Measured Goats in the Rangelands: An overview of a meat goat reference population

Abstract

<p>New South Wales Department of Primary Industries' second-most western station, Condobolin Agricultural Research and Advisory Station will be host to the "Measured Goats in the Rangelands project". This five-year co-investment between New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and the Meat and Livestock Donor Company project will also work collaboratively with the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit. The project will utilise three goat breeds – Boer, Kalahari Red and wild "Rangeland", both in purebred and crossbred forms to become a multi-breed genomic reference population. All project animals born will have a goat specific 70k SNP genomic test to identify parentage, breed composition and heterozygosity. Furthermore, performance, health, reproduction and structural traits will be recorded in large contemporary groups. The aim is to breed and measure over 8,000 animals in a self-replacing style breeding nucleus over 4 years. This project aims to provide trait and breed means, update genetic parameter estimates for meat goats, obtain heterosis estimates, and provide new links into the KIDPLAN database. The project will also generate new traits and knowledge to update the assumptions used for the KIDPLAN analysis. Finally, the project has a major adoption and extension focus to increase the uptake and adoption of KIDPLAN breeding values at a seedstock and commercial level.</p>