CPT AI has begun

The first 299 Central Progeny Test (CPT) ewes of 2016 are currently being artificially inseminated today (Friday 14th). There is a further 2,100 ewes remaining to be inseminated over the course of the next 11 days making this a very important couple of weeks in the Sheep Ireland Calendar.

With 32 rams being used across the 2,400 ewes a lot of effort is put in place to ensure that the maximum return is acquired from the subsequent recorded data. Some of the criteria we apply to fulfil this goal is as follows:

• Each year we must source a ram from each breed that was used in the CPT the previous year, this means we can genetically link the data collected last year to the data collected this year to get maximum linkage. 
• Each ram is used on at least two flocks with the target of three flocks per ram.
• Each ram is mated with a similar number of ewes from each breed. 
• Each farm in the CPT receives a similar percentage of each breed. 
• Every farm has at least two rams of the same breed used.

We currently have a plan in place that will accomplish this, but inevitably each year this has to be adapted to accommodate for rams that do not perform as expected on a particular day and we readjust as best as possible.

Health Traits proving Valuable

From the CPT data we collected at sponging time we can see that there is a high correlation between ewe dag scores (dirt around the rump) and ewes with poorer body condition score. See graph above. On the dag score index 1 are very dirty and 5 are very clean. This again emphasises the point that LambPlus farmers would benefit this data in the future, as it would add more valuable information for a health index.