With large tracts of farm land being converted from sheep to dairy to capitalise on the dairy boom, more than 100,000 ewes were up for sale at this summer's clearing sales. Two-tooth ewes that would have sold for $130 in previous years went for $50 this year. It was a huge opportunity for sheep farmers to snap up top ewes at great prices, but how many ewes should a sheep farmer buy at the sales, and what is a good price? AbacusBio farm consultant, Simon Glennie, hoped to answer these questions in a study he conducted with funding from Meat & Wool's Farmer Initiated Technology Transfer scheme.

Simon's project looked at the impact of sheep farmers culling ewe lambs and poorer-performing ewes, and replacing them with older ewes. While farmers could profit from this approach in the short term, it was important to evaluate the effect a missing generation of ewes would have over the next few years.

“Farmers could do the maths on the back of an envelope but they need to know what the ramifications are for ageing a flock and that is very difficult to explain without a model, ” Simon said.

By modelling the impact on flock age, given standard culling and death rates, Simon calculated break-even prices. The model projected the effects over an entire ewe life-cycle, taking into account the need for farmers to compensate for their increased culling rate. At $103 for two-tooth ewes and $87 for mixed-age ewes, the break-even prices confirm the profit farmers stand to make by buying surplus ewes, but Simon cautioned that every farm situation is different and the merits of the purchase (and a farm's individual break-even price) depended on the quality of stock being replaced.

Simon also found that each 1% increase in expected lambing rate resulted in a farmer being able to pay $1 more for ewes, but farmers need to remember a sheep's performance is a result of its environment as well as its genetics, so the performance gains may be less than expected when the sheep is moved to a less favourable environment.

Coca-cola is the biggest selling drink in the world, and what is their most closely guarded secret? The famous ingredient Merchandise 7X, one of the most successful examples of intellectual property in the world today.

Intellectual property comprises "creations of the mind": inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs and Copyright, as well as the ownership of that property. It is the means by which a business protects the knowledge they have spent money and time to acquire, in order to secure an edge in the market.

But how do they ensure they can continue to use that knowledge? This is a fundamental question for researchers and businesses that have developed new products.

AbacusBio managing director, Peter Fennessy, says that protecting these trade secrets is vital, but can be expensive and difficult.

“AbacusBio can advise a business how to protect its position. For example, genetic markers are being used increasingly in plant and animal breeding. There are a lot of patents involved in individual genetic markers and their use. AbacusBio has worked with a number of different clients to work out how to protect and develop their commercial business using these genetic markers.”

There are a number of different ways to protect intellectual property. Taking out a patent, which makes it illegal for others to use the patented technology for a fixed period of time, is a standard method. But applying for a patent can be complicated and expensive, and the business must have the money and power to defend the patent in court if necessary. Another disadvantage is that the technology must be disclosed to the Patent Office, and therefore the world, for it to be protected.

Trademarks are distinctive names and/or signs that distinguish the goods or services of one business from another's. They are the cornerstone of a company's brand, and are therefore very important for successful marketing.

Copyright is a special form of intellectual property used to protect literary and artistic works.

Peter says the best way for a business to protect its intellectual property can be counter-intuitive. Making your intellectual property "common knowledge" (available in the public domain) can prevent competitors registering a patent for the technology themselves, which therefore retains your own ability to use the technology you developed.

Often, keeping this “freedom-to-operate” is the most critical requirement for a business, and this approach allows the business to focus its time and resources on being first to market and therefore gaining a market advantage. It is also free to combine its technology with other technologies to stay ahead of its competitors.

Determining how you will protect your business's intellectual property requires a strong understanding of scientific, business and legal practices, so the advice of an independent expert is invaluable. Peter Fennessy and AbacusBio can advise you of the pros and cons of each option appropriate to your business's individual needs, and help you to decide the best solution for you.

The potential economic benefits of being able to identify common faults in sheep such as "black spot" or bad feet using the latest advances in genetics, are being analysed by AbacusBio in a major Ovita-funded AgResearch project. AbacusBio consultants Jude Sise and Peter Amer are examining the potential of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP, pronounced snip) chip technology to improve genetic progress in sheep.

SNPs are identified when the sequence of base pairs contained within a DNA segment varies between individual animals.

Researchers estimate there to be one SNP every 300 to 500 base pairs and the sheep genome consists of about 3,000,000 base pairs. If SNPs can be identified that are closely associated with or linked to genes of importance, then animals can be SNP tested at a young age and the results used to assist in mating decisions.

In total, researchers aim to identify up to 60,000 SNPs at an average density of one every 50,000 base pairs. Jude says the low frequency of SNPs over a number of gene bases means it would take a number of years to breed out negative SNPs. Jude and Peter are using theoretical modelling to investigate the economic viability of selecting against negative trait SNPs over a ten-year period.

Jude says the elimination of negative SNPs would increase farmers' breeding options because there would be fewer faults in the herd, leading to an increase in diversity and animal quality. “Stud breeders routinely cull up to 30% of lambs due to a variety of faults,” the abstract for a research report states. “This would improve their efficiency by reducing lamb losses and increasing numbers of saleable ram lambs and ewe lambs suitable for selection as breeding ewes.”

The project will be completed in June, with key results to be presented at the joint NZSAP / ASAP Conference in Brisbane in July.

AbacusBio consultant, Neville Jopson, and AgResearch geneticist, John McEwan, developed the Sheep Improvement Limited Outside Sires Programme that was released last year. The programme is designed to giver a truer indication of the value of a ram purchased from an 'outside' flock by using cross-flock analysis.

Neville explains, "Rankings of a ram purchased from another breeder's flock are extremely conservative when it is first introduced, until key performance data is built up within the new flock. Our programme allows for cross-flock comparison using the SIL Advanced Central Evaluation (SIL ACE) database to place the ram in context in the new flock straight away."

Rankings of outside rams within a flock are usually set to the average in the base year of analysis, and the resulting conservative ranking is a major problem when breeders have spent a big sum for a high-performing ram from another breeder’s flock, only to have it receive a poor ranking in their own flock. It takes up to three years to get a true indication of the breeding values for maternal traits because the breeder must wait until the ram’s ewe lambs have lambs themselves.

“We know he’s performed well elsewhere, but we don’t know how well he ranks in his new flock until he has a reasonable number of progeny in that flock”, Neville says.

The programme is now a report option in SIL. For more information, download the SIL Technical Note entitled "Outside Sire Method Adjustments in SIL Evaluations" on the SIL website www.sil.co.nz.

Fiona Hely is now in her third year of a Bachelor of Applied Science at the University of Otago, and over the summer she worked at AbacusBio re-working the mathematical driver behind the SIL Ani-Mate software, a tool for reducing inbreeding and determining mate selection in sheep and beef.

It was a great opportunity to use and build on the skills she has learned during her courses so far, as well as earn a bit of money over the holidays!

Hely was originally planning to do a maths degree, but was attracted by the mix of science, maths and business that the Applied Science programme offers. “Instead of just tackling lots of theory, we also learn things we can use in the real world, including a variety of management papers.” Hely receives a Bonded Merit Scholarship, which means she must remain in New Zealand for three out of the first four years after she graduates, but she is confident that there will be many great career options for her here in New Zealand.

While majoring in computer modelling, Hely also takes papers such as Small Business Management as part of the degree. But she still has room in her programme to select interest papers such as sports psychology, which complements the 19 year-old's other passion: running. Currently the New Zealand under-20, 200m running champion, Hely trains at the track or the gym six days a week. As we went to print, she was preparing for the national champs in Auckland in March, but her longer-term goal is to compete at the University Games in Serbia in 2009.