Breeding sheep are changing hands across NI as sales continue in marts at the start of another annual production cycle for sheep farmers.

Buying decisions by most farmers are still largely influenced by the appearance of the stock, or else their bloodlines.

The sector has been slow to buy in to estimated breeding values (EBVs) and farmers question the reliability of figures as few breeders performance record and data sets remains small.

Less than 15% of rams on offer in catalogues from some of the main breed societies’ premier sales have EBVs displayed.

Breeders often point to the cost of performance-recording and state that customer demand for figures is still not there.

Serious questions

However, the question has to be asked: where would the dairy, poultry and pig sectors be now if breeding decisions were not based on data?

Good recordkeeping on farms can also improve the genetics of commercial flocks, particularly if accurate information on individual production and health is known.

Processors also have a role to play and need to provide farmers with weights and grades that correspond to individual tag numbers, instead of ID numbers given to lambs in factories.

Importance

The sheep sector plays an important role in the NI agri-food sector by managing and producing from land which in many cases has limited options for farming. In the lowlands, CAFRE benchmarking figures consistently show that the top-performing sheep farmers can boost margins equal to or above dairying.

Strong voice

A strong voice is needed for NI sheep farmers in Brexit negotiations as the export dependent sector, with its £73m annual turnover, is most exposed in the event of a free trade agreement between the EU and UK not being agreed.

Work is needed at every level in the sheep sector to ensure that it is not left behind.

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