Showcasing Smarter Sheep Science

December 2022, Roslin Research Institute

This collaborative event was organised by SRUC, The Texel Sheep Society, University of Edinburgh and AbacusBio UK and showcased the latest research in the sheep sector.

Cutting-edge sheep science was presented as a result of new work generated by the EU Smarter project and other nationally-funded research and completed by an international team of experts. The conference targeted the engagement of farmers and farming industry professionals to describe some of the latest research and its application in the sheep industry.

Speakers from across the world addressed key issues in sheep farming including:

• Lamb survival
• Genomic evaluations
• International evaluations for sheep
• Methane and greenhouse gas emissions
• Setting breeding goals and index development
• The economic and environmental impact of genetic improvement

Read the conference report here.

Session 1: Small Ruminant snapshots: Breeding for efficiency and resilience Chair: Nicola Lambe, SRUC
Session 1	Topics
10.15	Breeding to improve lamb survival	Noirin McHugh, Teagasc, Ireland View presentation
10.45	Body condition score in hill ewes – what does it tell us about future lamb survival? Is maternal performance affected by high faecal egg counts in early life?	Ann McLaren, SRUC View presentation
11.05	Does including genomic information improve breeding values for production and health traits?	Karolina Kaseja, SRUC View presentation
11.25	What is a resilient sheep?	Andrea Doeschl-Wilson, UofE View presentation
11.40	How selection for resilient and efficiency (R&E) traits impact small ruminant breeding programmes – a case study from France	Tim Byrne, AbacusBio View presentation
12.00	A story of feed efficiency and rumen size	Nicola Lambe, SRUC View presentation
12.15	Breeding to reduce methane in sheep	Jette Jakobsen, Norway View Presentation
12.30	Sum-up session one

FREE LUNCH!

Session 2: Bridging the gap between science and practice Chair: John Yates, Texel Sheep Society
14.00	Setting breeding goals	Ed Smith, Texel Sheep Society View presentation
14.15	Development of economic indexes	Caeli Richardson, AbacusBio UK View presentation
14.30	Economic and environmental impact of genetic improvement	Tom Kirk, AbacusBio UK View presentation
14.45	Creating valuable information	Ed Smith, Texel Sheep Society View presentation
15.00	Knowledge exchange for best practice	Katie Thorley, Texel Sheep Society View presentation
15.15	Can we do international evaluations for sheep?	Georgios Banos, SRUC View presentation
15.30	Sum-up Session two