Selecting the most profitable terminal sire

Looks can be deceptive
Despite the importance often placed on the look of a ram, the only influence it has upon the performance of its progeny is through its genes. It is vitally important that commercial buyers assess the genetic merit of the sires they intend to buy. This is easier said than done, because so many factors influence an animal’s appearance – including its age, whether it was reared as a single or twin and, most importantly, the amount it was fed.

Recording schemes were developed to make the process of identifying superior genetics easier. Records of performance are analysed to tease out the non-genetic influences on an animal’s performance so that its true genetic potential can be assessed. This is important for traits that are visible, such as growth rate and carcase conformation, and vital when it comes to maternal traits that cannot be assessed visually.

Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) estimate the genetic potential of an animal for a range of traits. EBVs are not just for pedigree breeders. Commercial producers are also seeing the benefits of looking deeper into an animal’s background before purchase, using data to make informed purchasing decisions rather than buying on looks alone.

Tools like EBVs and indexes are freely available. Breeding values for over 30 different breeds of sheep are available at signetdata.com. The Signet website
enables producers to find a recorded flock close to their farm and search the genetic merit of individual animals.

Making a financial impact

The financial impact of selecting for growth and carcase traits for over 20 years farm trials have shown the financial benefit in using high-index recorded rams.

There are a number of real-life examples from RamCompare, a commercial progeny test, that show benefits worth an extra £4.50 to £7 per lamb were obtained from using a sire with superior genes for growth and carcase traits. Over a ram’s productive lifetime this can be worth an extra £600–1,000.

Example: A High Index Hampshire Down ram used on RamCompare 

Farm: H L Nelless, Northumberland (2023)

• Progeny of High Index Ram (Normanby Profit): 18.25 kg @ 125 days
• Farm average: 17.93 kg @ 137 days

This data shows that even on a fast finishing system using high genetic merit sires there are important differences between rams which means some produce significantly more valuable progeny than others.

 

 

Decades of selective breeding

These differences have arisen through the constant use of genetic selection within the breed to enhance the breed's genetic potential for growth rate and muscling, resulting in a reduction in days to slaughter and improvements in the carcase conformation of lambs sired by high index Hampshire Down rams.   

 

Even greater benefits achievable when selecting maternal sires. 

The benefits derived from buying a superior maternal ram will take longer to be expressed, as they tend to arise when a ram’s daughters give birth for the first time. However, over a longer period the benefits will be greater, as selective breeding can increase the number of lambs reared for sale, and this improvement will continue to be delivered for many years across successive generations 

For more information please read Buying a Recorded Ram and find the most profitable ram for your flock