| 2014-05-16 |    |
Sheep Breed Societies Focus on Meeting Market Demand
The 2014 NSA Breed Society Forum on Thursday 8th May at the Royal Welsh Showground saw technical information and lively debate on the theme of ‘meeting the needs of the commercial farmer’.
Joint presentations from pedigree breeders and their commercial farming customers, followed by a debate about their different situations, emphasised the very different approaches from total focus on performance recording right through to more reliance on physical appraisal.
Sparking debate: Pedigree breeders Dai Morris (far left), Margaret Lawrence (centre) and Tim Tyne (far right) with commercial farmers Sion Jones (left) and Martin Greenfield (right).
Lleyn breeder Dai Morris spoke about the importance of breed societies in enforcing ‘quality control’ in pedigree stock, while commercial farmer Sion Jones said he was less concerned about societies focusing on visual attributes like colouring and more on providing performance figures to help his Lleyn ewes rear lambs equivalent to 100% of their bodyweight every year. Welsh Mountain breeder Tim Tyne echoed this, saying any claims by a sheep society about the attributes of their breed was ‘wishful thinking’ unless it was backed up by performance data. At the other end of the spectrum, Texel breeder Margaret Lawrence and her customer Martin Greenfield spoke about the importance of assessing the visual appearance of the animal, with a focus on conformation.
Phil
Stocker, NSA Chief Executive,
chaired the debate. He says:
“The balance between visual assessment
of animals and performance data is vital in the production of breeding
stock, but it is clear that both are needed when we have such a
complicated marketplace in the UK sheep sector. The key is knowing
which market you are supplying, regardless of whether you’re a
pedigree breeder or commercial lamb producer, and assessing your
performance on a regular basis to make sure you are meeting requirements.
Someone like Martin on a lowland farm selling lambs through farmers
markets it going to want very different breeding stock to Sion’s
upland unit that is focused on uniformity of ewe and lamb performance.”
Other speakers included John Richards of Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales) and Lucy Webb-Wilson of Signet Breeding Services.
The forum finished at 3pm, with the majority of the 50 delegates travelling to Keith Williams’ farm seven miles away for a farm walk. Keith has recently made some big changes in the breeding stock on the farm and is coupling this with grassland management to increase the overall profitability of his enterprise. This provided even more food for thought in terms of what commercial farmers need from the pedigree stock they buy.
Phil continues:
“By starting
with HCC’s excellent summary of current market performance and
requirements, picking up tips from Signet about targeting particular
performance parameters, debating the needs of the commercial customer
and finishing with a visit to a farm to see action in practice,
the NSA Breed Society Forum delivered the whole package.”
The NSA Breed Society Forum is an annual event attended by NSA-affiliated sheep societies. The following societies were represented at this meeting:-
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Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep Society
-
Balwen Welsh Mountain Sheep Society
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Black Welsh Mountain Sheep Breeders Association
-
British Berrichon Sheep Society
-
Easy Care Sheep Society
-
Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association
-
Kerry Hill Flock Book Society
-
Llanwenog Sheep Society
-
Oxford Down Sheep Breeders Association
-
Ryeland Flock Book Society
-
Sheep Improved Genetics Ltd
-
Swaledale Sheep Breeders Association
-
Welsh Halfbred Sheep Breeders Association
-
White Face Dartmoor Sheep Breeders Association
Apologies were received from:-
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Blackface Sheep Breeders Association
-
Bleu du Maine Sheep Society
-
Romney Sheep Breeders Society
