Texel News » Lambplus®?
1. What is Lambplus®?
LambPlus® is the Sheep Breeding information service arm of ‘Sheep Ireland’. For pedigree sheep breeders LambPlus® has replaced the Department of Agriculture run PSBIP scheme. LambPlus® will record relevant on farm data submitted by the farmers, and flock owners will then get genetic evaluations and flock reports that will allow them to compare their flock’s performance with other LambPlus® users.
Flock owners who join Lambplus ® get the following service:
A. Online Flock Inventory – Allows Flock owner reconciles NSIS tag with within flock ID & also adds any extra information. This Inventory will be a permanent & accurate record of all sheep in the flock.
B. Lambing Pocket Book – Lambplus ® clients will be furnished with a pocket notebook to record lambs as they are born.
C. Performance Recording – Flock owners will be able to record a series of relevant on-farm data e.g.birthweight, 40 day weight, Pregnancy Scanning, Foot Scoring, Ewe Culling, Dag Scoring etc.
D. Genetic Evaluations – Only Lambplus® animals will receive Genetic Evaluations for recorded traits. These evaluations will be widely published & promoted throughout the industry.
E. Flock Reports – Flock reports will be designed for each Lambplus® Flock owner based on the Lambing, Mating, Rearing & other on-farm data as well as data collected throughout the industry e.g. slaughter records.
These reports (similar to the Herdplus® reports) will be specific to each flock but will allow compare their flock’s performance against national average figures and other LambPlus® users.
F. Lamb Scanning & Weighing Service – Lambplus ® flock owners will also have access to a lamb scanning & weighing service. The results from this service will be used in the genetic evaluations that will be subsequently produced.
Genetic Evaluations
Commercial and Pedigree farmers can use these genetic evaluations as a tool in helping them to select breeding sheep for use in their flocks. The new indexes are based on the same profit principles as the Dairy EBI & Beef €uro-Star systems. The Total index ‘Sheep Value’ is the overall evaluation of the lamb combining three sub indexes. The Health Sub-Index will be developed as data is recorded.
1. The Production sub index shows a lambs genetic merit for Terminal traits i.e. growth rate, carcass score, fat score etc. It’s the ability of a ram or ewe to produce good terminal progeny.
2. The Maternal sub index is a reflection of the genetic merit of an animal for maternal traits i.e. how efficient their progeny will be at getting a lamb to slaughter weight, how easy lambed they are & their mothering ability etc. The main aim of this index is to help select efficient replacement females & for selecting rams for breeding efficient replacement females from.
3. The Lambing sub index shows an animal’s genetic merit for lambing – the main components being ease of lambing & survival ability.
How to get €uro-Stars on your flock
In order for Flock owners to get €uro-Stars on their sheep they must first join up to LambPlus®. Joining LambPlus® will require the recording of Sheep Breeding data throughout the year.
LambPlus® Participants will be required to record the following data:
1. Lambs Identification & Ancestry details - NSIS/Tattoo numbers of Lambs & their Sire & Dam.
2. Lambing Difficulty - Level of assistance required at lambing.
3. Lamb Rearing Status - Single reared as a twin etc.
4. Weight Data - Birthweight & Liveweight data.
5. Mating Data - Date & Details of Ram(s) used.
ICBF then uses this data recorded in your flock together with all other data for recorded for sheep in your breed to produce €uro-Star evaluations. Any data recorded on relatives of your sheep that are belonged to other LambPlus® Flock Owners will also have an effect on your figures. That is why it is important that as many Pedigree Flockowners as possible take part in LambPlus® so as a true picture of how different bloodlines are performing is able to emerge.
2. How much is it to join Lambplus®?
Internet €50/annum (Direct Debit) / (€60 Cheque/Cash)
Postal €90/annum (Direct Debit) / (€100 Cheque/Cash)
3. How do I find out more about Lambplus®?
Phone Lambplus on Locall: 1850 – 600 – 900 or alternatively go online www.sheep.ie and in the ‘Reference Documents’ section there are documents about all of the developments that are currently taking place in sheep breeding.
4. Achievements so far / Plans for the year ahead?
Pedigree Breeders
The main focus for the first year was to put the various systems (Web screens, Tagging procedures, scanning equipment etc) in place and act upon the 20 key sheep breeding recommendations. Initially we worked with those pedigree flock owners that were involved in the PSBIP programme in 2008. We now have the systems working to our satisfaction and are welcoming all other pedigree flock owners to get involved.
MALP – Maternal Lamb Producers Group
This is a new development. Over 20 flocks have been located for the purposes of demonstrating the benefits of choosing good rams. Rams in these flocks will be DNA typed and used across the flocks. Their lambs will be DNA typed and linked back to their sires and dams. Performance data will then be collected & used in genetic evaluations to demonstrate the benefits of using good rams. Stephen Potterton will be coordinating the data recording in these flocks.
Pictured above is the ‘Pratley’ sheep handling unit, purchased by ‘Sheep Ireland’, which Stephen Potterton will be using in the MALP flocks.
CPT – Central Performance Test Flocks
This is another new development. The intention here is to get a small number of flocks to intensively record data on the progeny of selected rams of all breeds and thus provide links between all pedigree flocks. The progeny of these rams will be raised under uniform conditions thus allowing the genetic merit of each ram to be evaluated for a range of traits important to commercial producers.
5. What kind of feedback have we received so far?
Feedback from flock owners has been very positive. The majority of the systems that have been put in place are new to sheep breeding in Ireland. We need feedback to optimise these systems for farmer use. Therefore as LambPlus ® becomes more developed we would urge everyone involved to contact us with any suggestions as to how any area of the service could be improved.
6. Contacts:
For LambPlus ® services please call; Cathal Mc Nulty, (023) 88 20 454, or email cmcnulty@icbf.com.
Date Published: 26/01/2010
