Who provides genomic services?

How can I get involved?

Breeders can get involved in genomics by genotyping their breeding sheep and lambs. 

The most important animal to start with will be the farm’s stock sires, as their genetics will be expressed in a high proportion of the lamb crop. Amongst Signet’s numerically largest breeds many already have a high proportion of their lambs produced by a sire that has been genotyped. In breeds like the Suffolk, Charollais and Hampshire Down over 90% of the current lamb crop are by a genotyped sire. Don’t forget that semen from historic rams can be genotyped too and this can often provide valuable information for the analysis of younger animals. If you have semen in the tank belonging to older sires please get these genotyped, even if they are not likely to be used in the future. Important breeding ewes are regularly being genotyped too, many Breed Societies now insist that embryo donors are genotyped and their progeny fully parentage verified.

Many Sheep Breed Societies will support breeders in obtaining a genotype for their animals, but if you are genotyping with a Breed Society, a private genotyping service (to obtain a single gene test, like Scrapie for example) or you are part of a research project, please ensure

1). That the service provider is going to generate a 50K (or higher) genotype, not just a single gene test (like Scrapie) or a simple parentage validation. Ensure that the genotype is in a format that can be readily exported and shared with AHDB.

2). Get a genotype that is compatible with the genetic evaluation that is used by your breed and that it overlaps with the genetic information within the reference genotypes.

At the moment the reference genotypes for Signet's Terminal Sire Evaluation relate to a "GGP_Ovine_50K_C" genotype produced by Neogen. For Signet's Hill Sheep Evaluations the reference genotype is based on the AgR_Ovine_60Kplus, which has a high degree of compatibility with Illumina based genotypes. 

3). Take advantage of funded genotyping programmes. Funding is currently being supported through a number of levy boards, industry and academic research projects.  

4). Don't genotype the same sheep twice! Signet have data sharing agreements in place with a number of Breed Societies, so you shouldn't have to genotype the same animal more than once. If you need a list of genotyped sheep that you have bred or owned then contact Signet directly. 

Who provides genotyping services?

A number of genotyping companies are actively providing genotypes to Signet/AHDB either directly or on behalf of their clients.

• Neogen - Service provider to the Charollais, Hampshire Down and Suffolk Sheep Societies - For more information contact Sharon Watkinson at [email protected]
• AgResearch delivered by Innovis - Service providers to Welsh Sheep Genetics Programme and Breed for CH4nge. For more information contact Kim Hay at [email protected]
• Wetherbys - Service providers to Sheep Ireland - For more information contact John Kingston [email protected]