Press release

Signet are planning to update the breeding indexes we use in our genetic evaluation of terminal sire breeds. This AHDB funded research will be delivered by AGBU, the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit, University of New England, Australia. Research fellow Gus Rose will lead the work, supported by an internationally recognised team.

As part of this work, Gus is heading to the UK to talk to Signet clients about the ways they use the service and what their clients require. To support this engagement a series of meetings are being organised in the lead up to the Sheep Breeders Roundtable in November. It would be great if you could join us.

Signet are pleased to announce that we have enhanced the genetic evaluation that we deliver to Sussex cattle breeders through the inclusion of 18,000 additional pedigree records which the Society has provided for cattle born since 2000.

A collaborative research team has been awarded a £1.1million grant to tackle the devastating impact of Maedi-visna (MV), a chronic infectious disease affecting sheep and goats.

RamCompare is on the look-out for new farms to recruit across England and Wales. The project collects data from birth to slaughter from commercial UK farms. RamCompare host farms provide a minimum of 300 ewes which are mated to performance recorded terminal sires. All flock data is collected using electronic identification (EID) and all commercial lambs are reared as one management group within a fast-finishing system.

To support ram breeders in 2024 the index will be rescaled to better reflect the variation within the population, whilst operating from a higher initial starting point. The ranking of rams will not change, but the average index within each breed will be closer to £10 than the current starting point of £1.

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.

Each event provided attendees the opportunity to join a series of stations with expert speakers covering topics from genetics to market insights to butchery and selection demonstrations. Designed to challenge ideas and highlight opportunities for improvements within the farming systems and the consumer in mind.

SBRT is currently looking to bolster the independent individuals on the committee and is looking for volunteers with an interest and/or experience in sheep genetics and knowledge of SBRT.

During the summer, we launched some new estimated breeding values (EBVs) for sheep farmers. To explain what these were and how useful they could be, we hit the road to talk to farmers about them at a series of workshops.

Farmers attending the workshops heard how careful ram selection can easily lift the value of lambs by £3–£5 a head, which would be worth an extra £1,000 over a ram’s working lifetime.

AHDB are delighted to share news of our involvement in “Breed for CH4nge” an industry collaboration that will help the industry to breed sheep with a naturally low carbon footprint. There are a number of exciting elements to the project that align closely to AHDB’s research interests, and the genetic services delivered by Signet. The project will enhance our knowledge of genomics, breeding for parasite resistance and CT scanning, whilst assessing the benefits of using Portable Accumulation Chambers (PAC) to predict methane emissions in grazing sheep.