In a survey of English sheep breeders using Signet Breeding Services, 95% identified a rise in commercial interest in performance recorded stock; the majority of these credited the change to work done by Eblex’s Better Return Programme.

Over half of respondents said that a majority of their buyers asked for EBVs, and, although it varied by region and breed, 80% also reported an increase in EBV requests since the BRP began.

More than 90% reported better ram sales, increased profit on rams or a price differential for the very best tups.

Eblex Breeding Services Manager Samuel Boon says: “It is encouraging to hear that the BRP is having a positive influence on breeding improvement within the sheep sector. The findings of this survey are extremely helpful in enabling us to build on the aspects of the BRP that levy payers find useful.”

Today saw the Kimbolton Flock take eleven of its most promising Ram Lambs to the SRUC mobile CT Scanner that was located at the University of Nottingham.

The Rams taken had already been muscle depth and backfat scanned using ultrasound scanning earlier in the week and the animals selected for full body CT Scanning were those that had the most promising results.

2014 Ram Lambs enjoying some supper the evening before their trip to Nottingham

CT scanning allows us to more accurately identify the best animals in our flock for breeding purposes. This means that our buyers can be confident that the genetics contained within our rams will help them improve the carcass quality of their own lambs. This has a significant impact on their profitability as out of specification lambs are worth far less than ones that hit the required specification.

During the scanning process the sheep are sedated and fitted into cradles prior to being taken through the CT scanner.  Once they have been scanned they are left quietly to recover from the sedative before being returned to the fields that they recognise and call home.

The final results are anticipated in the next few weeks and will predict

• Carcass tissue weights and %
• Killing out %
• Muscle to bone ratio
• Muscle to fat ratio
• Gigot shape and eye muscle area

The Rams taken were

PPK1400385 view at BASCO Search
PPK1400391 view at BASCO Search
PPK1400395 view at BASCO Search
PPK1400397 view at BASCO Search
PPK1400403 view at BASCO Search
PPK1400406 view at BASCO Search
PPK1400417 view at BASCO Search
PPK1400419 view at BASCO Search
PPK1400423 view at BASCO Search
PPK1400440 view at BASCO Search
PPK1400444 view at BASCO Search

Please visit the “Sheep for Sale” page as this has been updated today with details of 51 Shearling Rams, Shearling Ewes and Aged Ewes that we currently have for sale.

If you are looking for Ram Lambs or Ewe Lambs please call as these will not be listed until later in the month.

Likewise if you are looking for something specific that is not listed please call as we could still be able to help.

Our preference is to sell direct from Farm as you can visit at your convenience, view the stock and our farming system to gain a valuable insight into how we produce our breeding stock.

So here’s my attempt to refresh the old website.

Not wishing to reinvent the wheel I chose to use WordPress and accept a vertical learning curve trying to customise it!

I hope as the months go by that I can continue to refine the site, let me know if there are any bits you would like to see that are missing!

The Kimbolton Flock looks well positioned with its 2014 lamb crop following the release of the results from the first run of the National Texel Breeding Evaluation.

Out of 115 lambs the average terminal sire index is 379 which is a result comfortably in the top 1% of the breed. In fact there were only two lambs outside the top 5%.

Included within these results are the 1st, 6th and 10th placed Ewe lambs plus the 4th, 5th and 7th placed Ram lambs.

Ultrasound scanning is set to take place in July which will provide additional data points and input into the next data run. This will have the effect of increasing the accuracy of the information as the initial run is based on parental data and also the birth and eight week weight data.

Whilst these results are very encouraging there is a long way to go before these animals mature and can breed. Like the financial markets their index can go down as well as up (or stay the same) but its a good starting point. Some sun and continued grass growth would be appreciated to help things along!

The second sale will take place on Monday 8th September 2014 at 17.00.

Email invitations have been extended to other performance recorders to participate and currently 70 sheep from 10 Flocks have been pre-entered.

Whilst formal entry forms will not be sent out until July, to assist in planning, priority will be given to pre-entries notified on a first come first served basis.

If you would like to participate or receive a catalogue please let me know.

Sale Flyer

Paul Phillips has joined the PRT Committee for the Texel Sheep Society serving a term until 2016. He will be joining Arnold Park (Drinkstone) and Aubrey Andrews (Miserden) under the Chairmanship of Peter Sutton (Colwood and High Weald).

Paul said “I was honoured to be nominated for this role and will strive to support and expand the number of PRT members. 2014 is the 40th anniversary year of the Society and this will provide a great opportunity to both look back and reflect, as well as to look forward and understand the genomic  opportunities that are developing.”

Below is a copy of the manifesto submitted with the nomination

Manifesto

Whyle House Farm in Pudleston, Herefordshire, specialises in producing high quality lamb and selling it directly to the public.

When they required a performance recorded Ram they turned to Paul Phillips from the Kimbolton Flock. and were pleased with the results.

Click on the link to read the Whyle House Case Study

Researchers at Scotland’s Rural College have begun a trial to test the effectiveness of using a CT scanner for selecting rams which sire lambs with an increased yield of useable meat. They believe their non invasive technique is capable of delivering some £8.00 extra per lamb (based on an average national retail price of £13.3 per kilo). SRUC has provided a CT scanning service to pedigree sheep breeders for more than a dozen years, and for the past few years they have also done so using a mobile CT scanner. This has helped researchers develop methods for accurately measuring carcass or muscle weight and fat content of live animals using the images and data recorded by the CT and visualised on the screen. The new trial, with the cooperation of Texel sheep breeders, will test whether, by comparing muscle weight against live weight, they can create an index for selecting rams producing slaughter lambs which produce more meat with less waste. Dr Lutz Bunger, leader of the sheep genetics group at Scotland’s Rural College, said: “The trait we have chosen is based on live CT measurements, but in principal is very similar to the way pig producers are paid at slaughter on the lean meat yield percentage. Our method is also expected to reduce carcass waste in the processing plant. It will act like a simple selection index.” During 2013 the SRUC-BioSS CT unit scanned over 200 commercial Texel rams. SRUC geneticists then selected seven with high index scores(including the Kimbolton Ram)  and another seven with low scores.  In November each of the 14 rams were mated with 15 mule ewes. About 95% of the 210 mule ewes are now in lamb and the lambs will be followed through to birth and rearing. They will be CT scanned and 30 days later slaughtered in a plant with electronic traceability to allow feedback on each individual carcass. “It is important to remember that our ‘low’ rams are not low value rams,” says Lutz. “They had been selected for CT scanning by their owners who believe in their breeding potential. Our trial is looking for a particular trait involving many genes so there is no simple test. However the CT scan allows us to measure the results of all the genes involved and their interaction and identify rams with the best results. The trial will demonstrate the effectiveness of this method and will be another example of a fruitful collaboration between Texel breeders and SRUC.” Nicola Lambe, sheep geneticist at SRUC, is curious to find out how the lambs change in response to the selection of their sires. She said: “It is a one generation selection trial, but the selection trait we are studying has a moderate heritability (h2 = 0.38) so at least some of the benefits should be passed on. The offspring of the high sires are expected to have approximately 0.6 kg more meat when deboned.” Kirsty McLean and John Gordon from the SRUC scanning team are responsible for overseeing the care of the ewes and have been happy with the mating performance of the rams and the number of expected lambs. The results of the experiment should be available in autumn 2014.

Progressive Commercial and Pedigree sheep farmers alike are being encouraged to take advantage of the elite genetics that will be on offer at the Premier Sale of Performance Recorded Sheep, taking place at Worcester Market on Monday 9^th September.

The event, which is believed to be the only dedicated sale of performance recorded sheep in England, has to date attracted over 120 entries from 9 flocks, including both Texel and Suffolk breeds. All the sheep entered have figures in the top 10 per cent of their breed and are Maedi Visna (MV) accredited.

The sale is being organised by Paul Phillips, of the Kimbolton flock, who has been performance recording his Texel sheep since 2008.

He said: “We have built up a loyal customer base for our recorded flock and have found that more and more people are now asking about figures when they are looking to purchase sheep”.

“With performance recording on the increase and there being no specific performance recorded sale in England, we felt there was definitely a gap in the market, and Worcester is an ideal venue at which to hold the event’’

“The sale offers commercial sheep producers the opportunity to introduce some top end, elite genetics into their flocks to increase the quality and quantity of lamb produced and we hope plenty of producers will take advantage of this.”

The Premier Sale of Performance Recorded Sheep will take place at Worcester Market on Monday 9^th September at 5pm.