Green ERA-Hub

April 2024 – March 2027

The aim of his project is to create knowledge and infrastructure for incorporating genetic merit for low environmental impact traits into national sheep breeding schemes.

Key sheep breeding nations, including Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, France and Uruguay, are joint partners on the project, which aims to provide a platform for national and global comparison of methane and carbon dioxide emissions for the purpose of selective breeding for lower-emitting animals.

Building on the GrassToGas project, Sustain Sheep uses portable accumulation chambers (PAC) across all countries for individual animal methane measurements. The Society is supporting SRUC as a genetics provider to capture PAC, pedigree and genomic information from Texel flocks that will contribute to these international efforts.

See the SRUC project description here

Crucial to the project is understanding the impact reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) could have on other characteristics including growth, feed intake and efficiency; and quantifying these effects.

The knowledge generated will provide a comprehensive list of recommendations for breeding programmes alongside the economic implications of selecting for low methane sheep. Selective breeding for animals with lower methane emissions is becoming a focus in livestock management. Some sheep are genetically predisposed to produce less methane, potentially due to differences in rumen microbial populations or their digestive efficiency.

This project will provide a mechanism for national and global comparisons to underpin government GHG reduction targets for the successful implementation of science into policy. The results should encourage farmers to use genetic improvement to reduce livestock GHG emissions.

Further details on the project are available here.

Project newsletters

• First newsletter (October 2024)
• Second newsletter (March 2026)

Funder: Global Methane Initiative

June 2025 – December 2028

The overall goal of the CleanBreeding project is to breed livestock that naturally emit less methane, using science-backed selection methods that build on centuries of agricultural breeding practices. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and cattle and sheep are major contributors. But even within a single herd or flock, some animals emit up to 30% less methane than others.

CleanBreeding aims to identify these naturally low-emitting animals and promote their use in breeding programmes worldwide. The research is part of the Global Methane Initiative and is funded by a diverse group of funders including Global Methane Genetics, Beef & Lamb Genetics New Zealand, the Australian Merino Sire Evaluation Association, the University of New England, Australian Wool Innovation, and Meat & Livestock Australia through the MLA Donor Co. The project involves a range of partners in Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, Ireland and the UK who will collaborate to fast track the development of reference populations and tools to expedite worldwide selection for reduced methane emissions.

The Texel Society’s contribution, partnering with SRUC, is integral to the UK’s involvement; alongside data from other projects, new data will be collected over the four years of the project. Pre-existing data comes from the Defra-funded Sustain Sheep project, where methane emissions from 500 performance-recorded Texel lambs from flocks across the UK were assessed.

We will build on our collaborations with SRUC by providing access to 1,200 Texel lambs to collect individual methane emissions from and genotype these animals to link emissions data with specific genetic markers.

As the project progresses, we look forward to contributing to the development of breeding strategies that reduce methane emissions without compromising productivity or animal welfare.

Through participation in this initiative the Texel Society continues to demonstrate leadership through long-term investment, with the Texel breed popularity providing solutions to farms across the UK and globally. By actively collaborating with industry partners and investing in research to support sustainable sheep production, we are engaged and making a meaningful contribution towards Net Zero research.

CleanBreeding is designed to avoid duplication and maximise impact. By sharing skills, resources, and data across international borders, the project aims to accelerate progress and deliver greater returns on investment. From a broader perspective, the project exemplifies the kind of international cooperation needed to address climate change in agriculture. By pooling resources, expertise, and data across continents, the project aims to deliver practical solutions that benefit farmers, consumers, and the environment alike. With the global spotlight increasingly focused on agriculture’s environmental footprint, projects like CleanBreeding offer a clear path forward. They demonstrate that through science, collaboration, and innovation, the livestock industry can make meaningful strides toward a more sustainable future.

AFN Network+
October 2024 – September 2025

Livestock farmers are essential for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within UK agriculture, but progress is slowed by unclear guidance and support. This project aims to help beef and sheep farmers make better breeding decisions using a collaborative approach. The project will review global breeding methods related to reducing GHG emissions and identify useful data for breeding choices.

Twenty case study farms from across the UK will participate in the study. Farm data will be collected from farms and together with the outcomes of the literature review, an analysis of breeding methods to identify cost-effective solutions will be conducted. Each farm will also have a carbon footprint analysis performed to inform discussions about the impact of any changes. By working together with farmers and stakeholders, the project will co-develop practical and affordable breeding strategies to achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2050, making them more likely to be implemented by beef and sheep farmers.

The Society is collaborating with diverse partners in this project from Hybu Cig Cymru/Meat Promotion Wales, Mentera, the Aberdeen Angus Society, Quality Meat Scotland, Queen’s University Belfast, Harper Adams University, Scottish Rural College and the University of Bristol.

The final project report can be found here.

CIEL
August 2021 – May 2022

To enable the commercial exploitation of the Texel Sheep Society’s (TSS) genotype and phenotype data in routine genomic evaluations, it was necessary to gain a complete understanding of the potential technical and business-critical implications that may result from such a move.

The aim of this project was to develop a road map for the integration of genomic evaluations into the TSS genetic improvement programme and develop mechanisms for their commercial delivery using iTexel.

The Texel Society worked with AbacusBio, Map of Ag and SRUC Egenes to address specific objectives to map out the technical and business processes that would enable the commercialisation of genomics.

Key achievements

• A plan of action for the development of a Texel-specific breeding objective and delivery of genomic breeding values for Texel sheep. A first for the UK sheep industry.
• Improved member access to genomic information about their animals, with the option to publish the information at point of sale.
• The collation of all Texel genomic material in a single repository with knowledge of how to maintain this in the future.

ERA-NET Cofund SusAn | FACCE ERA-GAS | ICT-AGRI2 Joint call

October 2019 – November 2023

The overall aim of this project was to find new ways of feeding and breeding sheep to reduce their impact on the environment.

The Texel Society worked with its long-term research partner, SRUC in this project that also involved organisations from France, Ireland, Turkey, Norway, New Zealand and Uruguay. Collectively the G2G project combined international scientific and industry expertise to measure two key factors that affect the environmental impact of sheep: feed efficiency – the amount of feed required to produce one unit of meat or milk, and methane emissions.

The research at SRUC used lambs bred from sires sourced from the Texel Sheep Society’s texelplus programme, to investigate the effects of sire and breeding values on these measurements.

The UK part of the project received funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Research Council of Norway and New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries.

EU Horizon 2020 project 772787

November 2018 – June 2023

SMARTER was a four-year, pan-European project (extended due to the Covid pandemic) with 26 partners (including the Texel Society) that investigated how to breed livestock with increased efficiency and disease resilience.
The major aims of the project were to develop innovative strategies to improve resilience and efficiency related traits in sheep and goats. The project investigated novel traits and the improvement and development of genome-based solutions and tools to establish new breeding and selection strategies. Specifically, the Texel Society will be contributed to the determinism of feed efficiency, and health and welfare resilience.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 772787.

Innovate UK project 102646

February 2017 – January 2020

This project delivered novel phenotypes for carcass merit and animal health to integrate into the Texel breeding programme. Health and performance data from the nucleus pedigree Texel Phenotype Farm Initiative, and thousands of related crossbred animals, sourced from commercial producer flocks, were combined with new, innovative visual imaging technology and meat hygiene data.

Over the course of two years, six commercial Lleyn partner flocks were recruited for the project providing around 1200 ewes each year. Eighty pedigree Texel performance-recorded rams were used in the project, combining both AI and natural service mating.

Over the two years, about 3000 lambs were finished commercially and slaughtered through one abattoir. These lambs performed extremely well in the abattoir, producing high quality consistent carcases.

Innovate UK project 101917
November 2016 – March 2019

The overall aim of this project was to identify sheep that lay down less carcass fat while delivering a tastier product.

Working with SRUC’s computed tomography (CT) scanner and the traceability system in a major meat processor’s abattoir, individual carcass data on thousands of lambs from Scotch Mule ewes mated to pedigree performance-recorded Texel rams were collected.

Over the course of two breeding seasons, 58 pedigree performance-recorded Texel sires from 18 pedigree flocks were mated to 2050 Scotch Mule ewes spread across four commercial flocks. Over 2700 lambs were finished in commercial conditions and slaughtered through one abattoir. Alongside the project-specific meat quality data collection, full grading information was also collected on these lambs. The meat quality information indicated that the Texel-cross lambs produced a very consistent product in terms of tenderness and juiciness. In addition, over 80% of lambs presented met the processor’s specification, almost 20% higher than the equivalent national figure; indicating that the use of performance-recorded Texel rams can significantly improve slaughter lamb performance.