Ae. Casey et al., MERINO CENTRAL TEST SIRE EVALUATION - MEDIUM WOOL (1989-1993) AND FINE WOOL (1990-1993), Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding, 43(1), 1995, pp. 30-46
Medium wool Merino Central Test Sire Evaluation (CTSE) has been conduc
ted since 1987 in the NSW Riverina. Additional medium wool sites have
since been initiated in NSW (Macquarie), Western Australia and South A
ustralia. This report covers the presently available data from the Riv
erina (1989 - 1993), Macquarie (1990 - 1992) and Western Australia (19
93) evaluations linked across years and sites by the use of common sir
es. South Australia will be linked to this group when their first eval
uation (1995 drop) is available. Fine wool Merino CTSE was initiated i
n the New England in 1990 and Victoria in 1992. This report includes a
ll the available New England drops (1990 - 1993), however no Victorian
results are available at present. CTSE has been developed to allow br
eeders to increase genetic progress by improved across flock selection
of sires. A wide range of both measured and visually assessed traits
are recorded to allow breeders with a wide range of objectives to bene
fit. The information allows participating breeders to benchmark their
home tested sires performance to elite sires from throughout Australia
. The CTSE program provides the only objective comparisons of the gene
tic merit of rams from different studs which is independently conducte
d and publicly available to the industry. The CTSE programs are primar
ily funded by participating breeders with the assistance of State and
Australian Associations of Stud Merino Breeders, The University of New
South Wales, NSW Agriculture, The Federation of Performance Breeders
and Western Australia Department of Agriculture.