Boost for terminal sire breeding as AHDB unveils its new genomic approach at Sheep Breeders Roundtable  
 

‘Breeding sheep for a greener future’ will be the theme of this year’s Sheep Breeders Roundtable which will run from 15 – 17 November in Nottingham. 

During the three-day event, attendees will gain insight into the latest developments within sheep breeding and the role of genetics, sustainable solutions, industry resilience, policy direction, profitability, breeding to meet market demands and reputation of the sector.  
 The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) will use the event to announce the launch of the first genomic breeding values within Signet Breeding Services' terminal sire evaluations in 2025.

Signet Breeding Services has been instrumental in the delivery of this important development in the terminal sire evaluations. As a division of AHDB, Signet provides performance recording services to sheep and cattle breeders, as well as partnering on projects across the United Kingdom to continue to drive sheep and cattle genetic improvement forward. 

Building on 50 years of levy-funded support for performance recording in sheep, this approach represents a significant breakthrough in the ability to predict the genetic merit of a sheep based on their pedigree, performance and now their DNA. This will help sheep breeders find not only the most profitable sires, but in time, those with the lowest carbon footprint.  

Samuel Boon, Signet Breeding Manager, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Sheep Breeders’ Roundtable again and have the chance to talk about some of the important work we have been doing to help ram breeders produce more profitable sires.
“AHDB has collaborated with major breed societies which has enabled Signet Breeding Services to augment its current genetic evaluation services and include data that directly reflects the variation in an animal’s DNA.

“Signet Breeding Services was instrumental in the pioneering work that lead to the delivery of genomic breeding values for hill sheep in 2021, which was a first in the UK. I am therefore excited to announce genomic breeding values for breeds like the Charollais, Suffolk and Hampshire Down will be launched in 2025 and I will talk more about it at the conference.”  

As well as the launch of genomic breeding values, AHDB will be updating on new research to develop environmental breeding indexes and updates to economic indexes. Attendees will also hear how environmental breeding goals are being developed internationally, how research relating to rumen volume may change our thinking and how environmental breeding goals are being developed for the Irish sheep industry.  
Sheep Breeders Roundtable is an industry initiative. AHDB is a major financial sponsor, with collaboration from other levy boards including Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC), Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AgriSearch combined with support from the National Sheep Association (NSA).

The conference will showcase how the UK sheep industry can become more resilient and be amongst the best sheep producers in the world. It attracts a large audience of progressive farmers and breeders, combined with academic researchers and industry specialists sharing their experience, thoughts and ideas.

For more information and to book your place, visit (https://ahdb.org.uk/events/sheep-breeders-round-table-conference)