Progressive Commercial and Pedigree sheep farmers alike are being encouraged to take advantage of the elite genetics that will be on offer at the Premier Sale of Performance Recorded Sheep, taking place at Worcester Market on Monday 9^th September.

The event, which is believed to be the only dedicated sale of performance recorded sheep in England, has to date attracted over 120 entries from 9 flocks, including both Texel and Suffolk breeds. All the sheep entered have figures in the top 10 per cent of their breed and are Maedi Visna (MV) accredited.

The sale is being organised by Paul Phillips, of the Kimbolton flock, who has been performance recording his Texel sheep since 2008.

He said: “We have built up a loyal customer base for our recorded flock and have found that more and more people are now asking about figures when they are looking to purchase sheep”.

“With performance recording on the increase and there being no specific performance recorded sale in England, we felt there was definitely a gap in the market, and Worcester is an ideal venue at which to hold the event’’

“The sale offers commercial sheep producers the opportunity to introduce some top end, elite genetics into their flocks to increase the quality and quantity of lamb produced and we hope plenty of producers will take advantage of this.”

The Premier Sale of Performance Recorded Sheep will take place at Worcester Market on Monday 9^th September at 5pm.

Performance Recording might just sound like a lot of meaningless figures, but this case study shows that the use of a performance recorded Ram has significantly improved the speed of finishing lambs.

Whyle House Case Study

The Kimbolton Flock is delighted to be one of the flocks that is participating in a milestone research project being conducted by the University of Warwick which is designed to further the understanding of intramammary infections (mastitis) in sheep.

This study is one of the first of its kind, particularly on meat sheep in Great Britain, the majority of previous studies have been based on dairy flocks in Europe. The results will show whether udder shape is heritable, and whether udder shape is linked to mastitis. In the long-term, it is hoped to use the information gained as an aid to decision making, leading to flocks with healthier udders and associated improvements on ewe and lamb performance.

The multi year project will see measurements and samples taken from the Kimbolton flock which will be subsequently analysed with the outcome of the study being published in late 2014.

Following successfully flushing a Barnage ewe that was purchased at the English National Sale in 2010 we were delighted to be asked to participate in this publication alongside some well known names.

The ewe lamb pictured has been retained for the flock.

A ram from the Kimbolton Flock has been selected to provide a tissue sample as a part of this milestone research project.

The project is a breed development geonomic DNA programme which is being carried out by the Texel Sheep Society in conjunction with SAC and Ovita New Zealand and will see 390 samples taken in the UK from high index Texel Rams.

The sample was provided from the stock ram Broncroft Osman and the outcome of the research will allow for a better understanding of the breeds DNA profile. This will offer future opportunities for the breed’s inclusion in the development of Terminal Sire Markers that may become available to UK breeders in the future.