Christy, Margaret & Brian Gallagher is one of three finalists for this year’s Most Improved LambPlus Flock. The Pullagh Texel flock was established almost 20 years ago and is located just north of Tobbercurry, Co. Sligo. Christy, Margaret & Brian Gallagher have been performance recording with LambPlus since the programme began in 2009 and lambed down 15 purebred Texel ewes in 2022. The flock also has a flock of 10 pedigree Belclare ewes and a flock of over 100 commercial ewes.

The Gallaghers are unique in the fact that not only do they record their pedigree animals, but they also fully record their commercial flock to the same standard as their pedigree flock. This includes mating, pregnancy scanning, lambing, weights and health information. Using the Free Sheep Ireland App has been a big bonus as it reduces the amount of time needed to capture performance recording data. The data collected on the commercial flock has two main benefits. The first is that it has helped to test their pedigree sires on a commercial environment and have that data feed back to the genetic evaluations of the pedigree flock. The second benefit is the commercial flock reports which help to identify under-performing ewes and track the flock performance over time.

When selecting replacement females they first focus on the physical traits of the animal (Culling any with defects) and growth rates, then they refine the numbers down by selecting on the EuroStar indexes. They use a similar technique when purchasing new rams and ewes. First they make sure they are physically correct with good commercial traits and then check to make sure they have a good balance on both Terminal and Replacement index.

Silver Hill Eli sired by the famous Greenhill Dance Monkey was purchased last year at the Sheep Ireland sale has had a big impact on the 2022 crop of lambs. He is currently ranked in the top 5% in both the Replacement and Terminal index.

They have also invested a lot in breed improvement. All pedigree animals on the farm are genotyped, this improves the accuracy of the evaluations and improves their confidence in the results.

The overall winner of the Most Improved LambPlus flock will be announced at the Sheep Ireland Breeding Conference & Farm Walk on July 12th. The winner will receive a cash prize of €500, an engraved trophy and bragging rights for the year ahead. The two other finalists will receive a cash prize of €250 and a framed award. FBD kindly sponsors the LambPlus awards. Flocks were selected based on a number of criteria including the genetic merit of the flock based on the Replacement & Terminal Index, the DQI of the flock and the Accuracy of the breeding values within the flock. These awards are to acknowledge the effort and contribution that these breeders are making to the National Sheep Industry.