Castle Milk Moorit Breeding Programme January 2008 Update

Progress to date The data quality has improved significantly in 2008 probably as a result of the members response to the Combined Flock Book census but also an increased awareness of the need to provide updates when sheep die or are sold for meat. One of the results of the better data is an apparent reduction in absolute numbers. It was always suspected that a number of the sheep shown in the flock book (including some significant individuals), were actually dead and /or non-breeding, therefore the fact that even with this data correction the trends are moving in the desired direction is especially encouraging. This cleaned data should give you a much better base for analysis and decision making going forward. The awareness of the programme is now fairly wide spread in the membership and is actively influencing choice of rams. Conclusions are shown after each data set but highlights are: – The number of genetically significant rams has increased markedly for line 1. In addition the total number of significant rams vs the rest has increased. – The number of significant line 1 ewes has increased and the % genetic representation across all ewes has increased for both line 1 and line 2. – Due to the improved data the absolute numbers should now be much more accurate. The % of significant sheep is beginning to level across the lines which was one of our goals plus the % of these rarer gene pools are increasing (albeit slowly) across all three lines.

Data Assumptions The latest analysis in this pack is based on the Online Combined Flock book data as at 15th January 2008; the previous analysis in the trends are May 2007 and June 2006 To make the data as meaningful as possible we have assumed the following for all 3 analyses: – Only sheep with status ‘Alive’ and gender F or M are part of the breeding flock – Unregistered, birth notified animals born over 4 years ago are dead or permanently non-breeding – Animals over 10 years old are non-breeding A review data in June 2007 shows that out of 130 ewes over 10 years shown as alive only 5 had lambs notified in A further check in January 2008 shows that out of 27 alive ewes over 10 years only 2 had lambs notified in 2007 (NB 2 marked as dead also had notified lambs!). ‘Significant‘ is: Greater than 0.05% line 1 genetics Greater than 1% line 2 genetics Greater than 2%line 3 genetics

Ram Data Number of significant rams vs ‘the rest’ Number of significant rams as % of total ram flock

Ram Data % of line genetics in the ram flock (this represents the % per sheep should the line genetics be spread evenly across all rams) Conclusion The number of genetically significant rams has increased markedly for line 1 (where we have focused), and held for line 2, however line 3 ram stock seems to have suffered the most from the data clean-up with absolute numbers falling however the genetic % per ram has increased for line 3. In addition the total number of significant rams vs the rest has increased (119 out of a flock of 352, with 6 being significant in more than 1 line). The data clean-up and better reporting by the members has left us with a more accurate picture and a better base to move forward therefore the trend from 2007 to 2008 should be judged in the light of the data corrections as well as the breeding programme significance.

Ewe data Number of significant ewes vs ‘the rest’ Number of significant ewes as % of total ewe flock

Ewe data % of line genetics in the total ewe flock (this represents the % per sheep should the line genetics be spread evenly across all ewes) Conclusion The number of ewes overall and the number of older significant ewes has been most affected by the data clean-up – the number of ewes marked as alive and under 10 years has decreased from 1677 to 1261 this is almost certainly due to the CFB census. Inspite of this overall decrease the number of significant line 1 ewes has increased and the % genetic representation across all ewes has increased for both line 1 and line 2.

Total flock data (1613 sheep as at 15/1/08) Number of significant sheep vs ‘the rest’ Number of significant sheep as % of total flock

Total flock data (1613 sheep as at 15/1/08) % of line genetics across the total flock (this represents the % per sheep should the line genetics be spread evenly across the whole flock) Conclusion Due to the improved data the absolute numbers should now be much more accurate. The % of significant sheep is beginning to level across the lines which was one of our goals plus the % of these rarer gene pools are increasing (albeit slowly) across all three lines.