Southdown Meeting

Lucy Webb Wilson and Samuel Boon

Agenda

• 2013 performance and breed progression• Getting connected… data entry by breeders, Pediweb• Performance: connectivity and accuracy• How and why do non-UK genetics perform they way

they do?• Getting the balance right: growth rate, muscle and fat• Marketing and promoting the Southdown as a

Terminal Sire• The www.signetsouthdowns.com website

Signet bits.......

• Southdown achievements to date• Current connectedness / linkage• Testing the unknowns / why do rams get the

EBVs they do?• Getting the balance right – index weightings

Achievements – Genetic Trends

No. Lambs No. Breeders Lambs with early weight

Lambs scanned

Texel (about 200 Signet client) 59,224 1,311 11,305 10,024Suffolk (about 70 Signet clients) 26,559 721 5,580 4,558Hampshire Down (about 60 Signet clients) 3,225 174 1,288 814

LLEYN 18,195 48 15,346 5,399COMPOSITE 7,381 15 4,992 2,675CHAROLLAIS 6,207 58 4,464 2,626DORSET 4,823 20 3,830 1,704SCOTCHBLACKFACE 4,311 19 3,441 2,645EASYCARE 3,309 7 2,605 857WELSH MOUNTAIN 2,902 8 2,178 1,103ROMNEY MARSH 2,293 4 1,717 1,491BLUEFACED LEICS 1,541 27 1,067 1,000MEATLINC 1,332 7 1,078 991NORTH COUNTRY CHEVIOT PARK 1,120 10 942 457BEULAH 1,118 5 876 600SHROPSHIRE 1,043 20 892 621SOUTHDOWN 841 15 654 565NORTH COUNTRY CHEVIOT HILL 805 4 690 463WILTSHIRE HORN 734 11 618 336BELTEX 677 12 567 496

Grand Total: 149,312 2,525 65,387 40,143Plus more smaller breeds

Genetic Trends

Positive progress since 2008 in all traits across the Southdown breed.

Index since 2008

Growth EBVs Since 2008

Increase of almost 1kg in Scan Weight EBV in 5 years

Carcase EBVs Since 2008

Increase of approximately 0.3mm of muscle depth EBV across the loin

Connectedness

“An outstanding sheep is more likely to be found amongst 5,000 ewes than in a flock of 60.”

Within-flock analysis

Whole breed analysis

Comparing performance

BLUPFlock 1

Within

Across

Flock 2

Flock 3

= a contemporary group

= genetic links between related animals

Ram Average Progeny Weight

Farm A Mark 35kg

Simon 33kg

Farm B David 31kg

Mark 28kg

David + 3kg

Which is the best ram for growth rate?

Relative to Mark

Mark 0Simon – 2kg

Where do unknown rams come in?

Unknown Animals

Unknown animals are just that “unknown”

Assuming no parents recorded or other relatives known – they get the same EBVs as all other “unknown” males or females on the database – but with accuracy value of “0”.

.....But they can move fast.....

How do rams get the indexes they do?

Range of factors

Own performance (if known)Relatives performance (if known)Progeny performance (if known)

Benoit – 215680:090019Index:368

• 8week weight EBV ---- 2.14kg• Scan weight EBV---- 3.84kgLooking at the raw data within the ram’s contemporary group for 2013

SIRENumber of

lambs weighed

Average 8 week weight

(kg)

Number of lambs

scanned

Average Age of Lambs at

scanning

Average Scan Weight

(kg)165:11146 23 20.86 23 178 47.80

215680:090019 32 22.71 28 161 47.46

218:091661 4 17.75 3 187 49.50218:11701 24 17.83 18 137 38.19

586878:09002 1 18.5083:09173 18 19.27 15 98 28.80

Lambs were on average approximately 3-4kg heavier at 8 weeks

Lambs achieved similar weights to two other sires despite being 17 and 26 days younger respectively.

Benoit – 215680:090019

SIRENumber of

lambs scanned

Average Age of Lambs at

scanning

Average Muscle Depth (mm)

Average Fat Depth (mm)

165:11146 23 178 29.00 5.31215680:090019 28 161 29.20 4.95

218:091661 3 187 28.64 6.76218:11701 18 137 25.61 4.12

586878:09002  83:09173 15 98 22.21 2.62

• Muscle Depth EBV ---- 2.37mm• Fat Depth EBV ---- -1.12mmLooking at the raw data within the ram’s contemporary group for 2013

Lambs achieved similar muscle depths at scanning to two other sires despite being 17 and 26 days younger respectively.

Despite achieving high levels of muscling across the loin the lambs were leaner than those by other sires

WEBBELLIS FlockEAST DEAN DEAN – 165:092132

Index:238• 8week weight EBV ---- 0.92kg• Scan weight EBV ---- 2.91kg

SIRE Number of lambs weighed

Average 8 week weight (kg)

Number of lambs scanned

Average Age of Lambs at

scanning

Average Scan Weight (kg)

165:06632 12 16.53 10 130 35.48165:092132 11 16.05 11 141 40.11

64:10046 5 20.78 1 105 30.40640:1200315 7 14.27 7 143 31.83

738:06010 4 15.40 3 135 28.60968:1100030 8 16.64 8 143 37.13968:1200070 2 20.10 1 142 47.00

Lambs achieved slightly above average growth to 8 weeks when compared to their contemporaries

Lambs grew strongly to scanning gaining 3kg more than those that had a similar weight at 8weeks by a different sire

WEBBELLIS FlockEAST DEAN DEAN – 165:092132

• Muscle Depth EBV ---- 2.38mm• Fat Depth EBV ---- 0.28mm

SIRENumber of

lambs scanned

Average Age of Lambs at scanning

Average Muscle Depth (mm)

Average Fat Depth (mm)

165:06632 10 130 25.02 5.02165:092132 11 141 27.83 5.28

64:10046 1 105 22.93 4.57640:1200315 7 143 22.82 4.99

738:06010 3 135 23.96 4.04968:1100030 8 143 25.83 4.84968:1200070 1 142 28.98 8.60

Lambs achieved above average muscle depths when compared to others of similar age by different sires

The lambs we slightly fatter than their contemporaries leading to the positive fat EBV

Index weightings Getting the balance right

-50.00 0.00 50.00 100.00 150.00 200.00 250.00 300.00 350.00

-2.00

-1.50

-1.00

-0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

f(x) = 0.0101633307919089 x − 1.14291428564488R² = 0.527777650578578

EIGHT WEEK WEIGHT EBV

EIGHT WEEK WEIGHT EBVLinear (EIGHT WEEK WEIGHT EBV)

-50.00 0.00 50.00 100.00 150.00 200.00 250.00 300.00 350.00

-4.00

-3.00

-2.00

-1.00

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

f(x) = 0.0191193559274991 x − 1.83142637635632R² = 0.549121768386611

SCAN WEIGHT EBV

SCAN WEIGHT EBVLinear (SCAN WEIGHT EBV)

-50.00 0.00 50.00 100.00 150.00 200.00 250.00 300.00 350.00

-2.00

-1.00

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

f(x) = 0.0111507827878941 x − 1.14501466517397R² = 0.72287288875593

MUSCLE DEPTH EBV

MUSCLE DEPTH EBVLinear (MUSCLE DEPTH EBV)

-50.00 0.00 50.00 100.00 150.00 200.00 250.00 300.00 350.00

-2.00

-1.00

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

f(x) = − 0.00208702061236567 x + 0.249963065422125R² = 0.136152149084456

FAT DEPTH EBV

FAT DEPTH EBVLinear (FAT DEPTH EBV)

ATAN Penalty for Fat Depth EBV

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