Using genomic technologies to reduce mastitis in meat sheep.

This project addresses the sustainable intensification of sheep meat through the exploration of genomic selection for disease resistance. With pure- and crossbred Texel sheep, genome-screening technology and bioinformatic procedures will be used to identify genomic regions and bloodlines of sheep that are more resistant to mastitis. The project will put in place the computational and data recording protocol infrastructures so that farmers can include new measures of mastitis alongside their other breeding goals (such as aspects of lamb growth and meat quality) in the future. The project will also investigate if cheaper alternatives to the new genomic technology can provide similar information without losing accuracy, to identify the more resistant animals for breeding. New methods for identifying animals with clinical or subclinical mastitis will combine farmer records with on-farm milk testing and lab test indicators of disease to determine which method is most likely to be used routinely in the future.