Weekly Update: 07/04/17

Sheep Ireland April Board Meeting

  • A meeting of the Sheep Ireland Board of representatives met yesterday (Thursday 6th April). A number of important issues were discussed on the day including;
    • CPT progress and future plans.
    • Upcoming Sheep Industry Meeting.
    • Next phase of genomics/genotyping.
    • Recent addition of the health index to our evaluation.
    • LambPlus sale plans.
    • Summer workshops/meetings with breeders.
  • The next Board Meeting will take place on 5th May.

Industry Meeting Reminder

  • Next Tuesday 11th April a Sheep Industry Meeting will take place in Athenry, Co. Galway. The main objective of this industry meeting will be to present an update on the sheep genomics research project ‘OVIGEN’ and to discuss the next phase of this project. As spaces are limited at this meeting, attendance is by prior notice to Sheep Ireland only.
  • All sectors of the sheep industry will be present to hear about progress and to give opinion on the future plans. All breed societies will be represented by their chairperson and/or secretary. Ram breeders interested in attending must contact their society secretary, who will in turn check space availability with Sheep Ireland. Every effort will be made to accommodate anyone interested in attending. Click here to view the Agenda for this meeting.

LambPlus Sale 2017

  • Important Note – The LambPlus sale date for 2017 will be Saturday 26th August. The Sheep Ireland ram sale has taken place on the fourth Saturday in August since 2012 and to remain consistent with previous years the sale date for 2017 will be Saturday 26th August.
  • Click here for information on last year’s LambPlus sale entry criteria. A similar criteria will apply in 2017. In 2016 it was necessary for breeders to achieve a 50% DQI in order to be eligible to enter the ram sale. This DQI criteria will be increased for 2017, so breeders should make every effort to capture as much data as possible over the comings months. A decision may also be made to increase the minimum accuracy requirement for entries (which was 30% in 2016), which further emphasises the need to record all the required data on their flock.