The Sustain Sheep Project is currently seeking farmers’ views to assess their awareness of the genetic tools which can help reduce methane emissions and support climate change adaptation.

The international project, led by researchers in Teagasc Athenry, is aiming to create ways to incorporate genetic merit for low environmental impact traits into national breeding indexes for sheep.

The project, being delivered in Ireland with the support of Sheep Ireland, is funded through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) under the European Union's Green ERA-HUB funding programme.

The project will also examine what impact such inclusions may have on key production traits such as growth, feed intake and efficiency.

According to Teagasc, the knowledge generated will provide a comprehensive list of recommendations for breeding programmes to be determined in tandem with the economic implications of selecting for low methane sheep.

As part of the project, a survey is being carried out online across six countries: Ireland, the UK, France, New Zealand, Norway and Uruguay.

The survey also asks about the favoured mode of participants to access information, which will help the research team to tailor future communications to farmers about the project results and the wider subject, through the most preferred routes.

The survey, which takes around 10 minutes to complete can be found on the Teagasc website.

The latest results from the project and the survey will be available at the Sheep 2025 Open Day in Teagasc Athenry on June 21.