With lambing round the corner for many terminal sire breeders, now is an important time to highlight the importance of recording both Birth Weights and Lambing Ease.

As we enter the autumn, and the weather is starting to turn and many of you will be thinking about preparing for the winter and getting jobs ticked off. Hopefully one near the top of the list is collecting weights of youngstock and cows. Providing weights for cows at weaning is important data, that will support on-going research and we hope lead to the development of an EBV for this trait.

Since 2018, AHDB has published the National Beef Evaluations, providing estimated breeding values (EBVs) for all breeds and crossbreeds of cattle to allow breeders to select animals for improved carcase and maternal traits. We are now working to make these tools available for Signet recording breeds through the Signet website, which will allow breeders to use all the available information in one place, to select the best breeding animals for their herd. This has been launched for Sussex breeders and other breeds will follow over the next few months, so watch this space.