Mount Linton Station is a New Zealand farming operation with more than 100,000 stock units. The Mount Linton Genetics Unit is a separately run farm, breeding the terminal sire Suftex and Texel sheep for the station.
Mount Linton has embraced technology. It is one of only two breeding programs in the country using CT Scanning to strengthen the selection of terminal sires.
Agtrac is working with Mt Linton Station to measure, monitor and improve performance.
With a focus on fertility, survival, meat yield, growth and longevity, a Mount Linton Maternal SIL index has been designed to ensure 140 plus lambing percentage to sale and an average of more than 30kg lambs at 90-100 day weaning.
Other targets include a meat yield of 90% plus of lambs finished receiving the maximum yield payment and growth rates that will finish 95% plus of all lambs by the end of March.
Mount Linton had been working with Tru-Test to weigh, monitor and select its stud flock for the past 6 years. This was later complemented with RFID, which helped reduce manual recording.
Adding Agtrac’s data services to the existing system, however, has taken Mount Linton to another level. Hamish Bielski says “Looking at the speed and accuracy we have now, I wouldn’t even contemplate going back,”
With Agtrac as a data service, the information from their animals is directly transferred to the SIL national database, Abacus Bio for mating selection and Pfizer for DNA.
Abacus sends mating lists to Agtrac, based on the five key traits, reproduction, survival, growth meat yield and longevity for the maternals, plus growth and meat yield for the terminals. It is then imported into the Tru-Test XR3000 weighing indicator for drafting. For mating selection, Hamish says this is saving significant time in the yards.
“Agtrac is saving us money, time and hours of paperwork, especially around ram selling and mating”
“I could do the data sorting myself but it would take a long time – and I can be more usefully doing something else in the meantime. I’m a great believer in having a broad mix of skills and leaving the specialty work up to the specialists.
“Jon (Jonathan Porteous at Agtrac) keeps everything flowing smoothly and trouble-shoots if I’m having difficulty with anything. He’s like a magician.”
As the stud develops further towards its goals, the ability to access and manipulate data for the traits required is becoming increasingly important.
“The data doesn’t lie – I can’t fool anyone who knows what to look at!” Hamish says.