NEWSLETTERS

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NEWSFLASHES

1) Feb 08 Letts joining completed
The 2008 mating is now complete and once again we have made the decision to submit all our ewes to AI which means we will get as even a group of lambs to analyse as possible and also means our own home bred sires have a chance to be tested against the "best of the rest". We are extremely excited about Letts Hanibull 07/0112 a son of Bowen 05/544 whose dam Letts Bertha was the champion ewe at Adelaide in 2003. In a contemporary group of all ET bred ram lambs raised on merino dams he was 23%  heavier than the average and 6 kg heavier than the next best of the lot. The fact that these guys averaged 70kg at 5.5 months old puts this performance in perspective. 07/0112 was also one of the top IMF scanners in his group and managed to achieve this without excessive fat (2.8mm at 86.8kg). We are expecting some special lambs from this guy

2) Nov 07 Mt Ronan 99/276 to join the sire team at Letts - Letts stud has been able to organise semen collection from one of the Suffolk breeds prepotent sires in terms of eye muscle depth with an EBV of positive 1.5mm. Mt Ronan 99/276 has over 340 progeny recorded in Lambplan and has one of the highest EBV for a sire for Post Weaning Eye Muscle depth coupled with 96% accuracy in the Lambplan database. Brecon Breeders where he was collected report that the semen quality is as good as they have seen. Letts only has semen left for internal flock use no more for outside sale at this point in time. Mt Ronan 99/276 Contact Richard on 0408 864420 for further details. 

3) Sept 07 Intramuscular Fat PIRD -

Letts Stud in conjunction with the Australian Suffolk Association has had PIRD grant awarded via Meat and Livestock Australia to study if it is possible to measure intramuscular fat (IMF) in sheep though the use of ultra sound as it is done in cattle. The ability to scan for this would enable Pure Suffolk lamb to begin to select for this attribute of carcase quality which has been requested by potential customers in the lucrative Japanese market. Two scans to ascertain if ultrasound can measure lamb IMF have occurred already on commercial slaughter sheep with the analysis of the meat to see if the scans are accurate being conducted at the present time.

Some preliminary information that we have learnt are:-

1) we have designed a method where is possible to get a scan picture from a 60kg liveweight lamb and by doing that it appears there is measurable fat in the loin

2) the average of the 2 scans thus far (both around 6.8%) are exactly the same as the “tested from meat” levels achieved in trials undertaken last year. This suggests (not yet confirmed however) the scanning process has been successful

3) the range has been from 3.3% to 8.2% - for comparison in Angus cattle at around 12-15 months old a range of 2.0 – 5.0 % is generally found

Some background information on why IMF is so important in meat production is as follows. The level of intramuscular fat that consumers prefer from blind tastes tests in their meat is above 4%. The average level in Australian lamb meat has been tested in the past at 6% but we believe this may be decreasing due to the heavy emphasis that has been placed on certain genetic strains within the industry. Recent studies undertaken by MLA have shown it is possible to have poor eating quality sheepmeat which the principle reason for is lack of intramuscular fat. This reduction in intramuscular fat has happened in the pork industry where the average level of IMF has been driven down to 2% which is why pork is so dense and dries out easily in cooking.

The recent success of the Angus breed of cattle has been a combination of good levels of IMF as well as a better marketing effort in terms of selling this fact than either the Shorthorn or Murray Grey breeds who have similar levels.

At the top end of the scale is the area of “super premium” meat products we have in beef Wagyu with IMF levels approaching 30% in it’s most extreme and this product selling for 5-6 times the price of a standard beef loin. In addition Berkshire pork which has double the conventional pork industries levels of IMF sells for up to double the normal pork price. Also in seafood the most expensive fish is heavily marbled large blue fin tuna which is sold in the Japanese fish markets on the basis of how marbled it is. Prices of $6000 per fish are not unheard of for the upper end of the scale.

The 2006 and 2007 stud drops at Letts will also be scanned to begin work on the level of heritability of this trait in lamb. This will be a separate research project and will be applied for after the conclusion of the current PIRD in about 18 months. It would be hoped that as many Suffolk breeders as possible would become involved in this further research to enable more robust genetic linkage and greater populations to ensure high accuracy

Once the methodology has been confirmed we will publicise it to the wider industry as part of the PIRD process but we hope that Suffolk breeders take this up at a faster rate to enable the breed to set itself apart from the rest of the prime lamb industry as the “Meat quality breed”


4) Apr 07 Letts Edward 04/4153 confirms his status as senior sire at Letts. The recent run of Lambplan has Letts Edward as the leading Australian born sire on the carcase plus rankings at 190. This is from his first full crop of lambs at Letts. In 2007 we have used Edward extensively in ET, AI and as a natural backup and we are hoping to get another 100 or so lambs from him this year he will be compared with other leading sires such as Pine Ridge Goliath and Burwood Hurricane in the 2007 drop. Edward featured on the front of the Stock Journal when the Gunner Family purchased Letts stud from Mark and Di Swann in Nov 2005. He has thrown thick robust progeny with amazing stretch.

He has been collected at Brecon Breeders and semen quality is excellent click here to view more details Letts Edward 04/4153 

5) Apr 07 PURE SUFFOLK INDEX - Letts stud while applauding Lambplan and ASBV's has held some concerns as to the meaningfulness of the Carcase Plus Index for Pure Suffolk Lamb. To this end we have been working with Lambplan to develop a new index for breeding rams suitable for Pure Suffolk Lamb. The index will have a higher emphasis on Yearling muscle (yearling muscle is corrected to a 60kg liveweight lamb which we achieve at 5-6 months in our commercial suffolk flock) and a lesser focus on negative fat depth as the pure bred suffolk does not run to fat as quickly due to it's larger frame. We will also include maternal aspects important for a self replacing pure bred flock such as lambing ease (when developed)and no of lambs weaned. A strong focus will be retained on Post Weaning Growth as well as maternal weaning weight as in the Carcase plus measurement.  It is also envisaged that we would look to moderate final mature size so as not to have to spend too much on feed maintaining the pure bred ewe flock. Once intramuscular fat can be measured this would also be included.