The Sheep Ireland Guide & Directory of Breeders 2024 is now available and has been posted out to over 19,000 commercial breeders this month, in time for the breeding season.
The guide & directory highlights pedigree breeders who are involved in the LambPlus programme who are performance recording their animals. This performance data contributes to genetic evaluations producing €urostars. Breed Society Contacts for most breeds of sheep in the country and contact details of performance recording Breeders are included, as well as Hill Groups and Breeders who have genotyped their hill rams.
In this guide & directory there is a wealth of information such as stats from the Irish Sheep Industry, tips for ram purchasers, explanations on how to understand and interpret €urostars and values, the ingredients that comprise the €urostar indexes, explanations of genomics and validation information, as well as information on what is happening with the Hill sector, and about the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS).
Farmers can also use the online Ramsearch feature just scanning the QR code, and SIS rams from each breeder will be displayed there.
Click to access the Guide & Directory
Chairperson’s message:
Denis Carroll farms a commercial sheep and dairy farm with his family near Killarney Co. Kerry. In the past number of months, Denis Carroll has been elected as the new chairperson of the Sheep Ireland board taking over from Alex Clarke.
“Over the past year Sheep Ireland have made significant strides in leading several positive developments for the Irish sheep genetic improvement programme.
Through the implementation of the DAFM Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) Genotyped ram option, sheep breed improvement has been taken to a new level. Genomic technology provides more comprehensive breeding values and provides sheep farmers with the resources to make more informed breeding decisions, in turn driving progress in the national flock. At the end of 2023, Sheep Ireland reached a milestone, by surpassing 100,000 sheep genotypes. These advancements have been possible thanks to the efforts of ram producers and farmers and with the support of key stakeholders such as DAFM, Teagasc, Meat Industry Ireland and Ireland’s sheep breed societies.
As we look to the future, the vision for Sheep Ireland remains ambitious and forward-thinking in utilizing the latest research and technology to identify and promote the use of more profitable and sustainable genetics to increase profitability for Irish sheep farmers.
I want to thank our previous chairman Alex Clarke for his hard work and commitment in his role as chairperson of Sheep Ireland and I look forward to working with the board and staff to build on the tremendous progress made so far”
Denis Carroll
Click to access Ramsearch
