Sheep farmers urged to nominate rams with top traits for next phase of project

SHEEP farmers in Wales are being urged to nominate rams with topperforming traits for the next phase of the Ramcompare project. This research venture is the Uk-wide progeny test for terminal sire breeds, funded by the levy board Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC), sister bodies AHDB and QMS, and Agrisearch in Northern Ireland, working with partners across the food chain.

Nominations are open for farmers to select rams believed to have good lamb growth characteristics, carcase weight and conformation for use within the Ramcompare programme.

The aim is to encourage uptake of the new set of breeding values created from Ramcompare which farmers can utilise when selecting rams. This will lead to more commercial lambs hitting target carcase specifications and reaching slaughter weight sooner, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of UK livestock farming as well as improving the profitability of sheep farms.

Each year nominated rams are selected from a range of terminal sire breeds and used on commercial farms across the UK.

Alwyn Nutting, who farms at Glascoed near Newtown with his son Dylan and the rest of the family, is one of the Welsh farmers already involved in the project. He encouraged sheep breeders to get involved;

“I would encourage pedigree ram breeders to get involved in the Ram Compare project as it’s important for the research to have a wide range of breeds represented. In past years of the project rams from Welsh breeders have scored very highly. Ram breeders can only benefit from being part of the Ramcompare programme, seeing how the performance of the offspring from their rams compares with the performance of other breeds, reared together under the same management conditions on commercial farms.”

The project is primarily looking for rams with Estimated Breeding Values (EBVS) in the top 20% of the breed. The natural service sires should be shearlings or older and have a known, high health status. Nominations of fit and fertile, older stock rams are also welcome. Frozen semen is also being purchased in batches of 30 straws for use via artificial insemination.

Bridget Lloyd, Ramcompare project co-ordinator, said: “This is a great opportunity for breeders to contribute to this industry project, data from which can be used to promote their flocks and the rams they have for sale.

“Updated results are released in May bringing leading flocks into the spotlight through breed specific articles and commercial farm case studies.”