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What is Accuracy (Acc)?

Acc is an abbreviation of Accuracy. This figure is extremely important as it represents the amount of data behind each individual evaluation. Where Acc % is Poor, a considerably smaller emphasis should be placed on the evaluation, however where Acc% is Good or V.Good a considerable emphasis can be placed on the evaluation when making a breeding decision.

Factors that affect accuracies

Accuracy % is a reflection of the amount of data available for a particular bloodline within a sheep breed. The more data that is available for a bloodline, the higher the accuracy% will be for an animal. Higher accuracy%, results in more dependable €uro-Star evaluations. Low accuracy% evaluations are less dependable and may be subject to change as more data is recorded into the future.

Why do €uro-Star evaluations change sometimes?

Due to lower than desired accuracy% for many animals/bloodlines/sheep breeds, there is the potential for €uroStar Indexes to change over time as more data is recorded for those particular animals/bloodlines/sheep breeds.

How to combat low accuracy%

Using the ‘Ram Team’ concept

The threat posed by low accuracy affects all genetic evaluation systems. It takes a number of years to build accuracy% and performance data on our various sheep breeds. In dairy, low accuracy% evaluations are combated by using ‘teams’ of bulls. When purchasing AI straws a small number of straws from a large number of high Index bulls are used. In this way if one
or two bull’s indexes drop, the average genetic index of the ‘team’ is not impacted hugely. The herd still makes genetic progress. Most Irish commercial sheep farmers use a number of rams annually – this is essentially a team or rams, so the same concept can and should be used to deliver genetic gain in the flock over a number of years.

Other things to look out for in relation to Accuracy%

• Try to purchase rams with as high an accuracy% as possible – This shows that there is a lot of data recorded for this bloodline.
• Purchase from high Data Quality Index (DQI) LambPlus ram breeders.
  – A high DQI illustrates that a breeder has recorded a high proportion of the data requested by Sheep Ireland annually
•  Purchase rams that have Central Progeny Test (CPT) data in their background (see page 12 for more on the CPT)
  – The CPT is a ram testing programme which generates a large volume of commercial flock data on Irish sheep breeds annually.
  – Purchasing rams with CPT tested sires in their ancestry is very desirable as this will result in higher accuracy%
  – CPT rams have been tested in commercial conditions on large grass based farms, so this background data should be sought after by purchasers