TRIAL: Harrow farmers Jane Craig, Mick Craig, Tom Silcock and Sophie Paterson, with Ralph the dog, are part of a Merino Lifetime Productivity Project, which will be detailed at an event at Balmoral next month.
EVOLVING: Sophie Paterson and Jane Craig round-up the sheep. Pictures: PAUL CARRACHER
Mick Craig and Tom Silcock. Merino sheep at Harrow.
Merino sheep at Harrow.
Mick Craig, Merino sheep at Harrow.
Merino sheep at Harrow.
Merino sheep at Harrow.
Merino sheep at Harrow.
TRIAL: Harrow farmers Jane Craig, Mick Craig, Tom Silcock and Sophie Paterson, with Ralph the dog, are part of a Merino Lifetime Productivity Project, which will be detailed at an event at Balmoral next month.
Sophie Paterson and Jane Craig. Merino sheep at Harrow.
Mick Craig and Tom Silcock. Merino sheep at Harrow.
Mick Craig and Tom Silcock. Merino sheep at Harrow.
Mick Craig and Tom Silcock. Merino sheep at Harrow.
AgLife: Merino project building confidence
24 June 2026
By Bronwyn Hastings
A one-day seminar will discuss results of the decades-long Merino Lifetime Productivity Project at Balmoral next month, highlighting sheep breeding for specific needs and areas and for use alongside visual selection.
Traditionally known for its wool, the meat quality of merinos has improved as a result of the project, along with its fleece, fat, worm resistance and methane emissions.
The project’s sire evaluation sites are based in diverse climates and with genetically diverse ewes across Australia: Pingelly in Western Australia; New South Wales’ Temora, Trangie and Armidale; and Victoria’s Balmoral.
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The annual trials, worth millions of dollars, started on Tom Silcock’s property in 1998 and have been continued by the Balmoral Breeders committee, a group including stud-breeders, service-providers and commercial-
producers.
Mr Silcock said the project gave breeders more confidence in the predictability of genetics and genomics, and had both bolstered and dispelled past theories.
“The merinos we’re running now aren’t the merinos we were running 10 years ago – the evolution from the learning and implementing those learnings, we’re radically genetically changing the sheep we run,” he said.
“One of the shocking statistics of our industry is that the two-tooth merino is not recognised for the meat product quality that it is – different genetics give you different qualities in how well they fatten, how well they kill, and then how well they eat.
“We’ve also monitored their conception rate, fleece weights and body weights – it was a comprehensive trial where sheep were measured up to six or seven years of their lifetime.
“Typically, in the industry, sheep get measured once. But we kept measuring, and re-measuring and analysing all the impacts – it’s hugely comprehensive.”
Mr Silcock said Balmoral had the biggest trial ‘by a long shot’, joining 25 different sires every year – about double the amount of others.
“One of the easy things to look at is probably the move in breeding values,” he said.
“I know some producers who have an index, which is a combination of breeding values, that suits their breeding philosophy.
“They use it to gauge every year, and they’ve been going up seven per cent a year for the last three years – it’s huge.
“You would think that you’re going to plateau, but at the moment, they’re not, they’re almost accelerating, and it’s because we’re using every tool available to us, including genomics and ram lambs, and you’re just pushing every button you possibly can.”
Mr Silcock said the breeding philosophies of steering committee members were acknowledged in the trial.
“We quite deliberately made sure we represented all the different breeding philosophies in the sires,” he said.
“There were over 140 sires representing bloodlines and breeding programs from across Australia, and we made sure we had the different philosophies of opinion around the steering committee table.”
Mr Silcock said the takeaway message for farmers was to use all the tools available to them to be able to get the most out of producing sheep.
“It’s an ongoing evolution of discovery, but this trial has been a huge component of a lot of that – the ability to find $14-million and commit to an agricultural breeding program, it’ll never happen again,” he said.
Industry leaders from Australian Merino Sire Evaluation Association and Australian Wool Innovation will be at the event, along with trial representatives.
Mr Silcock said the free event, at Balmoral Recreation Reserve on July 23, was a formal function from 9am until 3pm.
“It will be less formal after that and questions-and-answers will continue for another couple of hours,” he said.
“We want people to understand how profitable merinos can be and how they’ve radically changed, and by pursuing the knowledge that we’ve gained, the improvements can be made very quickly.
“Anyone who’s thinking about running sheep in the future, really can’t afford not to be there.”
