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OviFlock EIP – Hill sheep flockbooks – Expression of interest form

Sheep Ireland invites all members of Hill Breeding Groups to participate in OviFlock.

This exciting European Innovation Partnership (EIP) project will support hill sheep breeders with a €650,000 funding. The project aims to establish Hill sheep flockbooks for Ireland by genotyping selected female sheep to record ancestry; critical for avoiding inbreeding, maintaining unique populations, and enabling genetic improvement.

The objective of this EIP call is to ‘foster the greater uptake and utilisation of digital tools and technologies to support evidence-based decision making on Irish farms’ – as such there will be a strong digital element to this project.

Eligibility:

  • Breeders must be current active members of a recognised hill ram breeding group to participate (this will be verified with each group representative).
  • Hill Breeding Groups contact information: click here

What’s Involved in the OviFlock project: 

  • A visit will take place for DNA collection from all purebred hill ewes in each flock during the 5-year project (with as many flocks as possible visited in the early years).
  • Flock visits will take place on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • Approx. 8,000 ewes will have DNA collected in 2025.
  • Each flock will have an allocation of free genotypes to use annually.
  • Critical: Breeders must identify dams of potential saleable ram lambs before weaning to facilitate targeted genotyping later in the season. This is crucial for flockbook development. Record DAFM NSIS tag number and ewes could be raddled for ease of identification at a later date.
  • If the DNA sample is not immediately genotyped, it will be stored until the ewe is identified by the breeder as a priority to genotype.
  • Technicians will also record additional data during the visit; ID, age, weight, condition, teeth/mouth etc., to build Ireland’s most comprehensive hill sheep database. 

Benefits:   

  • Free genotypes (normally €24.90 each), based on purebred ewe count and number of ram lambs selected for future breeding.
  • Long-term genetic gain.
  • Future access to digital tools: pedigree certs, sales catalogues, performance reports.
  • Potential inclusion in future national sheep schemes.

How to get Involved:

Click here and complete the expression of interest form

Flock visits begin soon and will align with your routine flock management tasks.