Next Sheep Ireland Board Meeting

This next meeting takes place on Thursday 22nd June. All stakeholders in our Sheep Industry are represented on this Board, so anyone with a suggestion or issue to raise should contact their relevant representative. A full list of Board Representatives can be found here on the Sheep Ireland website.

Ultrasound Scanning (Muscle and BackFat) 2017

Our scanning technicians have had another busy week. We are currently telephoning all flocks to organise suitable times and dates. As with every year, it is our intention to complete ultrasound scanning for breeds in advance of the preparation of Premier sales catalogues. The first Premier sale will take place in mid-July, which means catalogue preparation for this breed will be required in the coming weeks. As of today (9 th June) 70 flocks have been visited for scanning, with another 30 flocks organised for the coming week so far.

CPT Update

The first draft of 2017 CPT lambs for slaughter took place on the farm of Andrew Moloney this week. A number of other CPT flocks plan to draft their first lambs in the next week/fortnight. These first lambs have performed exceptionally well and entirely from grass based systems. These lambs being drafted are Ultrasound scanned for Backfat and Muscle in advance of slaughter. Carcase information is also captured on each individual lamb. Flock weaning weights (100 day weights) will be collected across all CPT flocks at the end of this month. All ewes and lambs will be weighed, scored for body condition score, dag score, lameness and signs of mastitis.

Genetic Evaluation Update

We continue to run weekly genetic evaluations. These early genetic evaluations are useful as a guide for breeders, especially to help making decisions on which lambs to slaughter at this early stage of the year, but breeders must remain conscious of the fact that there is still a large volume of commercial and pedigree data yet to be included in genetic evaluation in the coming weeks. This additional data may cause movements in the genetic evaluation for individual lambs.