Join AHDB’s Signet Breeding Manager Sam Boon along with Dr Geoff Pollott from the Royal Veterinary College on Monday 16 August 2021 for a unique insight as to how our sheep industry has changed over the past 50 years. The Sheep Breed Survey results describe the breed structure of the British sheep industry at mating in 2020 and are based on data derived from a postal questionnaire sent to the 38,000 wool producers registered with British Wool in England, Scotland and Wales.
News
A successful Charollais Sale for performance recorded breeders
There was a great selection of performance recorded Charollais rams on sale at the Premier Sale at Worcester. 43% of the rams on offer were performanc ...
Using Performance Recording in crossbred ram breeding
Ram breeding provides the genetics to increase the productivity of your customer’s flock. Performance recording means you can select and market the sheep with the most profitable genetics. Recording crossbred rams uses the same process as a pedigree flock, but you should consider:
Antur report from Ram Compare
The Antur flock of Texel sheep, owned by Aberystwyth University Farms, was one of the founder members of the Texel Sire Reference Scheme. This scheme, started in 1990, introduced performance recording and genetic evaluation to improve growth rate and carcass quality, characteristics of major importance for commercial lamb producers.
Hampshire Premier Sale
Performance recorded ram lambs lead the top prices at the Hampshire premier sale. The demand for performance recorded sheep wasn’t just seen in their prices, but was also reflected in the clearance rates. Performance recorded rams had a higher clearance rate nearly double that of their non- recorded counterparts.
Dorset May Fair 2021
The Dorset May Fair makes a positive start for performance recording breeders as the sale season gets underway. There are great levels of performance recording in the Dorset breed...
RamCompare fifth year results press release
The fifth-year results from the RamCompare project reveal how rams with key breeding traits can drive productivity and optimise flock profitability and demonstrates how commercial producers can use specific estimated breeding values (EBVs) to identify rams with a high genetic potential and prove their worth when assessing financial impact.
Innovis to support Signet scanning services
From 1st June, Innovis have kindly agreed to provide ultrasound scanning services for Signet clients in those regions previously covered by Philip Evans.
Innovis already provide a Signet accredited scanning service as part of the Hill Ram Scheme which is running in Wales - with plans to scan over 50 large hill flocks over the coming months. By extending their team, they will partner with Signet for the rest of the season to provide scanning services to our clients.
Dorset sheep set bidders alight at Exeter May Fair
Dorset sheep set bidders alight at Exeter May Fair A tremendous entry of sheep went under the hammer at the annual Dorset Horn and Poll Dorset May Fa ...
Neogen Support Creation of Charollais Genomic Archive
Charollais Sires have made semen available from 79 Charollais rams that were used within the former Sire Reference Scheme. These rams have produced over 13,700 Signet recorded progeny. A significant investment was required to genotype these animals. AHDB provided the initial funding and an extremely generous offer of support and in-kind sponsorship from Neogen enabled us to finish the job. By the close of 2021, we will have genotyped 30 rams on the leading 600K high density genotype and completed a 50K genotype on the remaining 49.