LambPlus membership increase by 4% to 1,715 flocks

The number of flocks participating in the Sheep Ireland LambPlus programme for 2026 has increased by 4%, or about 65 flocks to reach 1,715 members. The latest data analysed by Sheep Ireland regarding its 2026 programme shows LambPlus participation doubling in the last five years as demonstrated in Figure 1.

The sharp upward trajectory has been underpinned by greater demand for rams with €uro-Star evaluations via the mandatory ram genotyping action in the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS).

While fewer rams will be required to be purchased by SIS participants in 2026 Sheep Ireland feels that the benefits of using rams of superior genetics are being felt to a greater extent at farm level and in turn is supporting demand.

The Texel breed of sheep remains the most dominant breed type accounting for almost 25% of total LambPlus membership.

This is over 9% ahead of the Suffolk and 12% ahead of the Charollais breed with these three primary lowland breeds accounting for over 50% of all members.

There has been significant growth in recent years in relatively new breeds to the database including Dutch Spotted sheep, Blue Texel and Valais Blacknose.

Breeds with less than five members participating in LambPlus includes Blue du Maine, Border Leicester, Cladoir, Ile de France, Jacob, Kerry Hill, Milford, North Country Cheviot, Shropshire, Swaledale, Wensleydale Longwool and Wiltshirehorn.

There are two hill breeds, Cheviot (Donegal) and Mayo Connemara, with a significant number of its members also performance recording through the LambPlus programme.

This is a step above what is required of hill breeds to satisfy eligibility for the SIS but it gives these sheep an extra point of differentiation and more information when selecting superior genetics.

Flock books are being developed for a number of hill breeds through the OviFlock hill sheep European Innovation Partnership (EIP-Agri) programme.

Breed type graphs and a county breakdown are available at www.farmersjournal.ie.

Unsurprisingly, Donegal has the most LambPlus members with almost 250 participants.

The county has the highest number of Texel breeders and is also a stronghold for other breeds such as Suffolk and Cheviot. Galway (216) and Mayo (192) are similarly matched with Cork at 100 flocks.

Wexford (93) has a higher number of pedigree breeders relative to ewe numbers with pedigree breeders remaining in the sector while commercial ewe numbers have fallen sharply over the last decade.

Kerry (64) and Wicklow (52) have a low number of LambPlus members relative to the size of the county’s sheep flock but this is due to a high number of hill sheep breeds which are not participating in LambPlus.