OviFlock EIP - Sheep Ireland

OviFlock EIP – Hill sheep flockbooks

This European Innovation Partnership (EIP) project supports 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 is the Oviflock EIP project?

The Oviflock European Innovation Partnership (EIP) project is designed to modernise and strengthen Ireland’s hill sheep sector by establishing 6 distinct flockbook databases representing the hill sheep breeds currently in use in Ireland.

What do farmers benefit from?

Participating farmers benefit through:

Free annual ewe genotypes allocated according to flock size and ram lamb selection potential.
A DNA collection visit to their farm covering all purebred hill ewes.
Improved saleability and value of rams due to verified pedigree and flockbook status.
Enhanced breeding decisions based on accurate ancestry and performance data, leading to long-term productivity gains.
Inbreeding prevention by correctly identifying parentage and maintaining genetically diverse populations.
Digital flockbook tools including pedigree certs, sale catalogue generation and performance reports.
Better ram value helping differentiate group rams from unverified ‘scrub’ rams.
Potential eligibility for future national sheep schemes based on verified genotyping and ancestry data.

What are the farmers’ commitments?

To participate, farmers must:

Be active members of a recognised hill ram breeding group. Eligibility is confirmed with group representatives.
Allow one DNA collection visit where technicians collect samples from all purebred hill ewes and record additional data (age, weight, mouth/teeth, body condition, etc.).
Identify dams of saleable hill ram lambs before weaning, enabling targeted genotyping later in the season. This step is critical for flockbook development.
Maintain accurate tagging (DAFM NSIS tags) for identification.

How can farmers sign in?

Farmers can join the project by submitting an Expression of Interest form on the Sheep Ireland website www.sheep.ie, by clicking here to complete the expression of interest form: Oviflock EIP – Expression of interest form.

Do farmers need to pay anything?

No, farmers do not pay for the genotyping allocation provided through the Oviflock project.

The free genotypes (normally €24.90 per sample) are fully covered by the EIP funding.

Can I genotype more animals with an extra cost?

The project covers only a set number of free genotypes annually.
Additional genotypes can be done at the farmer’s own cost.

These extra genotypes will be available at subsidised rates.

When is Sheep Ireland visiting the farmers?

DNA collection visits occur once during the 5-year project.
Visits aim to cover as many flocks as possible in the early project years.
Visits are scheduled on a first‑come, first‑served basis following submission of the expression of interest.

How are ewes selected for the free genotyping?

All purebred hill ewes in the flock are eligible during the DNA visit. Technicians collect samples from all of them.
However, which ewes are prioritised for genotyping depends on breeder decisions later in the season:

DNA samples are stored by Sheep Ireland until breeders mark certain ewes as priority dams of saleable ram lambs.

This ensures genotyping is focused on the most influential breeding ewes for flockbook development.