Improve your social license - Breed sheep for disease resistance

Abstract

Consumer interests in the health and welfare of animals has increased as production systems become more transparent. This brings about a need for cultural change around how the industry approaches the long-term management of disease traits. Genetic tools have been used by leading sheep breeders for decades to bring about genetic gain in production traits. The same approach can also be applied to breeding for good health and welfare. This paper provides a summary of the steps required to develop long-term solutions to diseases outbreaks allowing sheep producers to breed for disease resistance and improve the social license for the agricultural industry