The Sheep Ireland breeding programme has come a long way since its establishment in 2009. The number of pedigree breeders participating in LambPlus increased sharply from 2012 to 2017 and since then has plateaued at over 700 breeders.
This represents in the region of 33% of rams used annually for breeding, with another 7% of rams bred from pedigree flocks not participating in LambPlus. Sheep Ireland estimates that the largest cohort of rams used annually, at approximately 44%, are non-pedigree or crossbred rams.
At the recent Sheep Ireland industry conference, Sheep Ireland manager Kevin McDermott said this grouping are benefiting from a trickle-down effect from breed improvement in LambPlus flocks through purchasing recorded rams but also pointed out that there is massive scope to drive further progress in this area.
Progress can be unlocked by commercial farmers demanding performance recorded rams
The hill sheep sector is also an area where there is major room for improvement with the remaining 16% of rams used in hill flocks where low levels of recording currently take place. Kevin says progress can be unlocked by commercial farmers demanding performance recorded rams and Sheep Ireland and Teagasc continuing to work with breed societies to increase participation and commence performance recording in hill flocks.
Commercial flocks
According to Kevin, the other performance-recording area that would deliver major progress is increasing the volume of carcase data and increasing the number of commercial flocks recording data. Kevin says Sheep Ireland is in discussions with meat factories to ensure that data on commercial animals with known parentage is made available for inclusion in genetic indexes.
An increased focus has been placed in recent years on data recorded on pedigree rams in commercial flocks. There are a number of reasons for this. It puts pedigree genetics to the test and identifies genetics that excel in a commercial environment which ultimately should be the objective of pedigree breeding as opposed to breeding sheep for the showring.
Data from commercial flocks is now the dominant source of information feeding into the database on an annual basis
It also provides genetic linkage across breeds and has been central to the formation of the health sub-index within the terminal and replacement index. The availability of commercial data is also a key driver in the rate of genetic gain.
Sheep Ireland senior business analyst Eamon Wall says data from commercial flocks is now the dominant source of information feeding into the database on an annual basis. There are in the region of 10,000 ewe records and 15,000 lamb records with known ancestry produced annually.
The CPT data is the optimum in terms of accuracy of parentage data and critical to the operation of LambPlus
A high percentage of this data stems from the Central Progeny Test (CPT) flocks. There is a high level of data recording with artificial insemination used to breed ewes while all lambs are also genotyped. Eamon says the CPT data is the optimum in terms of accuracy of parentage data and critical to the operation of LambPlus. He says, however, that the CPT programme is expensive to operate and impractical to roll out on a national basis.
OviData project
The other main sources of commercial data are research and demonstration flocks operated by Teagasc and the recently established OviData flocks. The latter is a five-year project funded under the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) initiative and administered by the Department of Agriculture. The objective of the project is to road test new ideas to improve productivity, sustainability and efficiency with much of the work so far concerning how genomics can be used to advance sheep breeding programmes.
Analysis of data collected to date shows some 28% of multiple litters had more than one sire
The learnings so far show that genomics can be successfully used to predict parentage. Eamon says there is the potential for a rapid turnaround of results of less than one month with parentage predictions established as being highly accurate with minimal errors.
The facility is viewed as being amenable to working in large flocks while another notable outcome is the identification of multi-sire litters. Analysis of data collected to date shows some 28% of multiple litters had more than one sire. This is seen as especially beneficial for farmers who want to identify parentage but who do not want to carry out single sire mating. This, he says, could transform recording procedures in the future as it removes the need to also tag animals at birth with cost being the current barrier to wider uptake in commercial flocks.
Sheep Ireland app
Eamon says a more realistic option for many commercial farmers that eliminates significant costs is recording data through the new Sheep Ireland app. The app is free to use and allows information to be recorded in the field. It provides detailed management reports on pregnancy scan data, ewe and lamb weights and performance across a number of health parameters.
Speaking at the recent Teagasc lowland sheep conferences, geneticist Nóirín McHugh said these reports allow commercial farmers to identify their best performing ewes and more importantly identify the ewes that are underperforming.
Pedigree flocks should be recording 12 key criteria
By doing this and culling the bottom-performing ewes in the flock, cumulative gains can be achieved on an annual basis.
Nóirín highlighted two recommended recording programmers for pedigree and commercial flocks. She said that pedigree flocks should be recording 12 key criteria. Three lambing records include the birth weight of lambs, lamb mortality and lambing difficulty followed thereafter by 40-day and weaning weights.
Liveweight
Liveweight should be recorded again at 120 days along with ultrasound scanning. Culling decisions for ewes should be recorded across the year while at breeding ewe weight and body condition score should be collected. The final two records are mating groups for single sire mating and pregnancy scan information. Recording these elements will also ensure a high data quality index for the flock.
She said that commercial flocks at a minimum should record 40-day and weaning weights and pregnancy scan information. Each additional component will enhance management decisions.
Commercial flock data now accounts for over 50% of information recorded annually in the Sheep Ireland data.The rate of genetic gain will be enhanced by the volume of data recorded.The OviData project shows genomics can be successfully used to identify parentage. The free Sheep Ireland app provides farmers with a platform to record performance in the field.
The Sheep Ireland breeding programme has come a long way since its establishment in 2009. The number of pedigree breeders participating in LambPlus increased sharply from 2012 to 2017 and since then has plateaued at over 700 breeders.
This represents in the region of 33% of rams used annually for breeding, with another 7% of rams bred from pedigree flocks not participating in LambPlus. Sheep Ireland estimates that the largest cohort of rams used annually, at approximately 44%, are non-pedigree or crossbred rams.
At the recent Sheep Ireland industry conference, Sheep Ireland manager Kevin McDermott said this grouping are benefiting from a trickle-down effect from breed improvement in LambPlus flocks through purchasing recorded rams but also pointed out that there is massive scope to drive further progress in this area.
Progress can be unlocked by commercial farmers demanding performance recorded rams
The hill sheep sector is also an area where there is major room for improvement with the remaining 16% of rams used in hill flocks where low levels of recording currently take place. Kevin says progress can be unlocked by commercial farmers demanding performance recorded rams and Sheep Ireland and Teagasc continuing to work with breed societies to increase participation and commence performance recording in hill flocks.
Commercial flocks
According to Kevin, the other performance-recording area that would deliver major progress is increasing the volume of carcase data and increasing the number of commercial flocks recording data. Kevin says Sheep Ireland is in discussions with meat factories to ensure that data on commercial animals with known parentage is made available for inclusion in genetic indexes.
An increased focus has been placed in recent years on data recorded on pedigree rams in commercial flocks. There are a number of reasons for this. It puts pedigree genetics to the test and identifies genetics that excel in a commercial environment which ultimately should be the objective of pedigree breeding as opposed to breeding sheep for the showring.
Data from commercial flocks is now the dominant source of information feeding into the database on an annual basis
It also provides genetic linkage across breeds and has been central to the formation of the health sub-index within the terminal and replacement index. The availability of commercial data is also a key driver in the rate of genetic gain.
Sheep Ireland senior business analyst Eamon Wall says data from commercial flocks is now the dominant source of information feeding into the database on an annual basis. There are in the region of 10,000 ewe records and 15,000 lamb records with known ancestry produced annually.
The CPT data is the optimum in terms of accuracy of parentage data and critical to the operation of LambPlus
A high percentage of this data stems from the Central Progeny Test (CPT) flocks. There is a high level of data recording with artificial insemination used to breed ewes while all lambs are also genotyped. Eamon says the CPT data is the optimum in terms of accuracy of parentage data and critical to the operation of LambPlus. He says, however, that the CPT programme is expensive to operate and impractical to roll out on a national basis.
OviData project
The other main sources of commercial data are research and demonstration flocks operated by Teagasc and the recently established OviData flocks. The latter is a five-year project funded under the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) initiative and administered by the Department of Agriculture. The objective of the project is to road test new ideas to improve productivity, sustainability and efficiency with much of the work so far concerning how genomics can be used to advance sheep breeding programmes.
Analysis of data collected to date shows some 28% of multiple litters had more than one sire
The learnings so far show that genomics can be successfully used to predict parentage. Eamon says there is the potential for a rapid turnaround of results of less than one month with parentage predictions established as being highly accurate with minimal errors.
The facility is viewed as being amenable to working in large flocks while another notable outcome is the identification of multi-sire litters. Analysis of data collected to date shows some 28% of multiple litters had more than one sire. This is seen as especially beneficial for farmers who want to identify parentage but who do not want to carry out single sire mating. This, he says, could transform recording procedures in the future as it removes the need to also tag animals at birth with cost being the current barrier to wider uptake in commercial flocks.
Sheep Ireland app
Eamon says a more realistic option for many commercial farmers that eliminates significant costs is recording data through the new Sheep Ireland app. The app is free to use and allows information to be recorded in the field. It provides detailed management reports on pregnancy scan data, ewe and lamb weights and performance across a number of health parameters.
Speaking at the recent Teagasc lowland sheep conferences, geneticist Nóirín McHugh said these reports allow commercial farmers to identify their best performing ewes and more importantly identify the ewes that are underperforming.
Pedigree flocks should be recording 12 key criteria
By doing this and culling the bottom-performing ewes in the flock, cumulative gains can be achieved on an annual basis.
Nóirín highlighted two recommended recording programmers for pedigree and commercial flocks. She said that pedigree flocks should be recording 12 key criteria. Three lambing records include the birth weight of lambs, lamb mortality and lambing difficulty followed thereafter by 40-day and weaning weights.
Liveweight
Liveweight should be recorded again at 120 days along with ultrasound scanning. Culling decisions for ewes should be recorded across the year while at breeding ewe weight and body condition score should be collected. The final two records are mating groups for single sire mating and pregnancy scan information. Recording these elements will also ensure a high data quality index for the flock.
She said that commercial flocks at a minimum should record 40-day and weaning weights and pregnancy scan information. Each additional component will enhance management decisions.
Commercial flock data now accounts for over 50% of information recorded annually in the Sheep Ireland data.The rate of genetic gain will be enhanced by the volume of data recorded.The OviData project shows genomics can be successfully used to identify parentage. The free Sheep Ireland app provides farmers with a platform to record performance in the field. 
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