What Poll Dorset Breeders Need to Know This Sale Season

As Poll Dorset breeders prepare for the 2026 ram sale season, there are several important updates from Sheep Genetics worth understanding. Combined LAMBPLAN, increased emphasis on percentile bands, and a continued focus on data quality are all designed to help breeders and commercial producers make more informed selection decisions.

Combined LAMBPLAN: Preparing for the future

The 1st of July analysis saw the release of indexes for the Combined LAMBPLAN analysis, marking the last significant milestone and the second last trait module release for the rollout of this industry-leading evaluation. Many Poll Dorset breeders will already be familiar with Combined LAMBPLAN following the information released by Sheep Genetics over the past 12 months.

For this year’s sales, Sheep Genetics recommends continuing to use the current Terminal ASBVs and indexes as the primary source of information for ram selection and sale catalogues. However, breeders may wish to start sharing Combined LAMBPLAN results with clients to build understanding ahead of future releases and the eventual transition to a single evaluation.

Combined LAMBPLAN has been developed to create a single, future-focused evaluation for Maternal and Terminal breeds, improving connectedness across the industry and providing the foundation for new tools, indexes and commercial genomic applications. Key benefits include:

• Direct comparison of genetic merit across Maternal and Terminal breeds (excluding Merinos and Dohnes)
• Increased accuracy of breeding values across traits and breeds
• A platform for future developments including commercial genetic selection tools

For Poll Dorset breeders, Combined LAMBPLAN reinforces the breed’s role as a leading Terminal sire breed. To see all enhancements made for the Combined LAMBPLAN analysis, please scan the QR code

Data Quality Continues to Matter

High-quality data remains the foundation of reliable ASBVs and is a strong indicator of a flock’s rate of genetic gain over time. Ahead of sale season, breeders should take the opportunity to:

• Review any genomic pedigree inconsistencies
• Check your exclusions
• Make sure all data is submitted
• Submit data at least 1-2 months before cataloguing to allow for time to fix any errors
• Check Data Quality Score (DQS) report

Studs that consistently collect and submit high quality data provide greater accuracy of ASBVs and therefore can make greater rates of genetic gain. Strong data quality also supports ongoing genetic gain across the Poll Dorset breed and the wider sheep industry.

Ensuring long term genetic gain

As ram sale season approaches, one of the most valuable exercises for both stud and commercial producers is to revisit their breeding objective before making selection and purchasing decisions. A breeding objective defines the traits that are most important to the profitability and efficiency of an enterprise and provides the framework for finding rams which will improve the productivity of your sheep breeding business.

For Poll Dorset stud breeders, this means understanding the needs of commercial clients and ensuring selection decisions are aligned with the production systems they service. For commercial producers, having a clear objective helps identify which traits will deliver the greatest impact on business performance, whether that be growth, carcass merit, eating quality or overall profitability.

When reviewing sale catalogues and pen cards, breeders and buyers should:

• Focus on ASBVs and indexes that align with their breeding objective
• Compare an animal’s ASBVs against the current percentile bands
• Consider the overall balance of traits rather than chasing a single measurement
• Remember that long-term genetic gain is achieved through consistent selection towards clearly defined goal

This is particularly important given the introduction of Combined LAMBPLAN. One of the key messages for breeders and ram buyers is that the breeding values may change, but an animal’s relative ranking may remain similar. As a result of enhancements to the evaluation, some ASBV values will look different to previous reports, making percentile bands more important than ever as a benchmarking tool.

Percentile bands show where an animal ranks within the wider industry population for a particular trait and provide a simple way to benchmark genetic merit. Animals ranking in the top 20%, 10% and 5% are highlighted on the Sheep Genetics search site and on pen cards, helping breeders and buyers quickly identify genetic strengths.

Poll Dorset breeders have been leaders in objective measurement and genetic improvement for many years. Combined LAMBPLAN represents the next chapter in that journey, providing a more accurate genetic analysis for future innovation and genetic selection tools. The fundamentals, however, remain unchanged:

• Record quality data
• Understand your breeding objective
• Use ASBVs alongside percentile bands
• Continue selecting for long-term profitability

 Marnie Hodge
Senior Development Officer at Sheep Genetics
mhodge@mla.com.au
0400 948 784