Following the recent announcement regarding the reduction of service fees for the Society’s genetic improvement service, texelplus, here’s a quick reminder of the data you need to collect and how performance recording works.
Q – Do I need to record birth weights of all lambs?
A – Yes, record birth weights of every lamb born in the flock.
Q – When should birth weights be recorded?
A – As soon as practical after birth, but it is important to be consistent with every lamb.
Q – Do I need to birth notify for pedigree and pay for each birth?
A – No, you can choose to birth notify for pedigree purposes or leave unticked for performance records only, just tick birth notify box on iTexel. All births should be added to iTexel to ensure complete performance recording.
Q – What about lambing ease, should I record that too?
A – Recording lambing ease is optional, but the Society advises that it should be recorded whenever possible and data submitted at the same time as birth weights.
Q – What do I need to record next?
A – The next major recording date is eight-week weights.
Q – When should I record these?
A – These should be done when lambs are between 42 and 84 days old. In flocks with several lambing groups it is advisable to treat each group individually for weighing timings.
Q – Then what?
A – Eight-week weights should be submitted to the Society using iTexel. This is simple to do if you have already added your flock’s birth data; identification and birth weights. Information submitted will be included in the next monthly evaluation.
Q – Do we need to weigh lambs again?
A – Yes, lambs will need to be weighed again at ultrasound scanning. This should take place when all lambs are between 35kg and 40kg, but all lambs should be heavier than 25kg.
Q – What about ultrasound scanning, do I have to do that?
A – Ultrasound scanning is an optional service provided by private contractors for additional fees and doesn’t have to be undertaken every year. The level of connectedness within the Texel population means ultrasound scanning every other year is often enough to maintain accuracy, however many flocks choose to do it annually.
Q – What are the benefits of ultrasound scanning?
A – Undertaking regular ultrasound scanning helps build a more complete and accurate picture of lamb performance for commercially valued profit traits, increasing the accuracy of the EBVs produced.
Q – What does ultrasound scanning cost and when should it be done?
A – Fees for ultrasound scanning are set by the independent contractor undertaking the scanning. It should be done when lambs are 35-40kg in weight.
Q – Why is it done at this weight?
A – Scanning at this weight gives a better indication of the genetic impact on muscle depth. Animals can have large muscle depth for two main reasons; either because they are genetically big (bigger animals tend to have more muscle across the loin), or have a deep muscle across the loin relative to their liveweight.
Scanning at 35-40kg places greater emphasis on those animals with deeper muscle relative to their liveweight.
Q – Is there anything else I need to do?
A – CT scanning is available to assess a number of profit traits including gigot muscularity. CT scanning also helps increase accuracy in other traits and provides information for the Society’s R&D projects.
Q – Is CT scanning expensive?
A – CT scanning is undertaken by SRUC and both the levy bodies and the Society offer subsidies for each lamb submitted for CT scanning. Further details can be found on the Society website.
Q – How robust is the system, surely it can be manipulated?
A – EBVs are produced using a BLUP system (Best Linear Unbiased Prediction) meaning that many of the environmental impacts on animal performance are accounted for when the EBVs are calculated.
Additionally, because of the level of data and connectedness within the Texel breed any animals with data which doesn’t match the expected trend for an animal with those genetics may be flagged as outliers and their data could be investigated further should it be required.
Q – But surely there are still ways to cheat the system?
A – Some may believe so, but like any data system texelplus is only as good as the data which goes into it. Bad data ‘in’ means bad data ‘out’ and that will only harm individual breeder’s reputations in the long-run.
One major aspect of EBV calculations is that it picks up a lack of variation in data. So, if all of a sire’s progeny are reported as performing excellently that data may be queried as it doesn’t reflect a natural situation.
Q – So does texelplus recording offer breeders value for money?
A- Most definitely, with the historically low fee to record, there has never been such a good time to record!
Q – How can I start recording?
A – Contact the Society by calling 024 7669 6629 or emailing registrations@texel.co.uk
