LambPlus data deadline (April 30th)
We are in the final week for submitting lambing data with the deadline of April 30th only 6 days away. As a result the office has been very busy with queries in recent days, however the quality of the data seems to be of a higher standard upon initial review compared to years gone by. As each year passes breeders become more familiar with the requirements of LambPlus and this is starting to be reflected in the data being submitted. We would urge any breeders that have not submitted any lambing data as of yet either via the website or on paper to do so as soon as possible in case any issue arises and therefore giving everyone time to rectify them before the deadline.
We would also like to remind breeders about removing sheep from their Flock Inventory’s that are no longer on the farm. This will result in a better DQI and a flock that is much easier to manage for the breeder as there will be less sheep to filter through to find the one you require.
Lamb weight recording
Many pedigree ram breeders have already submitted their 40 day lamb weights via our new batch weight recording screens. A lot of lambs are now approaching the ideal age for the weaning weight (approximately 100 days). Again breeders are reminded to collect this weight from lambs within the time frame of between 60 and 120 days of age. For more information click here.
STAP 2015
This week marked the start of STAP 2015 for Sheep Ireland with the first group STAP meeting of the year. On Tuesday night Shane Randles gave a presentation to two STAP groups organised by Tony Murphy about the benefits of using €uroStars when selecting a breeding ram. The STAP scheme was a great success in 2013 & 2014 and the opportunity to speak to so many farmers at both large a small meetings is having a huge effect on the awareness of the Sheep Ireland €uroStars among commercial sheep farmers.