In livestock terms, performance recording is simply a measure of how an animal grew or reared within a set time frame. For example, how well a lamb grew from birth to weaning or weaning to finish or how many lambs a ewe rears in a year or a lifetime. The more information that can be collected the more informed the system. Weighing livestock is a simple but important tool and has many applications; growth rates, medicinal applications, identify effective/ineffective practices.

There are two main influences on livestock performance; one is the animal’s breeding potential determined by its genes ( ie genetics) and the other is the environment in which it is managed. Genetics determine how capable an animal is of thriving under various conditions, their resilience to certain diseases and pests and can contribute towards a more efficient production system. Genetics is defined as the study of how the characteristics of living things are transmitted/passed on from one generation to the next.

As technology and our understanding of genetics has developed and evolved it has now become possible to use genetic information to manipulate flock performance. Performance recording and using Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) enables a robust and faster rate of genetic improvement and is a proven, cost-effective and long-term way of improving animal production efficiency.  Ensuring the best suited genetics for the system can have significant financial gains and is a long term sustainable solution for improving the overall performance of any farming business both economically and environmentally.

Estimated Breeding Values aim to predict the genetic potential of an animal and predict how an animal’s genes will be expressed in its progeny. This is done through a number of measurable traits. Measurable traits include:

• 8 week weight
• Scan (21 week) weight
• muscle depth (lean meat yield)
• fat depth
• mature size
• maternal traits
• litter size born
• maternal ability

In order to calculate EBVs on an across flock basis, animals are performance recorded. So far only pure- bred animals can be given EBVs as cross-breed analysis presents too many variables, although this is currently being researched. Animals within the same breed can be directly compared, provided that strong genetic linkage exists between flocks. EBVs can be combined to give an overall index.

Being able to interpret EBVs is essential to make the most of the benefits they can offer. At face value anything with an EBV graph that has blocks mainly on the right has a good/progressive index. However it is important to look under the cover; the highest index might not be right for your system. It is helpful to know in what areas/ characteristics you would like to improve, based on your own flock performance, to help select stock with the best genetics for your sheep. It is worth taking the time to think about what you want to achieve and understand what you’re looking at to reap the benefits.

Farm A is predominantly improved hill land running 1000 ewes. 800 of which are cross-bred and 200 welsh mountain. The majority are lambed outside from end-March through to May. First lambs are ready end-Sep through to November with the majority being sold as store lambs.

Improvements that can be made from selection of ram:

• Earlier finishing
• Less store lambs
• EBVs to look at:

Scan weight & Mature size (Growth) – Scan weight and mature size give an indication of how fast the progeny can grow, the bigger the mature size the faster the growth

Fat Depth and Muscle depth – it is important that the growth gained is going in the right places; too lean and lambs could become hard to finish or when breeding replacements they might not be hardy enough. This also helps increase the saleable meat yield on the finished carcase.