RamCompare farmer, Rhys Edwards at Hendre

Performance recorded sires lift flock efficiency, enhancing carcase weight and days to slaughter

Rhys Edwards, commercial farm partner said, “We wanted to be part of RamCompare to see if EBV’s (Estimated Breeding Values) actually work. There is a lot of misunderstanding around figures so we wanted to put them to test with thorough data analysis on our farm.”

What can EBVs predict for you?

In order to use EBVs effectively you must determine “what you want from your lamb enterprise?” To improve its performance, you need to recognise any weaknesses and identify which traits will help to achieve your flock breeding objectives.

Joining the project in 2017, Rhys wanted to:

Get lambs away quickly with more carcases achieving market specification
Achieve a premium for high value carcases

Over two years, Hendre Ifan Goch has used 20 different rams producing 1,000 lambs with full data recorded from birth to slaughter. Lambing indoors in March, the lambs are treated in a uniform way, running as one mob throughout the season. Rhys, a keen data enthusiast, is continuously recording lamb performance from birth to slaughter. Lambs are sent in batches every two weeks from around 12 weeks of age and using high sugar leys all are finished from grass by October.

An ability to sell lambs earlier by reducing days-to-slaughter

Last year there was a difference of 61 days between the average number of days to slaughter, from progeny groups of the sires with the high and lowest genetics for growth rate. Ram selection can make a large difference in helping to reduce this variable.

While only RamCompare tested rams have a Days-to-Slaughter EBV, all performance recorded rams have a Scan Weight EBV and this can be used as a good predictor for days to slaughter. Rams with a high Scan Weight EBV are likely to produce progeny with lower days to slaughter (see graph below). Amongst the best rams on test at Hendre Ifan Goch were Suffolk rams from the Midhope and Drinkstone flocks, a Texel ram, Drinkstone Top Gun and a Hampshire Down ram bred in the Normanby flock.

An ability to sell lambs earlier by reducing days-to-slaughter

Last year there was a difference of 61 days between the average number of days to slaughter, from progeny groups of the sires with the high and lowest genetics for growth rate. Ram selection can make a large difference in helping to reduce this variable.

While only RamCompare tested rams have a Days-to-Slaughter EBV, all performance recorded rams have a Scan Weight EBV and this can be used as a good predictor for days to slaughter. Rams with a high Scan Weight EBV are likely to produce progeny with lower days to slaughter (see graph below). Amongst the best rams on test at Hendre Ifan Goch were Suffolk rams from the Midhope and Drinkstone flocks, a Texel ram, Drinkstone Top Gun and a Hampshire Down ram bred in the Normanby flock. .

Selecting the rams with the right genetics is key to helping increase the overall carcase weight of his progeny. All RamCompare sires have a Carcase Weight EBV that accurately predicts the potential carcase weight of their progeny, so this can be used to reliably help select the best rams. Selecting rams using a combination of high growth and carcase trait EBVs will help increase overall progeny carcase weights and therefore value.

Economic Impact

The table below shows Carcase Value over two years, with a benefit of £4 or more achieved in both years between the highest and lowest ranked rams. Remembering that all of the sires chosen for RamCompare were top 20% rams, this analysis shows that even selecting within top performing recorded rams will realise a significant economic difference.

The graph below shows Progeny Carcase Value plotted against the sire’s breeding value for Overall Carcase Merit Index. It shows a strong correlation a sire’s breeding merit and the value of their progeny, with higher indexing rams such as Turbo Blue (08441:24891), Boghouse Ultra Muscle (JKE1304414) and Dooley Sparky (DOO:S005) having achieved produced progeny higher value carcases.

The far right dot on each line is the Turbo Blue ram from Jan Rodenburg, a natural service ram used on both years. His progeny achieved the highest average prices both years, highlighting the way that rams on the trial expressed their genetic potential consistently across seasons. Alongside him is the extreme Beltex ram, Dooley Sparky, (supplied by Matt Prince) who is the highest ranked Beltex this year for both Carcase Conformation and Weight EBVs and the Texel ram Boghouse Ultra Muscle, a stock ram kindly provided by Alwyn Phillips, Penygeli, one of the highest ranked Texel’s on test to date for Carcase Conformation EBV.

Blending Carcase Merit and Days-to-Slaughter

There is a balance to consider with the more extreme sires tending to take longer to finish; in some cases up to two months longer that the earlier finishing sire group. This is an important difference.

The graph below shows the genetic potential for both Overall Carcase Merit Index and Days-to-Slaughter EBV for rams used at Hendre Ifan Goch. Many rams excelled in either days to slaughter or carcase merit. More extreme rams, such as Dooley Sparky and Turbo Blue located at the top-right of the chart, had a higher carcase merit but their lambs took a longer time to finish. In contrast Drinkstone Top Gun (PJP1202836) and Normanby (27Z1700622) had faster finishing progeny with a slightly lower value carcases. Rams such as Boghouse Ultra Muscle, the Texel ram supplied by Alwyn Phillips, showed that a blend producing high quality carcases with reduced days to slaughter is possible to achieve.

Rhys concludes, “In just two years, we have seen massive benefits. From two rams of the same breed, we have seen a difference of price in the pocket of £5.55 per lamb, whilst treated under the same conditions. It definitely adds up over a bunch of lambs.”

“We now believe we can choose a ram based on figures (breeding values) and have confidence that he will provide lambs who grow quickly off grass, grade well, and sold from our hill farm by the end of October.”

Key Points:

Review your enterprise to set your improvement objectives
High Scan Weight EBVs are a reliable predictor for reduced days to slaughter
Selecting for EBVs influencing both growth and carcase traits will increase potential carcase weights
Selecting for several EBVs at once, it is possible to blend objectives, increasing the value of progeny carcases whilst reducing the days to slaughter. In this example making a difference of £4/carcase or more.

Background information about the farm: Using tools to fine tune management decisions

Rhys Edwards from Hendre Ifan Goch Farm in Bridgend, South Wales is a young and enthusiastic ambassador for the Sheep Industry. With the support of Dad, Russell, together they run their 101ha hill farm with their commercial white-faced mule ewes being used for the trail.

This father-son team are keen to keep costs to a minimum in order to remain profitable and have invested time, effort and money to ensure the infrastructure of their system works well for them. They have a slick approach when handling the flock and Rhys is a bit of a geek when it comes to farm data, constantly analysing performance of their lambs and grassland, to ensure wise management decisions. Through careful monitoring lamb daily gains continue positively and productivity from grassland is considered so that management is adapted as necessary. They are a fantastic example of how to use the infrastructure created to enable decision making in order to remain productive and efficient.

This constant monitoring helps to understand areas that can or must be improved within the farm; if a ewe is under performing, a field is not productive, individual daily liveweight gains are hindering or a group of lambs are underperforming (lower carcase weight/carcase value), a motivation on individual performance and how commercial farmers are paid.