''Exciting stuff'' is how Murray Behrent describes a project examining omega-3 content in lamb.
It was believed there were sheep that had a higher omega-3 content than fish.
''If we can nail that, that's going to add a lot of value to lamb protein going forward,'' Mr Behrent, Alliance Group's group livestock manager, said.
The first trial was held last year, with 1000 lambs killed, of which about 20% had ''really good omegas''.
The next step was to find out why some did and others did not and that needed to be identified through science.
''A lot of money is involved with this but I believe it's the way of the future,'' Mr Behrent said.
He was speaking at a field day at Doug and Jeannie Brown's Punchbowl stud near Maheno, marking 100 years of ram breeding.
It was 1915 when legendary stud breeder H. J. (Henry) Andrew, Doug Brown's grandfather, arrived in North Otago and started farming.
Southdown sheep were his particular passion, although he later also established a Poll Dorset stud.
Mr Behrent said Mr Andrew dominated the Southdown breed and had a significant effect on the sheep industry in both New Zealand and the world.
When he started farming, there was no science involved, it was all eye appraisal, whereas science now assisted with ram selection.
Genetics and forages had altered dramatically but one thing that had not changed was that climatic conditions still dictated farming operations.
Just like farmers today, Mr Andrew had faced drought during his farming career, he said.
Alliance Group needed high-yielding lambs with good fat cover. Too much fat had been taken off the carcass, Mr Behrent said.
Back in 1990, about 15% of lambs the company was processing were over-fats. By 2013-14, that was down to 1.36%.
Last year, 17% of all lambs processed through Alliance Group plants had a GR measurement of less than 3mm.
The optimum to aim for was between 3mm and 7mm, he said.
Beef and Lamb New Zealand senior geneticist Dr Mark Young said less fat was a problem.
Some lambs were too lean, which could adversely affect meat quality.
When buying rams, farmers should select for high eye muscle area (EMA) relative to carcass weight and visually and manually inspect animals to assess muscularity, he said.
Doug Brown, who steps down next month as an Alliance Group director, said it was a special day for his family to mark 100 years of breeding rams.
H. J. Andrew farmed at Punchbowl for 70 years and was ''a bit of a legend''.
''We are all very proud of him and what he did.''
Mr Brown also acknowledged the resilience of other farmers in North Otago, saying there were many farming families who had been in the district for 100 years, some a lot longer, which was an achievement, especially considering the environment they farmed in.
Alliance Group chief executive David Surveyor, who outlined some of the Punchbowl history, said H.
J. Andrew, who received the Bledisloe Medal in 1939, moved south from Canterbury seeking new opportunities.
He had a thirst for innovation that was ''just second to none'' and he became a very well-known industry figure.
He forged the Punchbowl reputation and Mr and Mrs Brown, who breed Suffolk, poll Dorset, Suffolk-Texel and poll Dorset-Texel rams, kept that going today, Mr Surveyor said.
The Punchbowl business was established around the same time as Alliance Group's Pukeuri plant, which celebrated its centennial last year and provided employment for between about 20% and 25% of the local population.
Mr Brown and other farmers were ''really passionate'' about the importance of the plant, Mr Surveyor said.
Alliance Group was investing in it again, installing robotic primal/middle cutting machinery in the boning room in June next year.
AbacusBio managing director Anna Campbell, just back from a trip to China, said far more money needed to be invested in moving New Zealand food ''up the value chain''.
The opportunities were exciting.
There were huge business model changes with e-commerce and a trend towards health and Dr Campbell believed the omega-3 project was ''really exciting''.
''We can do this market [China] better. We can lift into that top range. When we do, the opportunities are really great,'' she said.