Blueprint revealed for hill sheep breeding programme

A new programme to drive hill sheep genetic improvement was unveiled last week at a meeting hosted by Sheep Ireland, and including hill sheep breed societies, farm organisations, Teagasc and other industry stakeholders.

The planned programme, which is being termed the Hill Sheep Data Programme (HSDP), is similar in theory to the LambPlus breeding programme in place for lowland breeding, but is designed to address important breeding metrics for hill sheep.

It was developed by AbacusBio, an international organisation of animal geneticists, economic strategists and data scientists, in tandem with Sheep Ireland, and was presented at last week’s gathering by Tim Byrne, managing director of AbacusBio International, and David Kenny, breeder consultant.

Positive payback

David discussed the cost-benefit of genetic improvement in the hill sheep sector and outlined that the economic return from 15 years of superior genetics for lamb survival, weaning weight, ewe milk, litter size/barrenness, ewe longevity and ewe mature weight amounts to almost €10m.

According to David, this revenue is based on the direct improvement in production performance, with additional benefits available by establishing flock books, increasing industry viability and contributing to the maintenance of hill ecosystem and rural society (more vibrant flocks will encourage younger people to farm).

The estimated cost to the sector over 10 years is predicted to be in the region of €4.6m. The greatest percentage, amounting to approximately 69% of the cost, is attributable to the cost of genotyping, with another 28% for data collection support and the remainder for miscellaneous costs such as admin/data management, scanning, etc.

David summarised that based on estimated costs, in net present value terms, the benefit to cost ratio is €1.84 to €1 invested in to the programme. He said that the benefits of genetic improvement will continue beyond the end of the programme, driven by the flow of improved genetics from rams in to commercial flocks.

For example, the rams produced in the last year of the scheme will leave genetically improved daughters in the commercial flock two years after mating and these daughters, and their progeny, will still be expressing that genetic merit up to six years after that, as they lamb across multiple seasons.

It is assumed in the projections that 15% of rams purchased annually are genetically elite and that the adoption of superior genetics increases by 4% per annum.

Programme funding

Significant funding will obviously be required to get the initiative up and running. Sheep Ireland’s Eamon Wall explained that the organisation is hopeful that the submission of a hill flock development proposal under the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) funding stream will be successful.

This avenue was the basis for kick-starting genotyping in the lowland pedigree flock and, if successful, it would be a major benefit in helping to fund genotyping costs of purebred hill sheep, while also contributing to the establishment of a range of flockbook services. The outcome of submissions under the EIP Digital Technologies funding call are expected to the announced imminently.

Programme metrics

Tim Byrne explained how the HSDP is expected to operate. There is a target to get 10,000 ewes across the 17 hill breeding groups, currently working with Sheep Ireland, signed up over the initial three years of the 10-year programme.

The collection of data is designed to tie in with typical practices on a hill sheep farm, for example when sheep are flocked for scanning, weaning, breeding, etc. The target is to tag and genotype all breeding animals in the progamme and their lambs (live and stillborn), pregnancy scan all ewes and leave ram lambs entire until after data collection and genomic evaluations are published.

The reason behind the latter practice is to ensure that every opportunity is available to identify superior genetics for future breeding or to sell. An example of a typical data collection was presented for January/February (scanning) and June/July (weaning).

Tasks at scanning include genotyping any new breeding rams that may not have already been genotyped, recording litter size, barrenness and ewe body condition, collecting ewe weights and recording any ewe deaths or culling reasons.

Weaning records include recording for example any pre-weaning lamb deaths, weight recording of ewes and lambs, dag scoring of sheep and recording the incidence of mastitis.

Genetic evaluations

The HSDP will be voluntary to participate in, but Tim outlines that there is major potential for breed societies to drive genetic gain in their own flockbooks, by genotyping, which will in turn deliver right across the sector. Genetic evaluations and EuroStars will be available on participating sheep and based on the traits of most significance in hill flocks.

There is only a small volume of trait data available currently, with only the Donegal Cheviot and Mayo Connemara breed societies partaking in extensive performance recording. The accuracy of evaluations will be based on the quantity of data available for each breed. It is expected that it will take three years for accuracy to build to a high level for the Mayo Connemara, Perth and Cheviot breeds, and five years to generate sufficient data on breed strains such as the Dingle Scotch, Lanark and Swaledale.

Added benefits in data collection and establishing genetic evaluations include hill flocks establishing flockbooks and utilising tools to manage inbreeding.