The greatest message coming from research, both at industry and farm level, is the huge impact that implementing a targeted breeding programme can have on your farm’s bottom line.

Generating a higher level of output through improved breeding (litter size, fertility and animal performance) and stocking rate is continually being shown as the main contributing factor to maximising a farmer’s gross margin.

On too many farms the level of output achieved is not sufficient to cover costs of production, leaving the farm dipping into direct payments to keep running.

The make-up of the Irish sheep sector, where over 42% of flocks have less than 50 sheep and 70% have less than 100 ewes, along with many flocks farming on marginal lands, present challenges for the adoption of the latest technologies or advancements in breeding.

However, even with this, there are still improvements that can be put in place on every farm.

This supplement focuses on a number of these. Pages 2 and 3 discuss the positive impact on litter size of having ewes in optimum condition at mating.

On pages 4 and 5, Gerry Murphy and Shane McHugh look at ewe breed type and selecting a breeding policy that works best for you and your farm’s circumstances.

The option of breeding from ewe lambs and factors to consider for successful implementation is covered on pages 8.

The growing support in the Sheep Ireland LambPlus programme is a big benefit to the sector, especially given the very significant differences in performance being identified between using high and low genetic merit rams. This is detailed on pages 10 and 11, while advice on techniques for early lambing is covered by Ciaran Lynch and Nathan Tuffy on pages 6 and 9.