Performance recording has been used within hill sheep breeding programmes for many years, but recent developments as part of the Hill Ram Scheme in Wales has led to changes in the expression of the index. From June 2023 the index will be expressed in £ as the expected annual return per ewe.
The index was created to drive economic return on farm, it now makes sense that the index is displayed in economic terms, thus animals will have an index displayed in pounds, shilling and pence. In simple terms this will mean those animals which are valued the highest are the better performing animals within the flock for commercial hill farming enterprises.
This will assist with the marketing of stock, whereby buyers and seller will be able to easily understand the genetic merit of stock based on economic principles and return on investment.
The index weightings remain unchanged, as created in 2020 by Janet Roden a leading geneticist, based on strong economic and environmental considerations. Where specific breeding objectives were reviewed as part of the bio-economic model to ensure that the index encompasses the complex interactions between the sheep, the environment, and the management of the system.
It is important to remember that the selection decisions made today will not only have an impact on this years lamb crop but on future generations.
Example showing the benefit of investing in superior genetics
Welsh Mountain Ram A – breed average Welsh Mountain Ram B – Top 10%
The hill index represents the economic value of each ram’s genetic merit for traits influencing ewe performance. Look at the difference in predicted performance between these two rams. Ram A is breed average and has an index of £2.44, Ram B is Top 10% of the breed with an index of £12.47 a difference of over £10.
Half of their genetics will be passed to their offspring, so you would predict Ram B’s daughter’s would be generate an extra £5/annum for every year they are in the flock.
The breeding values indicate that the daughters of Ram B would rear more lambs, which would growth faster and have better conformation. Increasing the overall income to the farming business.
Laura has joined the Signet team as a breeding specialist, she comes from an agricultural background having grown up on a sheep farm in Cornwall, where they keep commercial ewes and run a small flock of pedigree Charollais sheep.
Laura has a strong interest in animal breeding and genetics having studied Animal Science (BSc Hons) at Harper Adams University. During her time at Harper, she spent an industrial placement in Cumbria working for a sheep breeding company and some of our clients may recognise her from this role. Since graduating she has worked for a large cattle breeding company before joining us at Signet to lead on a number of Signet’s sheep breeding projects.
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