The US is set to adopt Australia’s Lambplan performance recording system in a move aimed at increasing lamb’s presence on supermarket shelves.
A Sheepmeat Council statement said the US National Sheep Improvement Association had signed a deal with Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) to access the Lambplan sheep genetic evaluation service, as well as to work collaboratively on research and development (R and D) to increase US lamb consumption.
MLA’s general manager for livestock production innovation, Ian Johnsson, said this meant R and D, such as the new gestation length and lambing ease values, would become available to US lamb producers through the service.
It also meant a joint promotion of lamb, instead of a competitive approach, as he said the US industry was in decline and if it got too small, Australia and New Zealand would lose US input into promotion – a vital leg in the door to Australia’s largest export lamb market.
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