Understanding the sheep eurostar index – Teagasc

TRADITIONALLY if a ram was physically correct, the farmer was happy to make a purchase.

Today, farmers are more confident in the purchase once they know what the euro-star rating of that ram is.

Regardless of what euro-star index a ram may have, if the ram does not pass a physical examination, he will not perform as he should and therefore should not be selected.

The first thing you need to think about is the breeding strategy for your flock. What is it you want from your flock? Is it breeding to produce lambs for slaughter, or breeding to keep or sell replacements, or both?

If a ram is being selected to breed some replacement females, then he should be four or five stars on the replacement index.

The replacement index is a combination of lamb survivability, number of lambs born, days to slaughter, ewe mature weight and daughter’s milk.

You might ask, why is days to slaughter included in the replacement index? The reason is that half the lambs produced will be male, all of which will be destined for slaughter, along with a small proportion of females that were not retained for breeding.

If you want a dual-purpose ram, select a ram high on the replacement index. If you are selecting to breed factory lambs, then the ram should be four or five star on the terminal index. The higher the stars, the higher the predicted profitability from the animal within that breed, with one star in the bottom 20 per cent and five star in the top 20 per cent.

Sheep Ireland can now publish across breed indices, which enables a farmer to compare sheep of different breeds against each other across the key traits.

When reading a sales catalogue, check the data quality index (DQI) score. This scores lamb-plus flocks on quality, quantity and timeliness of their data recording throughout the year.

The DQI appears as a percentage figure on all Eurostar sales catalogues. A DQI score above 90 per cent is excellent, and a DQI score of below 60 per cent is average.

The DQI encourages farmers to input data in a timely manner to reduce fluctuations occurring in the eurostars. Eurostars are updated on a weekly basis from the Spring until Autumn, where a large volume of data is imported, this can result in movements in eurostars , dropping from four star to three star or increasing from four stars to five stars.

Careful attention should be placed on the euro value star rating and the accuracy. The higher the accuracy, the greater the information that is known about the animal, and this gives the farmer greater confidence in the performance potential of the animal.

Try to purchase geno-typed rams with high accuracy and high data quality index figures.

Sheep Ireland has launched a new online search function www.ramsearch.ie for both rams and ram breeders, which contains a lot of information for potential buyers and sellers.

Although eurostar indices are generally only available on pedigree rams. Sheep Ireland is now encouraging commercial farmers to start performance recording to generate additional data on these pedigree rams.

Performance recording has become easier for commercial farmers with the lamb-plus app available free of charge.

A huge amount of data is collected in lamb plus flocks to construct the eurostar indices. Lamb plus members are required to record lambing weights, mating, pregnancy scanning, animal health and animal movements.

For genetic improvement, ask yourself – have I used performance recorded rams? Have I made breeding /management decisions based on data recorded on my flock? And have I a breeding plan to improve both maternal and terminal traits in my flock?