Breeding sheep for a greener future

Now only five weeks away we urge you to book your tickets for the 2024 Sheep Breeders Round Table (SBRT) conference, located at the Radisson Blu Hotel East Midlands, Derby. The online ticket platform closes on Sunday 10^th November, please book now to secure your reservation.

The Breeding sheep for a greener future SBRT conference will cover a range of sheep breeding topics within the wider role of genetics, the essential building blocks for the future of the UK sheep industry with insight to sustainable solutions and industry resilience using innovation, science and research as well as breeding to meet market demands.

Speakers with experience from Australia, New Zealand, the Falklands and Ireland join UK industry representatives alongside a host of farmers to share ideas, objectives and challenges from their organisations, research projects and individual on-farm experiences.

Tickets available here - Sheep Breeders Round Table Event Tickets (ahdb.org.uk)

Conference programme:

Friday 15^th Nov	Breeding for the environment	Session 1
14.00-14.15	SBRT Chair opens conference
14.15-14.20	Introduction	Kim Matthews, AHDB
14.20-14.45	Environmental breeding goals for maternal and terminal sheep – an international overview and do we have what we need in the UK	Dr Caeli Richardson, AbacusBio
14.45-15.10	Big or small rumens? Observations from research projects aimed at breeding for low methane emissions	Dr Nicola Lambe, SRUC
15.10-15.35	Environmental goals for the Irish sheep industry	Dr Nóirín McHugh, Teagasc & Jaynell Anderson, Sheep Ireland
15.35-16.00	Q&A
16.00 – 16.30	Refreshment break

Friday 15^th Nov	Breeding sheep in a sheep producing country	Session 2
16.30 – 16.35	Introduction	Elan Davies, Farming Connect
16.35 – 16.55	Genomic and phenotypic advances in hill and maternal breeding programmes	Janet Roden, Innovis
16.55 – 17.15	Incorporating molecular phenotypes into breeding scheme designs	Suzanne Rowe, Agresearch, New Zealand
17.15 – 17.30	The changing face of genetic improvement in the Welsh hill sheep sector	Tim Tyne, ProHill group founder member
17.30 – 17.45	Observations from the Falkland Islands – breeding and genetics	Josh Brock, ADAS
17.45 – 18.00	Farming Connect: Welsh Anthelmintic Resistance Status project – The findings so far	Menna Williams, Farming Connect
18.00 – 18.15	Q&A
20.00 – late	Conference dinner

Saturday 16^th Nov	Pasture to Plate – delivering sustainable, high-quality lamb to our customers	Session 3
9.00 – 9.05	Introduction	Tom Dracup, ABP
9.05 – 9.20	Delivering for our customers – Export and halal focus	Rizvan Khalid, Euro Quality Lamb Ltd
9.20 – 9.35	The retail landscape and how breeding can help deliver for consumers	Speaker TBC
9.35 – 9.55	Taking leadership in sustainability: Gamechanger integrated beef and PRISM	Katie Thorley, ABP
9.55 – 10.10	Understanding the value of livestock data	Ian Hewett, Livestock Information Ltd & Harriet Bunning, AHDB
10.10 – 10.30	Q&A
10.30 – 11.00	Refreshment break

Saturday 16^th Nov	Breeding with a vision	Session 4
11.00 – 11.05	Introduction	Bruce McConachie, QMS
11.05 – 11.40	The Australian eating quality journey - breeding to improve the consumer eating experience.	Peta Bradley & Daniel Brown, Lambplan, Australia
11.40 – 12.05	Fabulous fibre: how to make wool profitable from white woolled sheep	Frank Langrish, Langrish Farmers
12.05 – 12.30	Q&A
12.30 – 14.00	Buffet lunch

Saturday 16^th Nov	Breeding drivers for the future	Session 5
14.00 – 14.05	Introduction	Chris Lloyd, Independent
14.05 – 15.25	Expert panel providing insight to various topics	Colin Bateman, Levy Board Daniel Brown, Lambplan Joseph Keating, Coop Rizvan Khalid, Euro Quality Graham Lofthouse, Farmer
15.25 – 15.30	Closing comments
15.30 – 16.00	Refreshment break

Saturday 16^th Nov	A genomic focus on the future for breeding	Session 6
16.00 – 16.05	Introduction	Mike Coffey, SRUC
16.05 – 16.20	What has dairy learnt from DNA?	Victoria Ashmore, AHDB
16.20 – 16.30	A major gene influencing MV resistance	Racheal Tarlington, Nottingham University
16.35 – 16.50	Adopting genomics	Ed Smith, British Texel Sheep Society
16.50 – 16.55	Genomic update from AHDB	Samuel Boon, AHDB
16.55 – 17.00	Genomic relationships between flocks: how are flocks connected?	Samir Id-Lahoucine, EGENES & Samuel Boon, AHDB
17.05 – 17.10	Transmission ratio distortion on sheep genome: finding the sheep that never existed	Samir Id-Lahoucine, EGENES
17.10 – 17.30	Summary and Q&A
19.00 – late	Drinks reception supported by SRUC followed by conference dinner
20.00 - late	Conference dinner

Sunday 17^th Nov	Advances in reproductive technology	Session 7
9.00 – 9.10	Introduction	Phil Stocker, NSA
9.10 – 9.30	Where next for embryo transfer – progress, developments and consequences	Ian McDougall, Farmgene
9.30 – 9.50	Sexed semen for sheep – a fresh approach	Ben Burton MRCVS, AB Europe
9.50 – 10.10	Using surrogate sires to disseminate high value genetics	Emily Clark, The Roslin Institute
10.10 – 10.30	Q&A
10.30 – 11.00	Refreshment break

Sunday 17^th Nov	Putting the E in GxE: selecting sheep for systems	Session 8
11.00 – 11.10	Introduction - Focus on increasingly common systems in the UK and how commercial farmers are selecting for resilient sheep for their systems, collaborating with similar businesses and adding value	Liz Genever, Independent
11.10 – 11.40	Finding the right sheep for my system which just happens to be a shedder	William Cawley, Farmer
11.40 – 12.10	Performance recording sheep in a high forage system	James Drummond, Farmer
12.10 – 12.30	Q&A
12.30 – 12.40	SBRT Chair closing remarks
12.40 – 14.00	Buffet lunch – departure afterwards

Posted by Bridget Lloyd on 10 Oct 2024

Events, Sheep

About the author

Bridget Lloyd

Bridget Lloyd – RamCompare Project Coordinator

After finishing university, Bridget worked on two well-known sheep research projects operating out of Aberystwyth University; the Longwool project and the Welsh Sheep Strategy.

In the year 2000, Bridget took a leading role in Cymru Breeding Services, (later Innovis and now known as AB Europe). Bridget was centre manager specialising in ovine fertility, operating a stud for 100 rams and coordinating four vet teams. She has specialised in ovine fertility and has worked closely with pedigree sheep and their breeders throughout her career.

With an extensive background in the sheep industry she now runs RamCompare. Her main responsibility is to liaise with project farms and abattoirs to ensure the data submitted is accurate and delivered on time, as well as co-ordinating the communication plan and ram nominations....and hundreds of other things.