LAMBPLAN - Review of Lambplan project to determine success factors in adoption

Summary

The LambPlan Program was first introduced to the sheep meat industry in 1989. At the risk of over simplifying, LambPlan is a nationwide system that provides breeders and sheep farmers with the ability to prescribe an estimated genetic value (Estimated Breeding Value EBV) to an animal, giving the buyer of that animal improved certainty with respect to its performance and the performance of that animal's progeny. In terms of adoption and performance in the sheep meat industry, LambPlan has been a very successful program. For example, the number of Terminal Sires on the LambPlan database has grown from 200,000 in 1992 to just under 800,000 in 2001. Similarly, there has been a significant improvement in the genetic value of terminal sires over the same period.