When we talk about increasing the level of performance recording on sheep farms, we generally automatically think of it in a commercial farm context. There is also huge potential, however, in pedigree breeding to increase the level of performance recording taking place.

During Tuesday evening’s Teagasc virtual sheep week discussions on breeding and genetics, Eamon Wall of Sheep Ireland said that about 40% of rams produced annually are from formal breed societies and that from this 40%, the vast majority of breeders are performance recording.

For pedigree ram breeding, it’s crucial that as many pedigree ram breeders get involved in performance recording as possible

Eamon said there are gains to be made at every level of performance recording by pulling out the worst performers and promoting the best performers. This is especially important in pedigree flocks as they can have such an impact and send flocks in the right or wrong direction, with the latter often taking some time to rectify.

“For pedigree ram breeding, it’s crucial that as many pedigree ram breeders get involved in performance recording as possible because from that small cohort of breeders we can make massive gains and that can translate down or trickle down across into all commercial sheep flocks.”

Performance recording

Eamon said the majority of flocks are carrying out some level of performance recording even though they may not realise it. This ranges from simple tasks such as raddling rams to identifying poor-performing or problem ewes by means of permanent identification.

There’s huge scope for flocks that are not interested in performance recording to increase their genetics

He says there is a low level of formal recording taking place at a commercial level but that even where farmers have little interest in making use of performance recording, there are still gains to be made.

“There’s huge scope for flocks that are not interested in performance recording to increase their genetics and that’s via the animals they are bringing into their flocks and the ram is probably the most important of these. It’s key that you try to use the information that’s available to send your flock in the right direction because if you are retaining replacements from rams, they are the next generation of your flock. The information we are providing through the €uro-Star indexes is the way to identify the best possible direction for your flock.”

Biggest investment

There is extensive experience in performance recording carried out in Teagasc Athenry. Fiona McGovern of Teagasc Athenry said: “Where a farmer wants to start performance recording initially, the biggest investment is going to be the time from the farmer but by culling out problem animals and holding on to your most productive animals you will reap the rewards of this quite quickly.”

She said that where farmers want to go down the route of performance recording using electronic identification, there are numerous options ranging from basic handheld readers costing about €250 right up to extensive packages costing €1,500 to €2,000. The free Sheep Ireland app was also highlighted as an option for farmers to record information in the field.

Start simple

Áine O’Brien of Teagasc Moorepark advised farmers that from a practical point of view you want to start simple and build your way up. “If you go head first into it you might find you make mistakes or things you weren’t expecting.” She said that you automatically want to identify your worst performing ewes but ideally you also want to be identifying your best-performing ewes that lamb down well every year, rear two lambs and bring them to a good weaning weight to allow replacements from these ewes to be retained.

Lambing accounts for over 25% of the labour required throughout the year

There are particularly strong opportunities surrounding performance recording at lambing and aspects such as mothering ability and lamb vigour. Áine said: “Lambing accounts for over 25% of the labour required throughout the year. That 25% is more than the labour required at weaning, at mating and at shearing combined. We all have had those ewes that lamb down and have no interest in their lambs and we spend a lot of time encouraging her and getting the lambs to suckle. If we can reduce the time spent with these animals by breeding for better mothering ability and lambs that are quicker to stand up, quicker to suckle and quicker to get colostrum in there then surely that’s going to reduce the labour requirement on the farm”.

Huge variability

Áine presented data that shows that there is huge variance in the lamb vigour and mothering ability of different rams. “If we bring it back to heritability, which is the differences we see due to genetics, for lamb vigour 41% of the difference we see in lamb vigour is due to genetics. That’s a much bigger figure than I expected but it just shows you that by selecting for animals that produce lambs that get up quicker we can make better genetic improvement. The same figure for mothering ability is 6% which is lower but it still gives us scope to improve these things with genetics”.

Fiona McGovern said that data collected from the INZAC flock shows that low genetic merit ewes have poorer mothering ability and as such are taking up more time that you already don’t have to spare at lambing.

Flock health will feature on Thursday evening at 7pm while policy and the environment is the topic for Friday evening. Previous night’s sessions are also available to view on the Teagasc website.

Starting point

For farmers interested in becoming more involved in performance recording and tracking performance to the sire and dam then breeding is the starting point. Single-sire mating is the most realistic option available to track ram parentage of progeny, with DNA testing an option but at a significant cost. If progressing down this route then it is important to record information accurately and take the necessary precautions to guard against ram infertility or sub-fertility (see management notes page 62 for more).

It is worth assessing what performance recording option works best for your flock by talking to your adviser, Sheep Ireland or to a farmer implementing a similar system. It is also important at the outset to establish what you aim to get from performance recording. There is no doubt performance recording has huge potential but it is also a vast area and if you do not have a definite goal you can end up collecting vast amounts of data without getting the optimum benefits for your flock.