Ovita has undertaken a formal process to prioritise traits for future research investment. 

Potential economic benefits to New Zealand farmers from a 10% improvement in 50 selected sheep traits were estimated.  These benefits to farmers were calculated assuming a particular sheep trait was improved by 10%, or that the total cost of the trait (especially for disease traits) was reduced by 10%. 

These economic benefits where then down weighted by factors such as:

• Likelihood that genetic variation exists to achieve improvement
• Current scientific capability/knowledge of the trait
• Cost and ease of getting the phenotype
• Historical investment versus product yield
• Counter factual
• Customer demand

This work is intended to inform a workshop of Ovita stakeholder representatives to help them make informed decisions on research priorities for Ovita.