Ewe Efficiency & Greenhouse Gases

Genetics Conference 20185th December 2018

Fiona McGovern & Noirin McHugh

Overview

• What is efficiency?

• Ewe Efficiency –❖The replacement index

• Future research

2

3

What is Efficiency?

Your method of production yields a more valuable output per unit input…..

What is important on your farm….

Key performance

Indicators

No. lambs/ewe

Stocking Rate

Carcass Output/ ha

Concentrates Fed

4

Can we use existing data as a proxy for efficiency?

Deviation in animal performance from a population…..

5

DataLive weight records

Ewe weights: Lamb weights:

Investigate the variation - combined litter weight relative to ewe weight at same time

6

Benchmarking – Flock A

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

-20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Prop

ortion

of

Litte

rs

DEVwean (kg)

5th parity eweRearing 3 lambs Ewe weight = 59 kgLamb weight = 106 kg

3rd parity eweRearing 1 lambEwe weight = 72.50 kgLamb weight = 21 kg

0.000

0.005

0.010

0.015

0.020

0.025

0.030

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Prop

ortion

of

Litte

rs

DEVWean (kg)7

Benchmarking – INZAC

NZ EwesCLW= 52kgMean = 16.2 kgSD = 15.5 kg

High EwesCLW= 47kgMean = 12.2 kgSD = 15.3 kg

Low EwesCLW= 44kgMean = 10.3 kgSD = 13.9 kg

New Sheep ResearchGreenhouse Gases

Ireland’s GHG Emissions….

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Ireland’s Greenhouse Gas emissions by sector for 2016 (EPA, 2018)

Ireland’s GHG Emissions….

10

CH4

CH4

methanogens

Bacteria

fungi

protozoa

Acetate Propionate

Butyrate

sugars

CH4

CH4CH4

CH4

CH4

CH4

CH4CH4

H2 CO2

Methane & N2O

33.1%

Objective

➢ To develop, validate and deploy the necessary tools and optimal strategies to achieve sustainable and quantifiable genetic gain

through environmental and economic efficiency

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Phenotypes Measured

Lambing difficulty

Methane Output

Lamb weight & GR

Ewe weight & BCS

Feed Intake

Health Data

Feed Digestibility Rumen Microbial

profile

Collaboration Research

➢PAC Chambers

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In Summary• New ewe efficiency trait under development

➢Information required to derive this trait is routinely

available

➢ Useful Benchmarking report within and between

flocks

• Research phase underway into new traits of importance

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Genetic Index TraitsIs the trait important?

Is there data / can data be easily collected?

Is heritability > 0?

Collect large volumes of data

Calculate the breeding value + reliability

Combine into an overall sub-index

Make Selection Decisions16

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Acknowledgements:

❖Dept. of Agriculture, Food and the marine

❖Teagasc

❖Sheep Ireland

Thank you for your attention.

Contact: Fiona.McGovern@teagasc.ie