04 Jul Trigger Vales MEQ Trial

In June 2023 Andrew and Jamieson made the long trek to Fletcher’s International in Dubbo with the ute and trailer full of our latest batch of MEQ trial lambs. For 4 generations Trigger Vale has been early adaptors of new initiative’s and technologies as we strive to produce a truly dual purpose merino. Over the past 8 years we have been working in partnership with Ricki Luhrs from Cavendish Victoria using DNA, genomics and Australian Sheep Breeding Values to breed a line of industry leading Meat Eating Quality Merino’s. We have selected our in flock trait leading ewes for IMF ( juiciness) and ShearForce ( tenderness) and crossed them over our own and industries leading MEQ sires. This recent kill done in conjunction with, MLA, Fletcher’s international and the meat specialist team from the University of New England was the latest step in this project. We took carcass weights , PH and loin samples from the lambs to be taken back to the lab for IMF and Shear Force analysis. While genomics can give a good indication of the generic merit of these traits to get highly accurate ASBV’s you require linkage to actual phenotypic data which these lambs will provide. All sire groups had linkage and siblings back in our flocks to continue moving the program forward.