Sheep Breeders Round Table online conference - session 3 (HCC)

Innovative technology to support the sheep sector

Host: Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC)           Chairman: John Richards, HCC

Session 1: Hill Ram Scheme – Adding value to the hill flock

The Hill Ram Scheme brings the latest technology to hill flocks in Wales with the aim of strengthening the Welsh sheep sector through long-term genetic improvement. This is achieved by utilising DNA parentage technology to understand their flock’s genetic performance – allowing farmers to improve their flocks and meet market requirements with little to no change to their extensive systems and also creating a critical mass of performance-recorded hill flocks within Wales’ stratified sheep system. Join Janet Roden, sheep geneticist, together with Irwel Jones a Hill Ram Scheme participant to discuss how performance recording can add value to the hill flock.

Session 2: Maternal trait development using genomic data

John McEwan, is a principal scientist at AgResearch in New Zealand, specialising in sheep genomics. He will join us to discuss how the use of genomic data, through DNA analysis, can improve maternal traits in the Southern Hemisphere and how this can be applied to the UK sheep industry.