During 2024 the Texel Sheep Society evolved their genetic evaluation service so that it routinely uses genomic information, a sheep industry first.

This is truly game changing as it now enables information collected from DNA to be used to inform the breeding values calculated instead of just relying on pedigree information which could potentially contain errors.

The Kimbolton flock has collected phenotypes (data) for almost 20 years on traits of key commercial value but now the powerful combination of phenotypes AND genotypes (DNA collected from a nasal swab) unlocks far greater accuracy of the breeding values produced. This effectively means that a ram lamb can now have the same accuracy as a mature ram that has had ~20 progeny. This means breeding decisions can be made more confidently enabling faster rates of genetic gain to be made.

To make the most of this opportunity the flock has collected genotypes from its entire 2025 lamb crop, the good, the bad and the ugly. These have been submitted to the Texel Society to be processed and the results will be included in the latest Blup run which will be uploaded to https://www.itexel.uk/ and published so the results are visible for anyone interested.

Paul commented “it was quite a time consuming job to collect nasal samples from all the lambs, but I am confident that the time will be repaid when we get the results. The more accurate breeding values gained will benefit my customers as it will further reduce the risk of buying a ram from Kimbolton making sure it “does what it says on the tin” “

Feel free to contact Paul to discuss how genomics can help you de-risk your ram buying decision to ensure you buy the right animal for your needs.