MAY 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Using math to improve sheep productivity
by BARBARA JOHNSTONE- GRIMMER
VICTORIA – It used to be that rams were often selected for their good looks. Now, before a ram’s conformation or breed type are considered, he first needs to pass a math test. He must exceed the flock average – and preferably the breed average – for one or more performance traits before he even gets looked at. “The ram is the focus because he can cause an observable and measurable impact,” Johanne Cameron, a sheep breeder with a Masters in sheep genetics, told the directors of the Canadian Sheep Breeders’ Association (CSBA) and a group of Alberta and BC sheep producers at the CSBA AGM in Victoria in March. Cameron works at CEPOQ,
the Centre d’expertise en production ovine du Québec, and teaches at an agricultural college in Quebec, both part- time. She is also a director of CSBA and has 800 ewes with her partner Martin Brodeur- Choquette. They carefully select their own replacement stock using GenOvis, a Canadian genetic evaluation system for sheep. They also import semen from Australia, the UK and France to accelerate the improvement process. Not surprisingly, the pair were selected as Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers in 2012. In the 1970s, the Record of
Performance, or ROP, was a popular improvement program for livestock producers. Using lamb weight data, the flock was ranked so that producers could easily select replacements from those that tested above the 50th percentile. Today, the ROP program has been replaced by GenOvis for sheep, a program that takes selection a step further. This program allows for selection of rams and ewes based on their genetic potential, considering the breed and its main productive traits. In Canada, there are over 50 breeds of sheep of all shapes and sizes. GenOvis is used to help
increase productivity, identify profitable sire lines, detect unproductive ewes and help with culling. The focus is on profitable
traits, which are weighted into a selection index. The main traits are growth, maternal, multiple births, muscling and fat cover. Adding milk data
into GenOvis is of great interest to the growing sheep dairy sector and there is work ongoing in this area. Although wool quality is highly heritable, the price of wool has resulted in little selection for this trait in Canada. Several CSBA directors
shared their experiences with the GenOvis program in a panel discussion. Glen Parker of Parker Stock
Farm in Alberta has been on GenOvis since 2006. “We increased our Suffolk
ewe flock to 130 head but culled 65 head the first year on GenOvis. Everything below the 50th percentile went,” Parker explained. Parker increased 50-day weights of lambs by 15 lbs. Now, he is back to 130 ewes, careful to keep only ewes with a maternal index exceeding 75% and a carcass index over 80%. His selection program is for customers looking for an excellent carcass. David Mastine of Maple
Star Farm in Quebec has 375 ewes and has been using GenOvis since 2002. He selects on the carcass index and averages $300 more per ram on the tested ram sales. Colleen Acres of Maple
Meadows Farm in Ontario uses GenOvis for her Hampshire, Suffolk, Rideau and Dorset sheep. She selects for different traits for the replacement females. For the Rideau, it is mothering and
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Genomics is replacing the show ring for trait selection in sheep. BARBARA JOHNSTONE GRIMMER PHOTO
milk. For the Dorset, it is prolificacy, carcass and gain. For the terminal breeds, Suffolk and Hampshire, she selects for gain, and for muscling using ultrasound. Over an eight-year period on GenOvis, she has shaved 21 days off the time needed to raise a lamb to market weight. Ted Skinner of Cedar Creek
Charollais in Ontario uses GenOvis as a tool to sell rams. He only selects rams that exceed the 90th percentile for the breed. His main selection trait is growth. “The faster they go out the
door,” says Skinner, “the less chance for losses, and the greater the profit.”
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