Posted: 8 October 2024

We’ve been working with specialist wool producers to develop the wool recording capabilities of Select Sheepware. Two producers have shared their experiences in using software to improve the breeding traits of their flocks.  

Part 1

Frank Langrish’s flock are Romneys, being bred not only for meat production, but to provide wool fleeces which are much more valuable than the average UK wool fleece.

Langrish Farmers produce around 20 tons of wool a year from their flocks of Romney and Romney cross sheep. The wool from Romney has always produced some of the highest value wool in the UK, however by lowering the micron count to sub 30 it would have a wider appeal to the global apparel market.
Using Select Sheepware, Frank is able to quickly and easily identify the sheep with the lowest micron count for fibre diameter. Frank now has animals with fibre diameter as low as 20.39.  Select Sheepware has been updated to produce a UK Wool report, which includes the main wool characteristics that are important for the UK Wool producers.  Select Sheepware allows the wool testing results to be imported and the sheep filtered and sorted according to the micron value. The flock is now at a stage where 93% of this year’s lambs have a micron value below 30. Frank uses an Agrident APR450 reader at lambing to link lambs to their mothers.  One of the big advantages of this reader is that a user defined database can be sent into the reader, so the user can lookup relevant data in the field. For example sire, dam, date of birth, fibre diameter etc. alerts can be set in Select Sheepware and these transfer into the APR reader so that the reader will give a loud audible beep when an alerted animal is read and the reader screen will display the alert.

Find out more about the Langrish Farms’ system here and  the Snowline breed here.

Part 2

Campbell Tweed uses planned breeding to improve the shedding ability in his Easycare and Wiltshire flock while aiming at the best rate of improvement in performance.

Pic courtesy of Richard Halleron, E:  richard@farm-link.com

Campbell farms at Ballycoose, Ballygally, Co Antrim. He runs a flock of around 3500 breeding sheep – Easycare and Wiltshire horn, mostly Easycare. Apart from the Easycare’s ability to lamb with little or no assistance, the breed is also a natural wool shedding breed. To continue to encourage this genetic trait, Campbell records the level of wool shed every year in July.  Those which have not fully shed their wool are recorded as scruffy. Campbell finds that sheep are more likely to be scruffy while still hoggets, before they’ve given birth for the first time.  After they’ve lambed for the first time, they tend to shed much better.  It’s important therefore to know which mature sheep are not fully shedding their wool, so selection of replacements can rule out selection from these sheep.
Select Sheepware not only permits filtering of animals according to the scruffy record, but also the mother’s scruffy record. Campbell found this year that having selected replacements on the basis of Signet index values, he was then able to check the animals’ own scruffy records and the scruffy record of their dams.  Animals where both the animal and its mother tended toward incomplete shed of wool can then be excluded from his breeding sheep. This improves the overall shedding ability in the next generation, the objective being to get to a point where almost all of the flock are excellent shedders, having been bred specifically for this trait. There is some tolerance in ewe lamb selection if performance figures are good, but there is no tolerance for scruffy yearling rams. They must shed well. This year, the yearling rams were given a shedding score and were genotyped by Dr Emily Clark of the Roslin Institute.
Campbell’s shepherds use the Agrident APR readers. These readers allow a customised database to be uploaded, so that in the field when selecting animals, the shepherds can see on the screen of the reader, both the wool scruffiness of the animal and the wool scruffiness of the animal’s mother.  If a shepherd is in doubt about the history of an animal, the mother’s data is shown. Genetic traits such as self-shedding need to be monitored and breeding needs to be planned so that there is continuous improvement across key performance traits.  George Megarry from TGM software has modified Select Sheepware specifically to enable enhanced evaluation of this and other traits, enabling breeders such as Campbell to continue to improve the shedding ability and enable improvements in performance.
Campbell may be contacted by email at campbelltweed@aol.com or by telephone at 07802 835 355. He has a number of excellent bred rams and females for sale at the moment. Campbell keeps an accurate record of sheep families and repeat customers buy rams with confidence,  knowing that the currently purchased ram is from a different family line to previously purchased rams.  Campbell’s sheep are both Signet and Sheep Ireland recorded and the official evaluations for sheep of interest to customers can be provided.