Sheep Ireland Flock visits are going very well, at present 36 LambPlus flock have been visited,with commercial flocks, pedigree flocks as well as Agricultural colleges such as Salesian, Kildalton and Ballyhaise visited. Mainly early lambing breeds of LambPlus flocks were visited such as Blue Texel, Vendeens, Suffolks and Charollais, within the range of breeds looked at there was good variation of data recorded.
Sheep Ireland have been recording ewe mature weights during flock visits with LambPlus breeders. Ewe mature weights are very important in contributing to genetic evaluations. LambPlus breeders are encouraged to take ewe mature weights and these can be entered via the user friendly inspection screen on Sheep Ireland App and website. The ideal time to record ewe mature weights is when lambs are being weighed at weaning time (100 day weight) which is between 66 – 120 days old. Efficiency of ewes contributes to the accuracy of genetic evaluations.
Sheep Ireland have had great responses from LambPlus breeders for flock visits so far and look forward to continuing working with all the LambPlus breeders throughout the year. Sheep Ireland would like to thank LambPlus breeders for their continued co-operation while conducting the flock visits.
See below video of Sheep Ireland’s David Coen , upon exiting the flock in which Sheep Ireland visit, bio-security measures are considered with all equipment washed before exiting farms.
Also take a look at Sean explaining what LambPlus flock visits entail.