PROGRESS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF BREEDING SCHEMES FOR THE IRISH SHEEP INDUSTRY: THE MATERNAL LAMB PRODUCER GROUPS

The Irish sheep industry is undergoing major changes in the area of genetic improvement to ensure sheep farming remains competitive with alternative land uses. While the industry faces many challenges economically, environmentally, and socially (farm management), novel and innovative approaches have been developed in the area of sheep breeding to try and change the way ram breeding and purchasing occurs. The Maternal Lamb Producer (MALP) group scheme has been designed to assess different breeds of rams for performance in a range of traits, in a commercial farm situation. This will not only provide valuable data for wider ram genetic evaluations, through a Central Progeny Test (CPT), and demonstrate the use of electronic and DNA technology in sheep breeding, but also provide a relevant transparent demonstration to commercial farmers on the difference in the profitability arising from different rams. It is this demonstration, along with acceptance and uptake by commercial farmers that will drive ongoing investment in genetic improvement in the Irish sheep industry