We are like most breeders today in that we are endeavouring to breed a ewe that is easy care at lambing, weans at least its own body weight of lambs with high growth rates and cuts a heavy quality fleece (in the case of the Romneys and Lincolns). Simple really!!
To summarise our present breeding program (I say present because we are always looking at ways to enhance what we can deliver to our clients) is focused on:
a) breeding Stock that have the basic fundamentals as described below:
b) ewes that are high in fertility; by culling all stud ewes that have two singles in a row, and using rams that rate highly on SIL in terms of NLBBV (breeding values for number of lambs born).
c) ewes that are easy care at lambing, cull any ewes that give problems in terms of lambing and mothering.
d) lambs with high growth rates from birth to weaning to 200 day, focusing on actuals and 100 and 200 day breeding values from SIL.
e) producing a carcass that has a good spring of rib (the rack), loin and hindquarter: eye muscle scanning is the norm for those rams we take through the winter
f) lambs with high yeilding carcasses. ie saleable meat yeild, we have been involved the NZ Romney meat yeild trial for the last four years.
g) Animals that have as much genetic tolerance to footrot as is possible, we have been DNA gene testing all sires we retain for footrot and cold tolerance for the last five years.
h) in the case of the Romneys, good heavy medium wool, weighing all hogget fleeces.
Keep reading for a further detailed explanation of our Breeding Philosophy.
We place considerable emphasis on the following fundamentals:
Good mouth
Good colour
Good wool, both in quantity and quality
Clear face
Sound on its feet, walks well
Bone and constitution
In my opinion if an animal doesn’t have the basics, which I consider the above list to be, then it doesn’t matter how good the stats are, in the long term unless you maintain the fundamentals and quality, your performance will eventually go downhill. If you are cross breeding, then it is just as important to make sure that you are keeping these basics because once the hybrid vigour has disappeared, then without the basics and quality, performance will fall away. This is where I believe a lot farmers and breeders who use statistical data to determine everything come unstuck.
My first stop, when I am doing any culling, is a visual appraisal of these basics. It is only after I am happy with the basics that I turn to the performance data. In other words no matter how good the performance data, if the animal doesn ’t have the basics I will cull it.
For several years now, we have all the studs on what I consider to be the best computer recording system called Macrostud. We have a pocket PC that is carried in the bike all the time and as such it is almost always with me around the farm. The first full lambing that it was used for was in 2003 . As it is more comprehensive than all of its competitors that I am to date aware of (including studfax), we use it to record any ewe, lamb etc that I notice going around the farm that I consider should be culled for whatever reason or lambs etc. It is the use of such technology that assists me to be on the ball, to be as accurate as is humanly possible in everything I do. The Pocket PC connects to the computer and automatically updates that system. It is now very difficult for a ewe to sneak through, if she is not up to the mark.
This same pocket PC, has all the flock on it, pedigree, weaning and 200 day weight, progeny, fleece weight, eye muscle scanning, fertility and my comments, as well as the SIL EBVS. The Pocket PC is basically all that is required when a client comes to select rams, everything is on it that they may require, and as such it is accurate and up to date. The only time when more than this may be required is when a client may want other EBV's that are not on the pocket, which requires a separate request from SIL to provide such information.
.. we are focused on breeding rams that meet the markets requirements of an easy care, high fertility ewe that produces fast growing lambs with a high yielding carcass.
We are obviously on SIL and have been for a few years, the longer we are on it the more accurate, hopefully, the EBV's become.
For instance eye muscle scanning data has a high heritability and as such EBVs for such a trait has some meaning after two or three years, while fertility is significantly less heritable and takes a lot longer to come through to translate into accurate EBVs as you have to wait for a sire's progeny to have lambs to get a fair indication of the true fertility of that ram, ie perhaps 5 to 7 years. I see SIL as one of a number of tools that I may be able to use to assist me in identifying genetic potential.
I believe that SIL still has some work to do, before it can be considered credible and meaningful in terms of its across flock comparison (i.e. breeder Vs breeder) because we all have differing management practices, we farm under varying terrain and climatic conditions, and unfortunately like all statistics, the integrity of the data is so reliant on the integrity of the person providing the data (and while I am told that there are various statistical tests in place to screen out these differences), not to mention the need for change in terms of the way SIL generates some of its breeding values. I also think SiL is trying to record too many traits, as it is my clear understanding of the science that if you want to make genuine progress you need focus on four of five traits max!!!
I believe all these factors together make most across flock comparisons essential meaningless and generally marketing dribble. I am prepared to be convinced otherwise, but to date I have not been. However SIL can be useful within my flock to identify my top genetic bloodlines.
Mating time is of course one of the most important times of the year for any breeder. Every ewe is paraded through our woolshed and appraised for:
Pedigree (who is she by and how true to form is she to her sire and dam (if I know the dam)
Progeny history (who she went to in previous years) and what was kept culled etc
Fertility history (how many lambs etc has she had)
Performance history (what has her progeny done, how good were they etc)
Conformation (what does she look like, what problems if any doe she have)
Wool quality and quantity
Quality generally including, eyes, face cover, feet colour, skin pigment etc.
Pedigree is important. This is where the genetic heritability comes from. From the pedigree, I can assess the ewe and reach a view as to whether that ewe will breed true to her type or otherwise, because I, in particular will know the sire, what he looked like and how he bred.
The accuracy of the pedigree is where you get meaningful SIL Breeding Values. This is why I shepherd and tag at lambing time, not at tailing, those who tag at tailing will not have as accurate pedigrees as I have and as such have SIL figures of less relevance. Similarly those who use DNA testing of the type that is only 80% accurate and only identifies the sire only does NOT assist SIL in generating meaningful EBV's. Click here for more on this
I have taken photos of all our romney two tooth ewes (starting with those born in 2002) with a view to being able to show clients and have myself, a photo of both the sire and dam of the animal that I am keeping or alternatively selling. The last coupler of years I also have been taking photos of the southdowns.
It is an extremely time consuming chore, but one I believe is of assistance in that it at least provides one photo of what the dam looks like. I expect such a photo to give potential buyers some confidence in the animal they maybe purchasing, because as with people, one of the best indicators of what the progeny will look like is to look at its parents. While I know what all our sires look like, I certainly don’t know all of the ewes in the flock. I believe that a simple photo in tandem with all other performance data will assist me and our clients to make a more informed decision about the animal in question.
The ewe and ram's progeny history is naturally important in determining whether the rams that the ewe has been to date, has produced what we want, and if not, is it the ewes fault or the ram she was put to.
We do not have a policy of only retaining twins or keeping rams that are twins. I consider such a policy to be incredibly limiting and something that is used by some breeders as a MARKETING GIMMICK. What is important is the overall fertility of the animal, not their immediate birth status. A simple example I often use to demonstrate the absurdity of such a policy is if you have two ewes, one has 5 sets of twins and then one single, and another ewe has five singles in a row, and then a set of twins, which of the progeny in the 6th year is more likely to leave you with more lambs, the ANSWER quite simply is the single because of the history of twins!!!!!!!
The scientific research backs this up, the heritability of a twin and single is essentially no different. By limiting yourself to twins you are simply reducing your options in terms of the other traits you maybe looking for. (Check the SIL website out in this regard). If you want lots of lambs, then you need to focus on the rams overall fertility, not whether it is simply a twin or a single. As stated under the heading “Management Practice” on this website our romneys have been weaning 150% or better for many years now, which means most of our flock are twins or triplets anyway. If a ewe comes in with a single two years in a row, she will be relegated to either a fat lamb producer or culled.
Pedigree is important.
We aim for easy care lambing, with a stack of multiples. Our weaning percentage suggests that our fertility is better than a lot, but it is something we are continually striving to improve. We do shepherd for the purpose of getting accurate genetic records, not because of lambing problems (In the last 6 or 7 years, I would have lambed a maximum of 12 ewes and I think 6 is the minimum, obviously it is very easy for me to record those I have lambed and make sure they are not around next year. I use to cut off half their ears, but some stories about the SPCA put me off this, so apart from recording this on the pocket, I give any ewes I want culled a black Kenmore tag, so if you see one of those in a culled waidale ewe, I would advise against buying it).
In recent years with the emphasis being on meat as a direct result of that cheque being significantly greater than the wool cheque, we like most other breeders have endeavoured to breed an animal with a good meat carcass, that is good shoulder, spring of rib (the rack) loin and arse end. We not only assess this visually but by eye muscle scanning (this again is a guide to the loin only, and thankfully it results generally reflect my visual assessments) and I take note of the SIL EMABV's as this is a stongly heritable trait. We also place emphasis on growth rates when selecting the sires we use. Note you do need to be careful here as high growth rates without consideration of condition score finishing ability etc can mean you will end up with big growth giraffe type rams. Our actual weaning and 200 day weights, eye muscle scanning and Sil Breeding values are the Key data performance indicators we utilise when assessing a carcass. We have also been an active participant in the Romney New Zealand Meat Yeild Trial that has been running for 5 years now (August 2009).
We have been undertaking a DNA testing program for footrot and cold tolerance of all sires we use for several years now. We have always culled for this, but now we will endeavour to develop a "1.1" flock, which does not mean animals will not get footrot, but means they will have the highest tolerance to it. We were generally pleasantly surprised by the results of our testing of our sires. It is unfortunately not economic to test all ewes or indeed all rams, however by taking a sires rating into account at mating we can progress forward to a target of a "1,1 " flock.
We do make ourselves readily available to the scientific community, so as if research is being undertaken and in particular in terms of gener marker technology, we are more than happy to assist. To this end we have been involved with Lincoln university in its gene marker research in terms of cold survival, longevity and fertility in ewe, meat yeild etc hopefully this research will not only benefit our flocks, but the whole country, time will tell!!!!!
Note I do think some of the gene markers developed to date are a waste of bloody time, eg myomax (this means that an eyemuscle is 10% bigger that what it would have been, but if it is a crap eye muscle to begin with, 10% extra of crap is still crap. I know texel breeders who are making more progress with eye muscle from sires that don't carry the myomax gene. Similarly Wormstar, what a joke, this is essentially a gene test for growth, because as I understand it, 75 to 80% of the test relates to growth, and the balance to worms, but how successful would it have been if it had been marketed as "Growthstar", not very, given that the most reliable figures you get out of SIL are the 100 and 200 day Breeding values (because of the strength in heritability in this area) , yes the determinants of growth rates, so you don't need some gimmick marketing to determine that. On top of this, if you are selecting for growth rates, then those that do better logically can handle the worms better, this is not just me saying this, this is me paraphrasing a genetic scientist.
IIf anything is unclear or you have any questions about anything, please give us a call.
