The Central Progeny Test (CPT) mating period is coming to an end for another year. By now all of the ewes will have gone in lamb (fingers crossed) and the rams will be very quiet from now on. As proven successful last year, Sheep Ireland again used 2 different methods of mating the ewes, Cervical AI and Natural mating (Mob mating).

Again, this year there were almost 1.500 ewes mated, with 35 rams being used to mate the ewes. The was a multitude of breeds used this year including; Belclare, Charollais, Hampshire Down, Lleyn, Suffolk,  Texel & Vendeen  This will mean that there will be lots of data collected and a huge amount of different bloodlines in 2023.

All the mating data was recorded using the LambPlus App. We are extremely happy with how our program has gone this year which is in no doubt down to the hard work and dedication of the Sheep Ireland technicians, AI technicians from Ram Testing Ireland, the CPT farmers, and of course to the breeders who applied to have their rams be part of such a program. A sincere thank you to all involved.

CPT’s figures:

• 1050 ewes Naturally mating across 3 flocks in the CPT’s.
• 320 ewes AI’d in 3 flocks.
• 9 rams used for AI.
• 26 rams used in natural mating.
• All ewes were weighed and health inspected (BCS, DAG, Lameness, Mastitis).
• Average weights; John Large Average Weight – 73.6kg, Brian Nicholson average weight – 72kg, Andrew Moloney average weight – 71kg

Have a look below at what is the CPT and what are the benefits;