The Texel Sheep Society has said that there is “huge value” for sheep farmers in collecting data on their flocks, and the information that can be derived from it will enable better decision making.
The chief executive of the society, John Yates, said collaboration and data collection had been at the heart of its project dissemination at this year’s Smarter Sheep Farming conference in Edinburgh.
The conference was organised by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), Texel Sheep Society, the University of Edinburgh and Abacus Bio.
“The studies presented had been part funded by the EU2020 Smarter project, focused on breeding for resilience and resistance to disease, in which the society was a partner,” Yates said.
Yates said the society also presented some best practice applied through its services for genetic improvement, data management and knowledge exchange which are core areas that the society has invested heavily in.
“As the most popular sire breed in the GB sheep industry and with a major influence on the national flock, Texels have a huge role to play in ensuring profitability and sustainability in sheep production,” he said.
“Development of data collection and evaluation technologies as well as a better understanding of the impact genetic selection can have is vital for the future of the breed and the industry.”
Speaking at the conference, Ed Smith, data and technical services manager for the Texel Sheep Society said data was vital to breed development.
The society, he said, was focusing on production and health traits, with environmental traits also becoming an important focus in the next few years.
“It is essential to convert this data to knowledge and sustain data collection across generations to maximise the breeding opportunities it creates,” Smith said.
“Combining phenotype and genotype data collection is paramount going forwards to increase the impact of the breeding goal,”
