the right questions when it came to selecting rams which were tolerant to the production-limiting disease.
He said farmers needed to be aware of the length of time it took to breed tolerance into the flock and buying an FE-tolerant ram one year will not mean an FE-tolerant flock the next.
When selecting rams he urged commercial farmers who wanted to include FE tolerance in their trait selection to ask the breeder how long he or she has been testing rams, the level they are testing at, the number of rams they test every year, and ask to see the Ramguard certificates.
Ramguard is the AgResearch-managed organisation that does the FE tolerance testing.
Breeders serious about breeding for FE tolerance should be testing at least 10% of their sale rams every year and using only tested rams in their stud.
Proffit said it could take 20 years to breed to a high degree of FE tolerance.
Breeders start at zero and gradually build up to an optimum dose rate of 0.6, which is where the leading FE-tolerant Romney and Coopworth breeders are.
Proffit, who has been testing for FE for many years longer than most other Perendale breeders, believed it would take another three to five years before he was able to test at the highest dose rate. It was a slow process.
While it takes decades for stud breeders to breed FE tolerance into their flocks, commercial farmers can get there a lot faster by selecting rams from FE Gold flocks. FE Gold rams command a premium but Proffit said that reflected the huge amount of time and money breeders had invested in breeding for tolerance over many years.
The disease can cost commercial farmers significant amounts of money in lost production every year because, while FE might be evident in only a small proportion of the flock, there will be many more animals that will be affected sub-clinically.
Using rams bred to tolerate the disease will return dividends in production.
Buyer beware
FE Gold chairman Russell Proffit said it was frustrating to hear rams being advertised as having been tested when they are just the progeny of FE-tested rams. Simply not having seen FE in their flock did not mean the animals were genetically tolerant to the disease.
Therefore it was important to ask the correct questions when buying genetics.
Similarly, commercial farmers should be cautious about buying rams from clearing sales where the claim has been made that they are FE tolerant.
If in doubt, Proffit said, seek independent advice or go to the Sheep Improvement Ltd (SIL) website to view the up-to-date Ramguard list.
Breeders wanting to use the FE Gold brand need to apply every year to ensure they meet the criteria. They are then able to use the logo in their advertising material and have their names listed on the website.
