By BECKY TALLEY
Sheep Industry News Associate Editor

(March 1, 2009)  This year’s American Sheep Industry Association (ASI)/National Lamb Feeders Association Convention was host to the first half-day research symposium held to recognize active sheep research programs from across the United States. The symposium gave producers an opportunity to learn about current research findings from the researchers themselves.

The symposium, coordinated by ASI’s Production, Education and Research Council (PERC) and moderated by Justin Luther, Ph.D., North Dakota State University, was a popular event, drawing a packed house of attendees who watched the presentations and asked well-informed questions of the presenters.

“We believe it to be quite a success. I heard only positive comments and feedback during the convention. People were very positive about the subject matter and how much this symposium was needed,” said Burton Pfliger, PERC chairman. “During most of the program, we had about 100 people attending.”  
The following papers were presented to symposium attendees. For more on the research, please visit www.sheepusa.org where the papers are posted in their entirety.

Genetics
Breeding Objectives for the Western Range Sheep Industry
Rodney Kott, Ph.D., Brent Roeder, Lisa Surber, Ph.D., Randy Borg, Ph.D.,  and David Notter, Ph.D.
Conclusions: Selection using the western range profitability index increased pounds of lamb weaned per ewe.

Number of lambs born is the single trait most affecting profitability for lambing rates in this analysis.

In most scenarios, selection for increased weaning weight should be balanced by selection pressure to limit the increase in mature body size.

There appears, at larger body sizes to be a modest antagonistic relationship between increases in body size and stayability and ewe productivity. The point at which that antagonistic relationship becomes economically important to a particular producer is probably highly dependent on the quantity and quality of available feed resources.

Nutrition
Nutritional Strategies for Increasing the Efficiency of Sheep Production
Christopher Schauer, Ph.D., and Justin Luther, Ph.D.
Conclusions: Opportunities exist for sheep producers to increase profitability in the ewe flock as well as during lamb finishing through the use of non-traditional feedstuffs and alternative feeding techniques.

Physiology
Evaluation of New Techniques to Enhance the Use of A.I. on Farm
Phil Purdy, Ph.D., Robert H. Stobart, Ph.D., Brent Larson and Harvey Blackburn, Ph.D.
Conclusions: The results demonstrate that frozen thawed ram semen held at 5 degrees Celsius for 24 hours prior to cryopreservation is as effective in fertilizing ewes as that frozen immediately after collection. Achieving fertility using semen cryopreserved in this manner is important because it will enable the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Germplasm Program to successfully collect samples from around the United States and freeze them in the laboratory in Fort Collins, Colo. It also affords sheep producers the ability to perform on-farm collection and process at a distant laboratory.

Pasture/Range Management
Developing Grazing Prescriptions for Spotted Knapweed
Rodney Kott, Ph.D., Lisa Surber, Ph.D., Brent Roeder, Tracy Brewer, Ph.D.,  and John Walker, Ph.D.
Conclusions: The increased consumption of knapweed in August versus July suggests that either knapweed was preferred in August or that the ewes were becoming adapted to it. Since this same flock or band of sheep has grazed on these pastures in the previous summers, the increased consumption can probably be attributed to an increased preference as the season progresses.

Production and Management
Grading up to Hair Sheep Genetics in a Pasture-Based Production System
Debra Aaron, Ph.D., Donald Ely, Ph.D., Endre Fink and B.T. Burden
Conclusions: Incorporation of White Dorper breeding in a Polypay flock can result in ewes that are as productive as ewes of the foundation breed and that eventually do not have to be sheared. Post-weaning performance of one-half White Dorper is superior to Polypay lambs. Higher percentage White Dorper lambs grow slower; however, this is likely the result of a loss of heterosis.

Sheep Health and Disease
Finally! An Effective Replacement for Ectrin® WDL for Sheep Ked Control
Jack Lloyd, Ph.D., Robert Stobart, Ph.D., Will Reeves, Ph.D., Greg Johnson, Ph.D., Rodney Kott, Ph.D., and Hayes Goosey
Conclusions: Both the Python® ear tag and Permectrin® WS low volume spray effectively controlled sheep ked, and again, sheep producers will be able to control the sheep keds in their flocks.

Wool
Sorting Lines of Wool with the OFDA2000
Brent Roeder, Rodney Kott, Ph.D., and Robinson Brenda
Conclusions: When used for fleece classing, the OFDA 2000 mid-side samples produce lines of wool of different diameters in the direction as expected (the finer can be sorted from the coarser). However, the targeting of a specific micron is more difficult. Using the OFDA 2000 as a tool for fleece classing with the goal of targeting a specific micron is possible, but its application for this purpose is not as precise as one would like and must involve a subjective evaluation of OFDA 2000 results. These data suggest that the OFDA 2000 can be utilized to sort fleeces at shearing into fairly specific fiber diameter lines of wool. Parameters utilized to sort these fleeces vary and should be determined by OFDA 2000 results, flock micron history and an estimated percent of fleeces that should be in line.

Wool Research to Enhance the Competitiveness and Prosperity of the U.S. Sheep Industry
Christopher J. Lupton, Ph.D.
Conclusions: Funds appropriated by the United States and state legislatures for wool (and other animal fiber) research during the past 25 years have helped to produce and evaluate technology that is being used to benefit the U.S. sheep industry. To maximize the beneficial impacts of these technologies and small ruminant grazing in general on rural income and the ecology of range sites, the size of the national flock must be increased.